First Charter Criterium

First Charter Criterium, Shelby, NC, 82 kms: Tom English writes that a fast finish by Jonas Carney put the finishing touches on a Team Shaklee show of strength in the First Charter Criterium on the windy streets of Shelby, NC. Carney and his teammates called their Shelby result "the best Shaklee performance we've seen all year." It featured Carney's win and Graeme Miller's podium finish, along with John Lieswyn's pick-up of a $600 gambler's prime on the penultimate lap. Aside from Carney's burst of speed at the finish, the most impressive Shaklee rider in the race was Canadian time trial and criterium champion Eric Wohlberg, who spent nearly half the race at the front. After an early breakaway by Pelle Kil (SmarTalk) and former USPRO Road Chmpion Eddy Gragus (Foothills Cyclists), Shaklee's Wohlberg went away into the harsh winds blowing through uptown Shelby. He was pursued and eventually caught by Roy Knickman (Mercury), Ashley Powell (GoMart/West Virginia), Chad Gerlach (Merlin-Hind), Paul Martin (Navigators), and Carney. With the big teams represented, this group of strongmen might have stayed away until the finish, but Wohlberg jumped again and built a 25 second lead before finally being absorbed by a Mercury-led peloton with 15 laps of the 1.4 km course remaining. A late break by Pelle Kil and Merlin-Hind's Jim Copeland gained a few seconds on the field, but Shaklee, Mercury and Navigators worked hard to pull things back together and set up their sprinters. Coming into the final corner, Carney was tucked behind teammate Graeme Miller and Todd Littlehales (Navigators). Once out of the turn, he poured on the speed that has earned him multiple national titles on the track. He then held off his competitors to win by over a bike length. "I was behind Graeme and Littlehales in the last turn, but they were going a little too slow for me," Carney said," and I was afraid of being swarmed by sprinters from behind - so I went for it." His win here puts him on equal footing with his brother Jame, who won in Shelby in 1997. Eddy Gragus, who is without a sponsor this season, hooked up with the Foothills Cyclists, Shelby's local club, for the event and performed strongly in front of his newly-adopted (if only temporary) home. His breakaway with Kil was good for 8 laps and a few primes, and he battled for fourth place overall. Mercury's Gord Fraser, who followed last year's second place with fifth this year, was hindered by Wohlberg's escapade, as the whole Mercury team (diminished because most of the squad was in Spain at the Vuelta Ciclista a la Riojas) had to mass at the front to battle the winds and drag the Shaklee rider back. "I didn't really have it in my legs today," he said after the race. Team captain Roy Knickman agreed: "We didn't have our sprinting team here this year, so we had to let Gord freelance. He just wasn't quite fast enough today." Apart from the Shaklee dominance, the weather was the real story in Shelby. Morning rain gave way to 10 degree Celsius temperatures and wind gusts up to 40 km/h by race time. "It was tough today - the wind made it really hard to move up in the bunch," said Tony Cruz (L'Equipe Cheval) who managed to advance to seventh place in the final sprint. Eddy Merckx was on hand as the official starter for the 1999 First Charter Criterium. Though most Shelby residents aren't familiar with the cycling legend, cyclists in the crowd (both spectators and participants in the race) sought Merckx out for photos and autographs. USPS rider and Charlotte resident George Hincapie was also in attendance, though he chose not to race this year. "I just got back from Europe a few days ago and I'm still pretty tired," he commented before the start of the criterium. "I was doing so well in the World Cup that they made me race Amstel last week - usually I come home a week earlier." Hincapie, who finished third here in 1998, will take a break from competition until Britain's PruTour in mid-May, then return to the States to