El Dorado Challenge #4 Long Beach, CA - October 28, 2001

After three races Scott Wolf has a one-point lead over Joey Flesher in the accumulated point totals. Peggy Girgenti led the women since Julie Glass missed the last race.

The pace was fast right off the start. The lead skaters did not want to repeat the huge pack that resulted from the slow pace in the last race. The red-line pace was kept for two laps before slowing down, succesfully weeding out the weaker skaters.

On the third lap, Scott Wolf and Phillip Mullin slowly broke away from the lead pack. For some reason, the skaters in the lead pack was content in letting them go, probably thinking that they would be caught. However, Scott and Phillip's gap only widened until they were no longer in sight. In the final sprint, Scott edged out Phillip for the win.

The chase pack kept together until their final sprint. Team Rapidos, with four members in that pack, attempted a team strategy, but unfortunately they were unable to hold their position to the end. So it was anybody's game. Chris Adams won the sprint for third place. Carl Yee (SDSE) and I both finished in that pack.

Peggy Girgenti stuck with the men's lead pack the entire race to secure the win in the women's class. Mallory Pracale was in a chase pack that caught with the lead pack to finish second. Michelle Gaylor (Predator), continuing her strong peformance this year, came in third.

The fourth lap was the prem lap for a small cash prize. Scott Wolf and Phillip Mullin were on their flyer at the time, and Scott outsprinted Phillip to claim the prize. Peggy Girgenti took the prem for the ladies.

Also at this race from SDSE turning out a great time was Brandon Thorsten. Thanks to SDSE member Rodney Friedman for taking pictures, which will be posted to the SDSE web site soon.

Overall for the four-race series, Scott Wolf maintained his points lead with the day's win. Phillip Mullin moved up to second and Carter Holland stayed in third. Peggy Girgenti was the women's champion overall. Michelle Gaylor moved up to second, bumping Julie Glass, absent from this race, to third.

Thanks to Steve Blair for organizing the El Dorado Challenge series to make up for the diminishing number of inline races in the southern California.

Howard
SDSE-IR