At practice today, I talked to several of the top teams about their goals for Saturday. While all of them said they are looking to qualify in the first few rows, only one mentioned they were going for the pole position.
So there's a fine line - teams want to avoid the added pressure the pole position brings, yet they also hope to avoid qualifying in the middle of the pack and getting caught in the dreaded early-race crash. Last year in the men's race, the Cutters didn't qualify in the top 10, but won the race. Sigma Alpha Mu won the pole, but finished the race four laps off the lead.
So, what should be the proper strategy for qualifications Saturday? Go safe and risk getting caught in an early crash? Go all out and take the pressure of being on the pole?
On that note, who do you think will be in the first row after Saturday for the men's and women's races? One person listed the women's favorites as Alpha Gamma Delta, Teter, Kappa Delta, Kappa Alpha Theta and Wing It and for the men, Delta Tau Delta, Gray Goat Cycling, Black Key Bulls, Cutters and Alpha Tau Omega.
