Make no small plans, rather make highly effective ones and execute them to perfection with devastating results.

The Proctor Cycling Classic stands as one of the crown jewels in the the Illinois cycling season.  A prime example of criterium racing on a dynamic and challenging course, the race also serves as the setting for the showdown that will determine the Illinois State Criterium Champion.  Every year riders make the long and arduous trek down to Peoria, Illinois to race in the heat and wind and to fight it out for the title, the jersey and a season of bragging rights.  Coming into this year's event the weight of defending champions rested squarely on the shoulders of Burnham Racing.  Having displayed a spectacular show of teamwork to success last year anything but another win would be a huge loss for the team.  The team was 7-strong in a field that topped out in the high 60's with all of the scene's players present.  The temperature was rising and the wind was ferocious resulting in the home stretch seeing speeds of 35mph with ease.  The course, a little worse for wear had quite a few more pot holes than last year's running but as the most generous course spatially it was never an issue.

As usual, the race started fast...and remained fast.  Early on, Brian Zink of Proctor Cycling Club went solo.  Brian stayed solo until the last 15 minutes of the race when he would finally be reeled in.  While Brian was riding away other teams panicked and chased furiously.  Frustrations rose and language went south as riders on the rivet cursed others for not helping them win.  All the while the boys of Burnham kept their cool and remained focused on the the task.  Riders would attempt to bridge, Burnham was there, Proctor would try to block, Burnahm pushed the pace.  All the while the team distributed the load evenly so to ensure that the go-to guys were unfazed and fresh when it counted.  Midway through the race Jeff Wat made a move off the front and went into no-man's-land.  Surely it looked like a fool's errand as Jeff wasn't making up much ground on Zink.  The field chased hard, harder than would have been expected but Wat's reputation as a threat precedes him and this the field knew.  Upon his catch Jeff quietly entered the pack and took shelter among his teammates and plotted his next move.

And though there was a lot of riding the race didn't start until Zink was caught and we saw 6-to-go.  The pace remained fast with much of the driving horsepower coming from Andreas Fischer and Tim Hermanas.  The first salvo was fired by Eric Goodwin who shot off the front and announced that the race for the title was on.  The field flashed back to last year's running of the Proctor race and the relentless series of attacks launched by Burnham Racing to set up the win and allowed Eric a a small cushion.  The chase was on and the field lit a large match to bring Eric back.  A momentary pause in the pace coming through the back-side descent saw a small group of 4 form off the front, but not for long as Julian Baumgartner jumped away from the field in what looked like a bridge attempt.  But it was not so as he sailed right past the break and into 2-to-go territory.  Again the field's hand was forced and the chase saw more matched being burned.  Once caught Baumgartner kept at the front and pushed the pace until Nick Gierman attacked at the bottom of the hill and instantly disappeared.  Amassing almost 10 seconds instantly Nick went solo for almost the entire last lap forcing riders to cash in their remaining chips to chase him down.  Approaching the 7th turn with Nick still soloing the speed reached 35mph.  As Nick rounded the 7th turn to the short uphill Burnham was ready to pounce.  Andreas, Nate Iden and Jeff Wat were waiting for their moment.  Andreas and Nate pushed the pace up toward Nick who was rounding the final turn and staring down the finish line.  Midway through the hill Nate and Andreas carved an opening and Wat moved to the outside, off the front, pushed the big red button and disappeared.  Andreas and Nate were waiting for the chase, but it hardly mattered.  Jeff started his sprint before the last corner, way too far to be a successful sprint, not far enough to be a breakaway, and increased his margin with every passing meter.  Andreas took the last corner wide, gave Nate the inside line and forced the field to bunch up.  It was game over.  Jeff Wat crossed the line, arms raised ahead of his teammate Nate Iden.  

Burnham racing came to proctor to defend the title won by Matt Smith in 2008.  The team came to demonstrate the superiority of teamwork and sacrifice.  The 7 riders who took to the line were focused and determined, adhered to their roles and executed the plan to devastating success taking back-to-back State Criterium Championships.  When the race mattered Burnahm came to win.