Race Report: 2026 CBR #2 - Men’s 2/3

Race: CBR #2 - Men’s 2/3

Date: February 1st, 2026

AVRT racers: Henry Mallon, George Wehner, Levi Ritter, Michael Bektas

Top Result: Michael 2nd, George 4th

Course: 0.8 mile 4 corner crit, very wide roads

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/17254309686 (last lap video here)

Nutrition: 500ml water + Maurten 320 (80g carbs)

Race Recap: written by Michael

There’s not a whole lot to say about this one and that’s probably indicative of us finally racing the way we have been intending to all season. We had enough evidence from previous races that we needed to stop hedging ourselves to try and win from multiple race outcomes. Going into this one, we were going to force a sprint, leaving it up to George and myself to get a result.

Deus Velox, race winners of CBR #1, were highly motivated for this strategy too. They had won the last one from a sprint and had a strong group of guys who could put a well organized leadout together. Henry and Levi stayed in the front third of the pack to work with them and keep the field together. Thanks to their efforts, I was able to do essentially nothing and wait for the last 5 laps.

The wide roads made it easy to move up and I was able to find Levi’s wheel with one to go. After he peeled off, I was able to surf a few more wheels through the next corner and find Henry, taking his final pull. The speed was high, but not too high to move up. I moved into the wind and to the outside in the second to last corner. This would sadly be where the race was lost. Even though I was carrying a lot of speed, I was (rightly so) squeezed wide and had to grab brakes to avoid going outside of the cones and getting DQ’ed. I was able to make a lot of the lost places back in the final corner but the Deus Velox guys had all the momentum and their sprinter won again. George was able to successfully sweep behind me and roll some other sprinters to come in 4th.

This was really encouraging though and we definitely needed this one after a frustrating January. This group of 4 has put in a lot of races together this season already and this was a great stepping stone as we look ahead to Tucson!