defend his title in the USPRO championship in Philadelphia. Graeme Miller's Report: Today was a figure eight course - 60 laps for 82 kms. The weather played it's part today. No rain (just) but plenty of wind and very cold. Today was a big field but no Saturn? and we had even numbers on "the other team" so it was as level playing field as we were ever going to get. Add to this a very down to earth email from Big Frank (Team Manager) plus we have a sponsor Gardner-Webb University so the heat was on. The team meeting before the race was all about making " the other team" (Mercury) chase us as much as possible and for me to save enough to make sure I could get Jonas to the line!!!!!! Good plan we thought. It's not often that a plan actually plays out but today it went as close to plan as a plan can go. All I can say is I'm so glad to be riding on the same team as Eric Wohlberg this year..... He threw it down today. It took 4 of "the other team" to pull him back many times in the race and as soon as it was back together we would send either John (Leiswyn), Glen (Mitchell) out to face the breeze. So add to this a few attacks from a few other teams and we had one hell of a race on our hands. Jim Copeland and Pelle Kel made the best of the show down between our two teams and jumped the field with about 15 to go. We looked at each other for 5 or 6 laps and the gap grew to 20 sec. A quick talk to "the other team " with 8 to go and it was 3 of each on the front and the hammer down. It was all back together with 3 to go. I put all our 3 guys on the front and had Jonas just in front of me so I could keep an eye on him. One to go.... Leiswyn won the Gamblers preme while leading us out and swung off and left Glen to the Last lap. It was all on. I took over with Jonas on my wheel with half a lap to go. Todd Littlehales (Navigators) dived under me in the last turn so I just cranked on it to stay with him and left Jonas to do his stuff. 200m to go Jonas just flew by us for the win Todd was 2nd and I hung on for 3rd. Complete Results: 1. Jonas Carney (USA) Shaklee 1.53.00 (43.5 km/h) 2. Todd Littlehales (USA) Navigators 3. Graeme Miller (NZ) Shaklee 4. Eddy Gragus (USA) Foothills Cyclists 5. Gord Fraser (Can) Mercury 6. Ashley Powell (USA) GoMart West Virginia 7. Antonio Cruz (USA) L'Equipe Cheval 8. Harm Jansen (Ned) SmarTalk 9. Kevin Monahan (USA) Breakawat Courier 10. Eric Lemaire (USA) Cox Atlanta Velo 11. Dave McCook (USA) SmarTalk 12. Chris Pic (USA) Cox Atlanta Velo 13. Chad Gerlach (USA) Merlin-Hind 14. Jon Wirsing (USA) Snow Valley 15. Danny Pate (USA) Colorado Cyclist 16. Paul Read (USA) Quatro Assi 17. Ryan Oelkers (USA) Breakaway Courier 18. Shawn Willard (USA) Breakaway Courier 19. Corey Fisher (USA) Cycle Center 20. Jon Atkins (USA) Cox Atlanta Velo 21. Matt Koschara (USA) Navigators 22. Zach Browne (USA) NCVC Metropolis 23. Billy Innes (USA) Kissena/Casati 24. John Durso (USA) Lombardi 25. Jason Wadell (USA) Canadian River RC 26. Paul Martin (USA) Navigators 27. Jim Baldesare (USA) Wright Brothers 28. Reese Houghton (USA) Colorado Cyclist 29. John Corbett (USA) 7-Up 30. Mike Zincaro (USA) Chain Reaction s.t. Cleveland Eye Clinic Pole Position Challenge The First Charter Criterium was preceded by a 1-lap (1.4 km) time trial that was contested with a 30 km/h wind blowing down the finish straightaway. Greg Walker of Ikon/Lexus, who commented before the start that he felt good and thought he could win the event, battled the winds to finish two seconds clear of Mercury's Gord Fraser. Walker finished third in the Pole Position Challenge in 1998. 1. Greg Walker (USA) Ikon/Lexus 1.40.58 (50.100 km/h) 2. Gord Fraser (Can) Mercury 1.42.54 3. Robert Coulton (USA) DeFeet/LeMond 1.43.62 4. Jon Wirsing (USA) Snow Valley 1.43.97 5. Dan Larson (USA) Chain Reaction 1.44.08 6. Doug Boice (USA) DeFeet/LeMond 1.44.17 7. John Durso (USA) Lombardi 1.44.44 8. Jim Copeland (USA) Merlin-Hind 1.44.55 9. Wilson Vasquez (USA) GS Mengoni 1.45.29 10. Danny Pate (USA) Colorado Cyclist 1.45.55