According to Monroe County Jail records, shortly after midnight Sunday morning Cutters rider Sasha Land and coach Jim Kirkham were arrested on misdemeanor battery charges.

Both Land and Kirkham were released around 2 p.m. today on $500 cash and $500 surety.

Keep checking idsnews.com for updated coverage.

On a cold and rainy day, the Cutters pulled away late behind the legs of Sasha Land to win the 58th annual Little 500 race. The team–made up of Land, Paul Sigfusson, Erik Hamilton and Clayton Feldman– started to speed away from the pack around lap 180 to earn the victory.

Cutters had an unofficial 200 lap time of 2:10:00.

The race for second position was very close between Dodds House, Phi Psi, Alpha Tau Omega and Team Major Taylor and came down to a final sprint. In the end, 2nd place went to TMT, followed by Dodds House, Alpha Tau Omega and Phi Psi.

The top five teams are as followed:

1. Cutters (with an unofficial time of 2:10.00)

2. Team Major Taylor (2:10.22)

3. Dodds House (2:10.23)

4. Alpha Tau Omega (2:10.24)

5. Phi Kappa Psi (2:10.25)

Keep checking idsnews.com for up-to-date information regarding the Little 500.

Wow, what a race! Barack Obama made an appearance, the rain held off, there were blue skies throughout and it came down to the final lap.

Four teams were consistently ahead of the pack (Delta Gamma, Teter, Delta Sigma Pi, and Kappa Alpha Theta). With around 25 laps to go, Teter’s Sarah Rieke broke away from the pack and took about a half-lap lead. But the three teams came back hard to make it a four-way race for the rest of the time.

After 90 laps, Kappa Alpha Theta held the lead, followed by Delta Sigma Pi, Delta Gamma, and Teter. After 95 laps, the two leaders were the same but Teter had passed Delta Gamma. But Delta Gamma kept coming and each team set up for a final sprint with four laps to go. The pack stayed close until Delta Gamma’s Jess Lander pulled away from the pack at lap 98. Lander held off Teter’s Sarah Rieke and cruised through the finish line for the victory. The unofficial finishing times for the top 5 went as follows:

1) Delta Gamma (1:12.20)
2) Teter (1:12.22)
3) Delta Sigma Pi (1:12.23)
4) Kappa Alpha Theta (1:12.26)
5) Kappa Delta (1:12.32)

Rounding out the top 10 were Wing It, Cycledelics, Pi Beta Phi,  Alpha Omicron Pi,  and Alpha Gamma Delta.

Race day is now upon us and as I look out the window it’s not raining at the moment. It rained hard last night, so hopefully today will be rain free. The forecast still calls for rain today and tomorrow, so we’ll have to wait and see how that plays out.

Starting with the women’s race I thought I’d help get some discussion going by breaking down the teams and how I view their chances in the race. So here we go:

Women

Top tier: Teter

Next in line: Kappa Delta, Delta Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta

Slightly below: Wing It, Pi Beta Phi, Alpha Gamma Delta

Potential sleepers: Delta Sigma Pi, Cycledelics, Delta Zeta

Men

Top Tier: Cutters, Dodds House, Black Key Bulls, Phi Psi

Slightly Below: Acacia, Team Major Taylor, Phi Delts

Next in line: Sammies, Delta Upsilon, FIJI

Potential sleepers: Ride DMC, Delta Tau Delta, Delta Sigma Pi

These are just my thoughts based on spring series results and observations. A little bit (or a lot) of rain or a few wrecks on race day can throw the whole thing for a loop. Let’s hear your thoughts. What does your breakdown look like? Where did I get it wrong?

Today is finally the day…the 21st running of the Women’s Little 500.  Check in before, during and after the 4 p.m. race for updates and news on the bikers.

As of right now, weather reports still call for rain in the early afternoon but to go away by the start of the race.

Will Teter live up to the hype?  Can Kappa Delta continue their strong start and repeat as champions?  Who is the darkhorse for today’s race?  Let us hear it…

Greg and I will have race previews in the paper tomorrow, but in the meantime here are some more burning questions  with …

Adam Mahomed-Acacia senior

Q: You qualified in 6th. Does that put you in good position for the race?

