The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

After establishing himself as one of the top cyclists in the country, junior sensation Jay Major went to Tampa, Florida, and continued to impress his rivals over the weekend.

Competing in his first international event for the year in the Pinellas Park Circuit, Major picked up a pair of first places in the 17-18 junior division and two top 20s in the category 2-3 at the Cigar City Criterium & Street Festival.

In the 30-minute 17-18 age group race on Saturday, Major held off a number of attacks from his rivals to preserve the victory.

“I rode smart and sat back and watched the race as it unfolded in the front of me, waiting for my opportunity to present itself,” Major said. “It came in the form of a field sprint to the line which I came out on top.”

Major accompanied by his father and coach Jeff Major, didn’t have any time to celebrate as immediately following his victory, he had to return to the starting line for the first cat 2-3 race.

“I was right there sprinting and got a 22nd place finish, which qualified me for the amateur finals that night,” he said. “This race consisted of all of the best riders in all of the categories all together in one big race. It was a 40 lap event, equivalent to 35k race.”

Once the race started, Major said he went out and did what he had to do to win.

“As the officials called us up to the line, it was a fight at the line just to get the best positions on the line,” he said. “I got the third row which was not the best, but neither was it the worst. The gun fired, the race started and the speeds where 30+ mph for most of the race.”

The 18-year-old Acquinas College student came through the finish line with the sprint going at 40-plus miles per hour as he had to settle for 27th place.

On Sunday, the racing moved to a different venue in Pinellas Park where Major picked up his second consecutive victory in the junior division.

“It was another fast and extremely aggressive race with attacks coming from every direction,” Major said. “With most of the big junior teams consistently attacking, I just sat in and covered the attacks allowing no one to get a gap. This soon discouraged them from attacking and shortly thereafter, the race turned in my favour.”

It came down to a sprint with speeds approaching 35 plus miles per hour.

“In the sprint, I was able to come out on top of everyone else,” he said.

Major said he wanted to publicly thank his father for the tremendous sacrifice that he has made to ensure that he competed in the event and he wanted to make sure that he didn’t let “him and my beloved country down” with his performance.

His father, Major Sr, said he was thrilled by his son’s performance.

“I was happy with his performance. It went pretty well,” he said. “I think his strategies in the races were very superb. He was able to not let anything become a burden for him before he was able to correct it. He didn’t sit back and not do his share of work. So he was able to give a good sprint at the end.”

For his international debut this year, Major Sr said it only shows what Major Jr is capable of achieving.

“He wants to do about two or three heavy international races this year in the US in the Snake Alley competition in the Chicago area, which is extremely difficult,” Major Sr said. “So we are going to do a little more of the international scene leading up to that and hopefully we can get some good results.”

The Majors are scheduled to return to Florida to compete again during the first weekend of April.