At the first Spring Series race, last Saturday's pursuit, Martin Koukal put himself in a pretty big hole in the chase for the overall Spring Series title. But he's been been moving up ever since.
Koukal finished 9th in the first race, 1:20 behind winner Kris Freeman. But he has won every race since, including Thursday's 10K skate race. Koukal won by 6 seconds over Andrew Johnson, and 12 seconds over Ivan Babikov.
The overall Spring Series champion is determined by combined time in all the spring series races. Freeman has led all week, but if our estimates are right now Johnson, last year's Grand Champion, takes over the top spot thanks to his second place finish. Koukal has now moved up into a virtual tie with Babikov and Freeman in second place, all about 30 seconds back. This weekend could be interesting!
The women's 5k skate race, on the other hand, only strengthened Dasha Gaiazova's grip on the overall title. She had a ten second lead on Abigail Larson coming into today, and she went out and posted a 12 second victory. Kamila Rajdlova was second and Larson was third. Gaiazova now leads Larson by 24 seconds in the overall, with Wendy Wagner in third, 55 seconds back.
Results from today's skate races:
http://summit-systems-timers.com/racing/race_results.htm
