1st row hopes to buck trend

Phi Delta Theta team members know their pole position doesn’t mean a whole lot.

In fact, all three men’s teams in the front row are working against recent race history.

On Saturday, Phi Delta Theta will try to be the first team to win the Little 500 from the pole position since Dodds House in 1998. No team from the front row has won since 2000.

“I know qualifying first means nothing on race day,” Phi Delta Theta team captain Matt Kain said. “It is just one position out of 33 that has a chance of winning.”

The front row provides several difficulties for Phi Delta Theta, Phi Gamma Delta and the Cutters – the three teams to lead the field to the green flag Saturday.

Riders quickly point to the difference between qualifications and the race. The four-lap qualification attempt often allows each rider just one lap on the bike, favoring the field’s fastest sprinters. However, on race day, endurance plays a key role.

“A four-lap quals attempt is not really indicative of how well your team will do in a 200-lap race,” freshman FIJI rider David Ellis said. FIJI qualified second.

The Phi Delta Theta roster exemplifies the team’s sprinting abilities. Its morning qualification time of 2:22.69 held throughout the day for the pole position. Four riders finished in the top 25 of the Individual Time Trials – an individual four-lap event also favoring sprinters.

Phi Delta Theta junior Nick Sovinski emphasized the team can’t just rely on its speed to keep them in contention.

“We don’t just want to ride fast,” Sovinksi said. “We want to ride smart.”

The team will rely on Baxter Burnworth and Steve Sharp to put in long sets and prove that they are not just a qualifications-day wonder.

“We feel as good a shot at winning as everybody else,” Kain said.

The front-row teams also have added pressure, as they set the pace for the first few laps of the race. Delta Tau Delta rider Matt Neibler said in some sense his team is glad it qualified fifth.

“In the practice races, we usually end up fifth in the pace line, and that’s exactly where we want to be,” Neibler said.

Last year, pole-winners Sigma Alpha Mu fell to a 14th-place finish, four laps off the pace. The race champion Cutters qualified 13th. 

In the last 25 years, only three teams have won from the pole – Dodds House in 1998,, Delta Chi in 1993 and Acacia in 1991.

Cutters sophomore Eric Young said the only nice thing about qualifying near the front is avoiding the pack of riders.

“It’s nice you get to stay out of trouble early on and don’t have to work your way up to the front,” Young said. “After the first couple laps, where you qual’d doesn’t matter.”

This year’s front-row lineup seems likely to break the recent front row failures, as many riders believe FIJI and the Cutters are race favorites. FIJI won the white jersey by taking the spring series events title, while the Cutters are two-time defending race champions.

“All three teams in the front row are good,” Team Major Taylor senior Kenny Parks said. “I don’t think there’s a curse or bad luck for the front row.”