Dream Ride Cycling
Mount Joy PA State Crit Champs (from http://monkeyhillcs.com/races/mount_joy/results2002.html)
Saturday, May 18, 2002
Mt. Joy Men 1/2/3
75 starters, 35 miles
winning time 1:21 ( 25.9 mph)
Race Report (Full Results below)
The rain had stopped for hours and the course was just
about dry for the start of the men's 1/2/3 race. A
full field of 75 riders lined up to contest the 35
mile race. While the rain had subsided, the wind had
picked up and a dead on headwind met the riders each
time up the long, slightly uphill, stretch to the
finish.
From the gun Ryan Leech ( Nittany Velo) attacked and
built up a 7 second lead for a couple of laps. When
he was caught, Steve Speaks tried his own hand at a
solo break and after cranking about a series of 2:15 -
2:20 laps on the 1 mile course, he had built himself
up a nice 25 second lead. He would eventually sit up
under the pressure of the chase and the strength of the
wind, but the effect of the speed of these first dozen
laps was that 20+ riders spent the rest of the day on
the sidelines.
Once the group was together, the attacking started
again. Chad Martin made a go of it for a couple of
laps. " It wasn't raining enough" said last year's
Crit Champ referring to 2001's downpour at Marietta.
When Martin came back Brian Trdina ( Aquafina)
countered, was caught and then his teammate Eric Slick
countered and had a promising group with Neal
Stansbury (TSV), Ted Inoue ( Mercury) and a handful of
other riders. The pressure was on but once
again things came back together.
On a prime lap, Ben Haldeman ( Fuji) won the
prime and kept going. The move didn't look too
dangerous at first, but he kept plugging away and when
the field didn't react, Speaks jumped across the gap
marked by Jacob Loverich ( Nittany) and Mark Light (
Beans). A Mercury/Beans combination was one that
folks were watching for all day and this saw an
immediate reaction from the field. For two laps it was
touch and go as the break threw themselves into the
attack and Aquafina and Bike Therapy tried to chase
while being hindered by what appeared to be about 50
Beans and Mercury riders. Then the elastic finally
broke and the break opened up a 45 second lead.
In the closing laps the break worked cooperatively,
although you could see riders occasionally skip pulls
to try and position themselves behind which riders
they were most concerned about. With Light a known
sprinter, Speaks couldn't afford to let this come down
to a sprint and with 1 lap to go, he attacked out of
the second corner. The pace through turn 3 was a
little faster then expected and the riders all swung
to the far left side of the road. The Nittany rider
went down hard and Mark Light was directly behind him.
Somehow as Jacob bounced off of the curb, Light dove
in a hole between the curb and the rider and stayed
up. The effect was that Light had a 100 yard gap to
Halderman and to Speaks who was still committed to his
initial attack. As the riders came into the final
straight Haldeman and Speaks tried to cat-and-mouse but
closing behind was the ever present Light. With 200
yards to go, Halderman jumped but couldn't break free.
In the final meters Speaks came around him, and the
former pro captured his and Mercury's
first State Title.
* Loverich was able to remount his bike and ride in
for a 4th placed finish. Despite some wet conditions,
his crash was the only one in the 1/2/3 race.
* Halderman and Loverich are two more of the wave of
young strong riders coming from State College area.
1. Steve Speaks, Mercury, 1:21:23 (****2002 STATE CRIT CHAMPION****)
2. Ben Halderman, Fuji, st
3. Mark Light, Beans, @ 3 sec
4. Jake Loverich, Nittanny Velo, @ 11 sec
5. Ted Inoue, Mercury, @ 48 sec
6. Karl Woitas, Beans, all st
7. Garrett Schreier, GS Lancaster
8. Kevin Westover, ESSM/ GPOA
9. Chad Martin, Bicycle Therapy
10. J Alain Ferry, East Coast Velo
11. Ryan Leech, NIttany Velo
12. Brad Vierra, Red Rose Rockets
13. Rick Ball, Monroe Wheelmen
14. Chip Kogelman, Nittany Velo
15. Gene Petrella, Beans
16. Neal Stansbury, TSV
17. Eric Slick, Aquafina
18. Mike Hebe, Aqufina
19, Brian Trdina, Aquafina
20. Tom Nagy, Mercury
21. Tucker Brown, TSV
22. Wayne Work, Beans
23. Fred Billet, Aquafina
24. Rob Hacker, Bicycle Therapy
25. Dave Black, Beans
26. John Spittal, GS Lancaster
27. Mike Miller, Mercury
28. Jason Thomas, Harrisburg
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Cat 4/5
20 miles
53 starters
winning time 50:32 (23.7 mph)
Wet conditions and a fast start saw the field quickly split
into a few distict
group. Eric Rodenburgh suffered a flat with 10 laps to go, but
with the help of
a few teammates in the front group, he reestablished his position
to take the field
sprint for the gold. Elliot Gaunt, at 17 years old is developing
into a fine
talent and his siliver medal will probably not be his last state
medal in years
to come.
1. Eric Rodenburgh, First Capitol (****2002 STATE CRIT CHAMPION****)
2. Elliot Gaunt, Svvc
3. David Flesher, Bucks
4. Neil Toensmeier, QCW
5. Dan Nigro, Lehigh Wheelmen
6. Michard Miller, QCW
7. Peter Phillips, Lebenon Valley
8. Taylor Brown, TSV
9. John Hammilton, SVVC
10. Leonard Trollio, Lehigh Wheelmen
11. Ryan Sohmer, Harrisburg
12. Charles Denton, Montgomery Valley Velo
13. Scott Kurtz, First Capitol
14. Mike Whittaker, Aquafina
15. Dan Fry, Harrisburg
16. Burt Hoovis, Indiana CC
17. Evans Rohrbaugh, First Capitol
18. Jon Furminger, TVC
19. Matt Howey, Swan Cycles
20. Chad Young, RRR
21. Tim Swift, SVVC
22. Scott Powell, TSV
23. David Hill, Nittany Velo
24. Andy Evans, RRR
25. Bart Torree Sr, RRR
26. Tim Wynn, SVVC
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Cat 4 women
5 starters
15 miles
winning time 44 min (20.45 mph)
Pam Gass broke away early only to have her chain lock up onto
her
casette. She stopped, fixed the problem, chased back on, attacked
and was away
again. The chain stuck again with 4 laps to go, but by that time
she has
established a 3/4 lap lead and easily cruised home for the win
1. Pam Gass, SVVC, 43:02, gold (****2002 STATE CRIT CHAMPION****)
2. Andrea Grossman, CRCA, 46:20
3. Kendra Sharp, Nittany Velo, @st, Silver
4, Margartet Moore, Harrisburg, st, bronze
5. Elanore Nagle, Atemis
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Women Open
6 starters
25 miles
winning time 1:07(23 mph)
Beth Leasure from Maryland, lapped the field in this 25 mile
race. Once
the gap was established the other 3 women were content to fight
amonst themselves
for the state title. In the end it was Carolyn Fisher ( Freddie
Fu) just edging
out Nonnie Howard (Evoluiton) for the win.
1. Beth Leasure, Artemis
2. Carolyn Fisher, Freddie Fu, Gold (****2002 STATE CRIT CHAMPION****)
3. Nonnie Howard, Evolution, Silver
4. Jennifer Krebbs, Harrisburg, Bronze