Team Major Taylor finishes race in ninth

Despite seemingly constant controversy, protests from other riders, legal action the day before the race and a pulled sponsorship, Team Major Taylor lined up outside the first row of Saturday's Little 500 and raced to a ninth-place finish.\n"For our first year in the race, it's not bad. Top 10 is not bad," freshman Joshua Weir said. "But as a team we weren't prepared."\nThe team has been the subject of controversy since a letter revealed after an arbitration hearing that Weir attained a professional level of competitive status, thereby making him ineligible by Little 500 standards. But the arbitration hearing was final, meaning even with new evidence, Weir could compete.\nAs Team Major Taylor was introduced prior to the race, a chorus of boos could be heard from the crowd. Weir said he didn't let negative energy from the crowd affect the team and chose to focus instead on the cheers from team supporters. \nWeir led for the team and stayed with the lead pack for the first 15 laps. When Weir exchanged the bike to a teammate after the 15th lap, the team began to drift back. Around lap 160, with the team in fourth place, Team Major Taylor rider Kurtis Bishop wrecked and was taken to the medical tent. When the race was over, the team had secured a ninth-place finish.\nIU Student Foundation assistant director and Little 500 coordinator Alex Ihnen said when Team Major Taylor began to fall back, the other teams worked to leave them behind.\n"It was a good performance; they were a solid team," Ihnen said. "They had a rider who left a gap in front of himself and the pack and fell back. Before he came out, they were down almost a half lap. They put Josh in and he caught up about a quarter of that distance. But when Team Major Taylor dropped off the back, the other teams worked together until they lapped them."\nWeir said the team made the statement that they have no intention of giving up on the race.\n"We're not going away," Weir said. "We have the talent. We have the speed. It was 30 teams against one. And we finished ninth. We're going to build from here."\nIn addition to the controversy in the weeks leading up to the race, Team Major Taylor was the focal point of several issues that developed just prior to the race. Phi Gamma Delta rider Todd Cornelius and Acacia rider Kevin Vanes filed a lawsuit against IU and Team Major Taylor and also sought an order to bar Weir from competing. A judge dismissed the order Friday. \nNeither Cornelius or Vanes would comment on the lawsuit.\n"People have a right to do what they're going to do," Team Major Taylor head coach Courtney Bishop said. "I have no hard feelings toward anyone. They have a right to do what they want to do."\nTeam Major Taylor also learned days before the race that McDonalds, its team sponsor, was dropping its sponsorship. The team raced with black strips on the front of their jerseys where the sponsorship name normally appears and had a blank track-side sign where corporate sponsorship logos normally appear.\nBishop said the team was surprised by the decision but was not disappointed by it.\n"We don't know what happened to the sponsorship," he said. "We completely respect them and love the organization. We support any decision that McDonalds makes."\nAfter the race, Bishop held up a board that read "See you next year" to the throngs of fans who cheered his team on behind Team Major Taylor's pit. Bishop has no doubt his team will be back.\n"Absolutely," he said. "We will absolutely be back next year. And the year after that"