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Made for a movie

Penalty at finish line bumps Alpha Tau Omega out of winners' circle, gives Cutters win

  • Complete Men's Results\nFor a storybook ending it sure had a lot of bumps along the way. \nThe 2004 men's Little 500 was the year of the Cutter, and it ended that way, with the team's seventh win -- but it wasn't easy for anyone involved.\nMore than seven teams traded leading positions throughout the race, but as lap 199 set in, sprinting to the finish was the only option left. The last two teams standing, Alpha Tau Omega and the Cutters, took the track's fourth turn almost side by side. As both teams crossed the finish line, ATO fans began to celebrate -- but moments too soon. \nSeconds after reviewing the finish on tape, race officials nixed ATO's win. \nIU Student Foundation Director of Little 500 Rob Rhamy said the win wasn't legal due to a swerve sophomore ATO rider Hans Arnesen made that caused Cutters rider senior Chris Vargo to change his path to the finish line. The IUSF rule book said the move qualified as impeading, which is against Little 500 regulations.\nFor ATO, the race was never its to win. \n"It's all over the papers, 'Cutters 25th Anniversary,' it's like they announced who was going to win yesterday," senior ATO rider Tom Meersman said after the race. "If they're not going to give us a fair shot at this, and there's no question about it, Hans was the first one across the line, that's racing. If you look at the end of the race ... look at last year, look at the women's race yesterday; they all got pushed over, and that's the way it is. It's like basketball; it's a shame when they let the officials call the outcome of the game. It would be horrible to have that creep into Little 500. I mean, let people race."\nThe call wasn't the first time that day things began to fall apart for ATO. With 50 laps to go, junior Jeremy Hess was involved in a crash that broke his collar bone and took him out of the remainder of the race. The team raced the final 50 laps with three riders. \nDespite their efforts, the controversial call stood as of Sunday after the team had a meeting with IUSF. Meersman said the team won't hold its breath for the ruling to be overturned.\nFor Cutters, the race might have ended with controversy, but the overall series event winners had worked hard for the win from the start. \n"(The end of the race) was very dramatic. We were fortunate enough to stay out of some accidents at the end there," senior Cutters rider Jason Fowler said. "I felt really bad for the guys that went down, and the ruling just kinda went our way. I didn't really have a clear view, but I'm happy with the results."\nBut the two teams weren't the only ones to experience excitement and disappointment throughout the day. \nDespite an unlucky 13th qualification time, Dodds House pulled out an impressive performance, leading for the majority of the race. With 100 laps down, the team was ahead of the pack after trading places with other top teams, including pole position holder Team Major Taylor, third-place qualifier ACR Cycling, Sigma Chi and Acacia, which had a heavy lead with ATO nearing the final 20 laps of the race. \nEven without the win, ACR Cycling sophomore CT Blackwell had the right outlook on his team's performance.\n"I feel like we could have done better, but a good team won," he said. "We did pretty well; I mean, we finished in the top five, and I am pretty impressed with that."\n-- Contact staff writer Katie Schoenbaechler at kmschoen@indiana.edu.
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