A balancing act

Phi Delta Theta senior Brian Drummy never rode in a Little 500 before Saturday's race. Even after his team's victory, Drummy said he still felt like he hadn't experienced the physical hardship of riding in the grueling 200-lap event. \n"I don't have a word to describe it," Drummy said. "It's everything you work for, and when it comes through, it doesn't even feel real. I don't even feel like I rode in the race today."\nDrummy's statement sums up what an emotionally draining day it was for many of the 33 teams competing in the event. Unlike last year when the Cutters dominated the race, this year's event was filled with numerous close calls that left many riders walking away from Bill Armstrong Stadium with their heads down. \nBut Phi Delta Theta managed to avoid the wrecks that hurt the chances of some contenders and battled a surprising late-race charge by Teter to claim the 51st Men's Little 500.\nPhi Delta Theta took the lead from Teter on lap 190. Teter, which controlled the race from laps 162 to 190, finished second followed by Sigma Phi Epsilon. Teter and Sigma Phi Epsilon were the only two teams to finish on the lead lap with Phi Delta Theta.\nJunior Matt Marketti was on the bike when the team crossed the finish line with a time of 2:16:57 hours. The last lap was anticlimactic for a race that was filled with many lead changes. There was no sprint to the finish as Marketti's teammates, senior Josh Beatty, junior Ryan Hamilton and Drummy, provided him with a sizeable lead heading into the final three laps.\n"Hamilton, Drummy and Beatty gave it their all their last sets to give us that lead," Marketti said. "The last three laps were pretty easy for me."\nThe victory was Phi Delta Theta's third title and first since 1996. The team's other win came in 1982. Beatty is the only rider remaining from the 1998 team, which failed to qualify for the race. Beatty was honored as Rider of the Year in 2001.\n"This feels great," Beatty said. "This is what we've been working for as a team for four years, and it has been ongoing for about 50 years."\nAfter the race, members of Phi Delta Theta hoisted Beatty on top of a house-huddle during its victory celebration. \n"This team is Josh Beatty," Phi Delta Theta coach Allen Smith said. "He set the bar for all the others."\nBeatty was a major contributor to Phi Delta Theta, decreasing the more than 100-meter lead Teter had on the field. He got on the bike during Lap 178 when Teter had more than a five-second lead on Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Phi Epsilon. \n"If we had a Miss-N-Out winner and a future Hall-of-Famer, it might have been a picture-perfect finish," Teter senior David Eaton said, acknowledging Beatty's strength. \nPhi Delta Theta's rookies, Drummy and Hamilton, had a big impact of the race's result. Unlike most teams, Phi Delta Theta didn't lose ground when its two experienced riders -- Beatty and Marketti -- weren't on the track. \n"They were awesome," Beatty said of Hamilton and Drummy.\nWhile Phi Delta Theta, Teter and Sigma Phi Epsilon were in contention most of the race, some of the other favorites encountered problems. \nCutters, the 2000 champions, had more than 25 seconds of penalties and fell three times. They finished the race in seventh place.\nPhi Gamma Delta, the pole position, wrecked early in the race and had a 10-second penalty for creeping on the field during a yellow flag after another crash. The team also had mechanical problems and finished 13th. \nDelta Chi and Chi Phi were in contention most of the race until they were involved in a wreck with fewer than 30 laps remaining. Delta Chi finished fifth and Chi Phi recorded a sixth-place finish.\n"I feel bad for those teams," Marketti said. "It's horrible to go out that way. Part of the race is luck"