Irmiger wins Subaru Cup short track

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Heather Irmiger (Subaru-Trek) raced to victory in the Subaru Cup short track in Mt. Morris, Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon. She finished ahead of two Crank Brothers teammates: Chloe Woodruff and the previous day's cross country winner Judy Freeman.

Amanda Sin (Scott-3Rox) capped off a good weekend with a fourth place while Rebecca Gross (Tough Girl Cycling) stepped onto the final podium spot in fifth.

Just as she did in the previous day's cross country, Sin took to the front at the start. Her efforts leading the first few laps established a gap for the lead group, including also Irmiger, Woodruff, Freeman and Gross.

"My goal was to maintain a position in the top two throughout to get a feel for how the course and race played out tactically," said Irmiger to Cyclingnews.

Teammates Freeman and Woodruff began to apply pressure by taking turns attacking, a joint effort which ended up separating them along with Irmiger from Sin and Gross.

"Without a teammate to work with, I tried to stay smart and always position myself to be ready for the next attack," said Irmiger. "With one lap to go, I attacked at the first half of the lap and continued to lay the hammer down up the longer, steep climb midway through. I was able to get a gap on the other two girls and hold on through the finish."

Irmiger took the win after a crash on Saturday in the cross country race. "The muscles in my neck and right side were super sore, but it didn't affect how I felt on my bike for Sunday," she said.

Freeman summed up what many of the racers were thinking. "It was a fun weekend. The WORS series brings in really good crowds, the weather was good for racing and the course was a lot of fun."

"I was stoked my teammate Chloe Woodruff was also on the podium this weekend. We were first and fifth in the cross country, then Chloe and I got second and third (respectively) in the short track. The Race Club had a good weekend."

Irmiger will head next to the mountain bike Worlds in Austria in mid-September. She said, "I'm looking forward to the world championships - some of my best performances of my career have been in the last month or two of the season, and I feel ready to perform well for this last race. I'm currently registered for the eliminator event but am waiting to get a better feel for the format and course, once I arrive, to decide if I'll participate."

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