Cutters, Teter take top spot in 1st practice race

Don’t count out the Cutters just yet.

After finishing eighth in Little 500 Qualifications and having no rider win the Individual Time Trials or Miss-N-Out for the first time since 2008, the five-time defending Little 500 champion won the first practice race of the 2012 Spring Series on Wednesday afternoon in a tight finish.

The team won the 50-lap race after a series of crashes eliminated some of the top competition, including pole-sitter Beta Theta Pi and 10th-seed Delta Tau Delta.
Third-seed Black Key Bulls and seventh-seed Sigma Chi joined the Cutters at the finish line, as Kevin Depasse of Cutters stayed ahead of Rex Rafferty of BKB and Brian Arfmann of Sigma Chi. BKB finished second in the race and Sigma Chi in third.

For the women, pole-sitter and 2012 Spring Series leader Teter continued its domination of the Spring Series events Wednesday night.

Already leading co-second place teams Wing It Cycling and Kappa Alpha Theta by 22 points in the series standings, Teter won the practice race in convincing fashion.

Anchor rider Lisa Hutcheson grabbed the lead for the team late in the 25-lap race and never looked back. Kathleen Chelminiak of Kappa Alpha Theta challenged Hutcheson for the last few laps as it came down to a two-woman race.

Coming in third place for the women’s race was Wing It Cycling, which will be in 11th position on race day.

The teams will next have a practice race Tuesday, April 10, which will be the final practice before race day, Friday, April 20, for women and  Saturday, April 21, for men.