Sprint to the finish

Five teams. One lap. One trophy.\nAfter riding in a group five-strong for almost 90 laps, the Cutters, Phi Kappa Psi, Dodds House, the Black Key Bulls and Team Major Taylor had but one lap to determine who would come out on top.\nFrom the beginning to the end of the 200th lap, Cutters’ rider Alex Bishop held the lead and fended off charges from Phi Kappa Psi’s Erik Styacich and Dodds House’s Chris Chartier to claim the Cutters’ eighth Little 500 title. \n“I figured it’s safer to be at the pole and keep pulling a little bit,” Bishop said. “I still had my energy at the end, and it’s history now. We got the eighth championship, and that’s all that matters.”\nBishop took an exchange from teammate Sasha Land at the beginning of the 195th lap. \n“I was supposed to get on the bike with three laps to go, but it turned out to be five,” Bishop said. “So I kind of had to budget my energy a little bit.”\nAt the end of March, Bishop fended off Styacich and Chartier to win Miss-n-Out, a spring series event that determines the race’s top sprinter. Bishop also won Miss-n-Out in 2006.\nDespite Bishop’s accolades, Styacich, Chartier and Black Key Bulls rider Isaac Neff thought they could get around him. \n“He’s a really good rider, but there was no mental game,” Neff said. “I knew I could take him if I had a good sprint in me.”\nWith about 10 laps remaining, any team not competing on the lead lap was forced to the outside of the track. That left the top five all alone on the inside of the track at Bill Armstrong Stadium. \nWith each of their sprinters on the bike with two laps left, the other riders waited, keeping a steady pace until someone made a move. \nWith a little more than one lap remaining, Chartier picked up the pace. \nHe wanted to lead out the last lap, but once he realized he wouldn’t be able to do that, he tried to draft off Bishop’s rear wheel and pass him on the inside. But his plan was thwarted by what he believes was another team’s poor riding. \n“I had Bishop’s wheel then the Black Key Bulls took me in the gutter in Turn 3, so I hope they get relegated to the back of the pack,” Chartier said. “I honestly think I was put in the gutter, not to say necessarily I would have taken Bishop if that hadn’t happened.”\nNeff said both he and Chartier hit a rut in the loose cinder track at nearly the same time. \n“He came kind of into me and I came out into him and we made contact, which really sucks,” Neff said. “If we weren’t going to win, I wanted Dodds to, which kind of sucks. I feel bad if I did anything to him. Hopefully we’re good enough friends to overlook this.”\nWith Dodds and Black Key Bulls bumping wheels, Styacich tried to make his move on the inside part of the track. \n“I knew I’d have to get a lead into Turn 3,” he said. “So I got on the inside in Turn 3 where Bishop was. I thought I had enough to get past him and Chartier. I was able to kick past Chris, but Bishop was just faster today.”\nIn retrospect, Styacich said he should have made his move earlier. \n“I should have pulled myself on the inside earlier and defended – made him come around me,” he said. “I just wasn’t prepared, didn’t put myself in position and he’s just too quick.”\nBishop’s sprint to the finish made for a much more competitive ending than last year, when Alpha Tau Omega then-senior Hans Arnesen finished a full lap ahead of the pack. And the close finish was anticipated by many riders. \nAfter losing to Bishop at Miss-n-Out, Chartier said he thought it might come down to Cutters and Dodds House to finish the Little 500. And he had a race-day prediction. \n“If it comes down to me and Bishop, I have no problem shaking his hand with a couple laps to go and just going mano a mano and seeing who comes out on top this time,” Chartier said on March 31. “I’ll take him next time, and you can go ahead and put that down.”\nAfter Saturday’s race, Bishop wanted his Dodds House foe to take note of the finish. \n“You can tell Chartier that you can mark that one down and put that in the paper.”