It was the Junior and Mini SOL World Championships. It was also the last SOL for the #YOUTHS. The winner will receive a World Champion’s jersey (in about 6 months depending on China’s jersey production rate) and bragging rights. Due to even more rainfall in the days prior to the race, the course had minimal sand but a lot of deep water ruts on the downhills.
Right off the start, Wunger took the early lead and joined a paceline including Wes Sovis, Rob Frank, and Lauri Brockmiller. Meanwhile, Drew Cummins settled into second and Brody Day sat in third, both were riding solo. Over Woodchip Hill, Will Haap and Charlie Black formed a paceline in order to catch Brody and claim third. Due to the advantages of drafting, Wunger was already halfway done with The Power Section before Drew Cummins made it to the top of Woodchip Hill. Once Drew Made it to The Power Section, he put in a good effort and closed the gap down by over 30 seconds. In turn, he made the gap between Brody and himself larger. Also on The Power Section, Sage Day, and Reese Cummins caught up to Charlie Black.
Shortly after, Will Haap put down some watts and put a 10 second gap on the group. Unfortunately, Haap couldn’t sustain such high wattage (Strava estimates his wattage was in 6 figures) and he was caught by the group. Nearing Anita’s Hill, Sage Day attacked and Haap was the only one who could hold her wheel. Also on Anita’s, Wunger powered right over the crest of the hill and dropped Wes and Lauri Brockmiller. He and Rob Frank took turns pulling through GO. Thanks to the power of drafting, Wunger took first place with a time of 42:20 and he is now the new Junior SOL World Champion Of The World! After considering dropping out of school and pursuing his pro career, he decided that he should probably wait for the jersey to arrive first. Wunger wasn’t the only one to have a good night, Drew Cummins placed second with a time of 46:23, and Brody Day placed third with a time of 49:21. Huge kudos to Drew for being one of the most consistent riders. He attended 11 out of the 12 Junior SOLs and placed in the top five in every single one of them.
In the Mini SOL division, the #FerociousTeddyBear Grady Ellis placed first with a time of 25:23, which makes him the new Mini SOL World Champion Of The World! In a very close second was Jack Klau with a time of 25:26, and Ben Burley was third with a time of 30:26. Grady Ellis Didn’t just win the World Championship jersey, he also showed up to 11 out of the 12 Mini SOLs.
In the Junior SOL overall, Wunger took the win with 248 points. Drew Cummins’ consistency paid off and he took second with 179 points and, despite a few absences, Hunter Frank took third with 123 points. In the Mini SOL overall, Grady Ellis took the win (who would have guessed) with 92 points, Jack Klau took second with 58 points, and Ben Burley took third with 50 points.
As a guest writer for Kolo.tc and a SOL participant, I would like to thank Cody for putting in so much time and effort to make Speed Of Light such a blast! From the pre-race pep talks to all the points scoring and spreadsheets, Cody has really created and shaped SOL into what it is today.
We had a great summer of SOL and are very sad to see it come to an end. The # YOUTHS start school on September 4th and Wunger will already have sent his letter to the Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team asking for a pro contract. Until next time, #YOUTHS. It’s been a great few months of racing bikes.
The Junior SOL overall standings are here.
The Mini SOL overall standings are here.