Cutters become 1st team ever to 4-peat in men’s race history

With a race victory seemingly at hand, Cutters began celebrating its record-breaking fourth consecutive Little 500 title.

And 96 laps later, the Cutters celebrated again.

A frenzied and sometimes-confusing Men’s Little 500 race Saturday afternoon featured torrential rain, a 50-minute delay and uncharted weather decisions for race officials.

Amidst the wild and bizarre Saturday afternoon, though, the Cutters endured it all.

And with the win, the team added to its Little 500 legacy.

The Cutters have won 11 times in 26 years of the team’s existence and became the first team to win four Little 500 races in a row.

As rain descended on Bill Armstrong Stadium at the race’s halfway point — which would make the race official if it ended — the Cutters prepared for a shortened race.

The bike was handed over to junior sprinter Eric Young, who built a sizeable lead from the front pack as rain drenched the riders and turned the track into a sloppy mess.

Race officials threw the yellow flag at lap 101 and three laps later suspended the race.
Since it was past the halfway point, the Cutters originally assumed the race was over and they had won.

“I thought like I celebrated a little bit too much,” Young said about the mid-race ending.
But a few minutes later, PA announcer Chuck Crabb said the race was just temporarily suspended — now the Cutters faced another 96 laps before its rightful celebration.

The decision to extend the race was new for officials, because they had never faced a weather-based decision following the halfway point of the race.

In the end, with a patch of better weather on the way, the decision was made to attempt the full 200 laps.

Cutters coach Jim Kirkham said the postponement did not affect the riders’ psyche.

“Once we realized we hadn’t won, we regrouped and talked about what we were going to do to win,” Kirkham said. “We were really prepared for the second half of the race.”
In the second half, the Cutters competed against a handful of teams on the lead lap and set up its perfect ending.

When Young, arguably the fastest rider in the field, hopped on the bike at the final exchange with a few laps to go, the second finish repeated the first. Young threw his hands up in the air as he crossed the line.

This time, the team could celebrate as much as it wanted.

Afterward, Cutters junior Zach Lusk reflected on winning in front of several Cutters alumni.

“It feels good to join that elite group,” Lusk said. “But other than that, you can’t say enough about this team.”

The four riders — Young, Lusk, senior Clayton Feldman and sophomore Michael Schroeder — were the same four to win in 2009 and each contributed to the win this year.

Feldman, the team’s rider who put in the most laps, noted the team’s improvement even from a win last year.

“We’ve come a long way,” Feldman said. “Last year’s team definitely couldn’t have won this race. We fought really hard and we had to do a lot of work to get to where we are.”

And “where they are” —  for Young, at least — is at a special place in the race history.

“There’s never been a race like this with conditions like this,” Young said. “This was crazy. It will go down in history as one of the best Little Fives ever. It was great.”