Men's Qualifications for 2012 Little 500 look to be competitive all day long

While some students used their spring breaks to relax and recuperate in exotic locations before the final stretch of the spring semester, the male bikers gunning for a place in the Little 500 stayed in Bloomington to work.

The preparation was all for the first Little 500 event this Saturday: Qualifications.

The event will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Bill Armstrong Stadium.

Beginning the day of qualifying is Fiji. Sophomore Charlie McClary is in his second year with the most successful team in Little 500 history and said Fiji is happy to go first.

“It’s definitely an advantage,” he said. “Going early, we’re the first ones on the track, so there are no rivets or divots or anything, so I would say it’s a completely clean track and perfect for us. For the house, too. Everyone loves to get up early and come support us.”

All 43 squads are timed for how fast they can complete four laps around the track with a different rider for each round. At the end of the day, the 33 fastest teams qualify for a spot in the prestigious race April 21.

Senior Kevin Depasse is in his second year with the Cutters, who have won the Little 500 for five consecutive years. Despite his team’s recent success, Depasse said it will be difficult landing a spot in the race this year.

“There’s a lot of fast teams this year,” he said. “Credit to a lot of teams stepping up this year. There’s a culmination of a lot of fraternities getting guys older and getting experience, and they’re passing their knowledge down to the younger guys. It’s going to be a fast race this year.”

The tricky part of qualifications comes between each lap. To switch riders, each team has a 32-foot exchange zone, which begins 16 feet before the finish line and ends 16 feet after.

In this area, the member coming in must get off while the next rider mounts the bike and takes off, all while keeping the bike constantly moving. If any of this happens outside the zone or the bike falls during an exchange attempt, the team’s attempt is forfeited. Each team is allowed three attempts to accomplish its best possible time.

Senior Alex Ray of Alpha Tau Omega knows the trickiness that accompanies these difficult swaps. After a practice qualifying run Wednesday, Ray said his team must improve its exchanges before Saturday.

“We messed up the last exchange,” he said. “It probably lost us one and a half to two seconds just fumbling the peddles, but we’ll get that done in another practice and be good for Saturday.”

The qualification process is one of intense importance, but senior Adam Fish of Sigma Chi said he tries not to make it too complex. After competing in the race three times already, Fish has learned to keep his team’s approach simple.

“I think our goal is to ride safe-aggressive,” he said. “So ride fast, have clean exchanges and qualify for the race.”