A: We’re in good position, but it doesn’t really determine the race at all. For the first few laps we should be in the clear from wrecks and what not, but we’ll just see what happens from there.

Q: Do you come into the race with a set strategy or do you adapt during the race?

A: You kind of have to do both. We’ll have a strategy, but then you just have to know as a bike racer what to do out there.

Q: What are your memories of the Little 500?

A: Just being on a team, hanging out with your best buds and racing bikes.

Drew Kushnick, Ben Gerber and Stephen Quay- Sigma Alpha Mu

Q: What are the strengths of your team this year?

Ben: Our strength is not our leg, it’s our experience. We just have to rely on having a solid race. We have a pretty good plan, we just have to execute it well to be successful on race day. We don’t really have any superstar riders, we just have solid riders.

Q: How does that experience help you?

Drew: Having race day experience, you are more used to what’s going on out there. We have a lot of experience this year. We two guys with four years and another guy in his third race.

Q: As a rookie, how are taking this all in and are you excited for race day?

Stephen: I’m kind of taking it in in little bits; it’s pretty overwhelming. I’m very excited about race day. I’m excited it’s finally this close. I’m starting to get a little nervous, but it’s going to be a great day.

It’s never too early for predictions. We’ll have more in-depth posts about each race coming shortly, but in the meantime, let’s hear some predictions. Fire away.

In case you guys are interested, all the content from our Little 500 Guide is now online at idsnews.com/little500. Unlike sites in the past, this site also includes all of our Little 500 coverage from this year.

We’re still working on some improvements/updates to the visuals on the site, but the core content is up and will be there for a while after the races are over.

Enjoy.

Hey, everyone. Just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow our Little 500 Preview Guide will be coming out. In it, there will be features on particular teams and riders to watch for, as well as commentary and IDS predictions on who will win the race. Enough of that…now on to more “Burning Questions” for our riders:

Kenny Parks- Team Major Taylor

Q: What can we expect from your team this year?

A: I can’t really say we know what we are doing (in terms of strategy) but hopefully we will let some of the other teams do the work and be there at the end. We just want to stay with the pack and stay out of accidents.

Q: What is the difference between this year and last year for your team?

A: I think our team is stronger this year than last year. Ali won’t have to do as many laps as last year because we are more balanced than before.

Q: What are your team expectations?

A: We just want to stay out of accidents and hopefully win.

Ryan Weisberger- FIJI

Q: What are you trying to finalize before race day?

A: We’re taking a lot of time working on exchanges. We’re kind of finishing off a little taper here, so we’ll be feeling the pace of the pack and be hoping to be there on the last lap of race day.

Q: Do you come in with a set strategy for race day?

A: We have a way we’d like it to work out. We have some math done out with how many laps we think each rider will do. Other than that, you sometimes just have to switch your strategy as the race goes.

Q: How does this year’s team compare with last year’s?

A: This year we have two vets and two rookies like last year, so I’m expecting a similar thing. As long as we can stay with everybody until the end I think we have a better chance of pulling out a victory this year. That’s our goal is to have a shot at that sprint out.

Elizabeth Adamo- Pi Beta Phi

Q: What does your team need to do to be successful?

A: I think a lot of it is mental. You have to have a good attitude and go out there and chase down those packs.

Q: How important do you feel pit location is for the race?

A: I think it matters a lot. For us, it is good for team camaraderie because we are in front of bigger stands. Also, we have a longer line for burn-outs which is also very good.

Q: Does it hurt your team having so many first-year riders?

A: With three rookies on this team, Pi Beta Phi cycling will only be building up from now. Things are looking good.

It occurred to me I haven’t blogged away enough lately, so I thought I’d make a triumphant return to this space with a weather report: 49 degrees and light rain Saturday.

That’s right, a whole four degrees warmer than before for the men’s race. The women’s race looks like it might be in trouble, with thunderstorms in the Friday forecast. Such is weather in the Midwest.

Little Five guide should be out tomorrow, I recommend it as high reading. Buckey and Rosenstein got some good stuff in there, I know I’m looking forward to it.

