Robic builds 120-mile lead as he enters Kansas

David Haase of the United States rides through Taos, N.M., Wednesday morning. (Race Across America photos/used with permission).

Defending champion Jure Robic of Slovenia enjoys a lead of around 120 miles as he traveled into Kansas early this morning during the Race Across America (RAAM).

Robic, who is also a solder in the Slovenian Army, passed through the 21st of 53 time stations, located at Clayton, N. M., Wednesday night at about 7:50 p.m. Central Daylight Time. The four riders closest to him in the division had not yet passed through the 19th station at Cimarron, N. M., at that time. Station No. 22 is on the Oklahoma-Kansas state line at Elkhart.

Having come out of the mountains, Robic boosted his speed to an average of 23.5 miles per hour. At that pace, he would have passed through Elkhart and entered Kansas at about 11:20 p.m. Wednesday night.

Slovenia's Jure Robic is seen after checking in at the Taos time station earlier in the morning. Robic, the Solo Men's leader in the Race Across America, led Haase by about 120 miles Wednesday night. At his current pace, Robic could pass through Fort Scott late tonight. (Race Across America photos/used with permission)

A race projection chart that can be found on the RAAM Web site, www.raceacrossamerica.org, has Robic checking in at the Fort Scott time station -- No. 29 -- anytime between 3:50 a.m. and 5:20 p.m. Friday, depending on his pace. The earlier time was based on his then-current 23 1/2-mile-per-hour pace. The later time was based on his overall average speed for the race, 15.8 M.P.H.

A similar projection applied to the second-place rider, American David Haase, would have him coming into Fort Scott anywhere between 17 and 20 hours after Robic, a three-time winner of this race (2004, 2005, 2007).

Haase, Juilan Sanz Garcia of Spain, Mark Pattinson of the United Kingdom and Franz Preihs of Austria were all last reported at the time station in Taos, N.M., which is 183 miles west of Clayton. Haase passed through the earliest at about 5:17 C.D.T while Sanz Garcia passed through 13 minutes later. Pattinson passed through at 6:53 p.m. while Preihs checked in at 7:35.

The majority of team riders left Oceanside, Calif., Wednesday afternoon and all of them had passed through the first time station at Lake Hanshaw, Calif., as of 9 p.m C.D.T. The only team farther along is the Grand Fondo Fixies, the fixed-gear duo, who left Oceanside Saturday. They have also passed the Clayton station, going through at 9:02 C.D.T. At their current pace of 23.7 M.P.H., they may pass through Fort Scott between Robic and Haas on Friday.

It is tougher to project when the other teams will pass through since they have not gone very far into the race. Because they don't have to rest, teams can maintain a faster pace than the soloists and it would not be surprising to see many of them coming though the area late Friday night or early Saturday morning.

Solo Female leader Janet Christiansen of the U.S. checked through Cimarron, N.M., at 9:55 p.m. C.D.T. Wednesday while Carolina van der Bulk of Canada passed through Antonito, Colo., at 2:10 p.m. C.D.T. They are the only two riders in their division.

The Solo Male 50-59 division is down to six riders after Kirk Gentle had to pull out before reaching Cortez, Colo., for medical reasons. Doug Levy of the U.S. is the leader, passing through Antonito at 8:42 C.D.T. David Holt was second, arriving in Antonito at 9:06 p.m. Arvid Lowen was third, going through Antonito at 10:14 p.m.

Richard Rupp had to pull out of the Solo Male 60-69 division after an accident just blocks from the time station at Durango, Colo., leaving David Jones as the only rider in this group. Jones passed through Antonito at 7:42 C.D.T.

The course as it goes through Kansas looks like this:

* -- Riders will come into Kansas from the southwest on U.S. 56 at Elkhart, which is time station No. 22. From there, riders will continue to Hugoton.

* -- At Hugoton, riders will head due east on K-51 until they reach U.S. 83 north of Liberal.

* -- The riders then head north on U.S. 83 until they reach the junction of U.S. 160 south of Sublette.

* -- Turning east again, the riders will take U.S. 160 until they check in at time station No. 23 in Plains.

* -- At Plains, riders get onto U.S. 54 and head east. They will check in at time stations at Bucklin (No. 24) and Pratt (No. 25). In between those stations, the riders will pass through Greensburg, going through there for the second time since the devastating tornadoes hit that town last year.

* -- About three miles east of Kingman, the riders will turn off U.S. 54 and begin taking county roads in order to avoid high-speed four-lane highways. They will pass on the south side of Cheney Reservoir and then head on to time station No. 26 at Colwich.

* -- The riders will continue on a course about two miles north of Wichita, passing through Park City before hopping onto K-254 at Kechi.

* -- At Towanda, the riders will leave K-254 and take county roads to the time stop at El Dorado (No. 27). Once they reach downtown, they will get back onto U.S. 54.

* -- The riders will stay on U.S. 54 on the rest of their course through the state except to check into the time stations at Yates Center (No. 28) and Fort Scott.

* -- According to a route found on Google Maps via Robic's Web site, the race will pass through downtown Fort Scott before heading into Missouri and time station No. 30 at Collins, 63 miles east.