Enough self-promotion, and on to some real blogging. Not sure how the track was today, a test kept me in class at practice time (though I did get out and enjoy the wonderful weather on the road this morning). I can tell you the turns were scary stuff yesterday, with a couple of minor incidents arising. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt.

That’s probably every team’s biggest worry at this point. There’s really no more time left for improvement on anything but confidence and technique. All anyone is worried about is tapering down to have the legs fresh as can be by race day.

Tonight is the final race briefing, where Mike Howard, the chief steward, will sit down with all involved and talk about what they should expect in terms of what officials will be looking for on race day. Howard is a straight-shooter, and listening to what he has to say - while certainly never determining a team’s strategy outright - will often begin to at least paint a picture of what we all can expect on race day.

I know this has all been really nothing more than a collection of random thoughts, but all I (as I’m sure most of both the men’s and women’s fields) can think about right now is the parade lap and everything after, so my brain is pretty scattered at the moment.

Again, shameless promotion: Check out the Little 500 Guide in tomorrow’s paper. And enjoy. Until next time, take it easy.

There is only a week left before the Little 500 and there is probably a lot that you, the loyal reader, are dying to know. This week Greg and I will provide you with interviews from as many riders as we can. Each day we will post a few of the Q-and-As in what we’ll tenatively call “Burning Questions”. I just came up with the name and it’s probably pretty corny, so I’m open to suggestions. Without further adieu here is the first installment of Burning Questions with…

Matt Lee- Delta Tau Delta senior

Q: What are the dynamics of your team this year?

A: Everyone that’s riding this year rode last year, so we have four returning riders. That’s going to be a big boost for us this year. We all have a lot of track time and are really experienced.

Q: Does your qualifying position (9^th) put you where you want to be on race day?

A: Definitely, especially with the race how it is this year. There are a lot of good teams in the back, so the first couple laps, there will be a lot of kids moving up. So it’s good to be up in the front of the pack to avoid any crashes that might happen.

Q: What do you think has changed from last year’s team to this year’s?

A: I don’t think a lot’s changed. We’re all in a lot better shape. We’re finding ourselves a lot more opportunities and a lot more is coming through, but it’s pretty much the same.

Michael Retter-Ride DMC senior

Q: What do you consider some of the strengths of your team?

A: I think we have a lot of experience finally. That and we just work really well together. We’ve had a great season of training, we’ve had a lot of fun and now it’s just time to put it all out there.

Q: What are you looking forward to in your senior year?

A: I’m looking forward to a really good race for our team. This is my last year. The overall experience of it is just an incredible part of college.

Q: Will it be weird going out there for your last Little 500?

A: I think it’s going to be exciting. It’s definitely bittersweet, because I’ve done it four times. It’s going to be sad, but I think it’s going to be the most exciting one for me without a doubt.

Morgan McNeely-Delta Zeta senior

Q: What are some of the strengths of your team?

A: I would say teamwork and we’re good at pace-lining and we’re pretty safe riders. We’re good at riding in packs and three of the seniors are returning.

Q: Do you consider that experience to be an advantage for you?

A: I think experience is one of the best advantages. You can tell when someone doesn’t have control of their bike and crashes are a big part of the race. Having experience can help you stay out of the wrecks.

Q: What will you take away from your Little 500 experience?

A: I’m kind of excited for the end. Even though it’s kind of sad for the last time, it’s going to be fun afterwards knowing that we’ve been together now for three years. It will be exciting to end it all together.

Natalie Deinlein- Alpha Chi Omega senior

Q: What are your expectations for this year?’

A: I think we’re the underdogs. I’m the only vet and we have three rookies. They’ve put in so much hard work that I think we’ll surprise people on race day.

Q: What’s the best thing about the three rookies?

A: Having done this for four years, it’s just the excitement of this being so new to them. It’s something really fun to be a part of, just to kind of share when I was a freshman how excited I was and how new and nerve-wracking it is. It’s kind of refreshing to have that experience all over again with such a good team.

Q: What are you looking forward to this year?

A: It’s my senior year so it’s a bittersweet thing. There’s a lot going into it. Besides physically, it’s emotionally exhausting as well. I think it will be fun to say that I’ve done it for four years and that I’ve completed such an awesome thing.

That’s all for now. Stay posted throughout the week for more Burning Questions.