The morning started out chilly, clear, but calm. By the time the morning amateur races were complete, a sharp wind had appeared and was attacking the course, finish, and event tents. Spectators thought this would result in tactical pack-style cyclo-cross racing.
After their call-ups, the elite women shot down the starting straightaway hitting the right hand roller, which dropped them up onto the road section. Lyne Bessette (Saturn) and Katie Compton (Wooden Wheels) tangled here, with Compton sliding out, getting a mechanical, and losing her shoe.
Bessette quickly had a short lead until taking a spill on the bumpy, terse course. This allowed Jen Dial (Independent Fabrications) to take the lead. However, Lyne Bessettte was not deterred by such a small setback. By the second lap it was elementary, Bessette had regained the lead, gapping the rest of the women. By the time the 45 minutes were up, she remained undefeated in her short, nine-race cyclocross career.
According to Bessette, she is not on "top form" and is only using 'cross races each weekend to maintain fitness. She isn't doing hard intervals during the week: cyclo-cross IS her interval. She wants to maintain her fitness for her road season and said that started out this cyclo-cross career to have fun. However, it is pretty clear that should this become a serious venture for her, she has the talent to be one of the best in the world. The specific question on everyone's mind is how Bessette would stack up against best Europeans cyclo-crossers. Will she do the World Cyclo-cross Championships in Z. Belgium? "I'd like to keep my options open," said Bessette.
To the Elite men's race. A combination of two events led to Tim Johnson's (Saturn) early dispatch of the field. With future results in mind, strategically, the reigning US champion, was trying out a new pre-race protocol and race tactics: "In Europe the big races go hard for 15 minutes or so", said Johnson, compared to "5 minutes for US races". Solution: Go as hard as you can for 15 minutes from the gun with no regard for tactics in training. And there is no better training than actual racing.
So, in preparation for an expected European trip this winter, such as World Championships or a World Cup, Johnson went out hard from the gun. All-out. That was Part A.
Part B was Marc Gullickson (Mongoose) rolling a tire on one of the bumpy part of the course on the first lap. This upset the good-natured Gullickson somewhat as he wasn't able to "give the crowd as good of a show". He did give the crowd something to watch as he chased back on from dead last. Spectators always empathize for a rider in this position, and are eager to see how many spots he can regain.
"With the open course, I could see people in front of me", said Gullickson. He chewed his way through the best of the Mid-Atlantic peloton (plus Jeff Weinert and some New Englanders) on his way back to his second place finish. While this Lancaster crowd did not get to see a Johnson-Gullickson duel ala KC '00, there was still some excitement in the air.
Spectator reaction was all-around positive for this first year event. Reigning Pennsylvania Cycling Association BAR road champion Scott 'Junior' Zwiwanzki (Bicycle Therapy) borrowed his sister's bike and jumped in the "B" race for a seventh place. He then stuck around to 'see the pros in action'. Remarked Junior, 'These guys go through the sand much faster than I do'. His road teammate and former Pennsylvania Cycling Association President Robert Palachick, not competing in cyclo-cross this year, drove out from Philly to catch the race, had no comment. Scott Haverstick, former US Masters Champion, said sincerely, "Fantastic race, I'm sorry Gullickson had a problem, that would have been exciting to see him against Johnson."
With Gullickson and Johnson the heavy top-two favorites, it was wide open to see who would get third place. There was a good representation of MAC stalwarts along with a few New Englander thrown into the mix. The biggest breakthrough ride of the day was by Syzmon Niemtko (Evolution). This young rider has always shown promise; over the last couple of years appeared to be on the cusp of being able to make the front group in regional Mid-Atlantic Cup races. However, he has never quite made it. Saturday this all changed with Nietmoko putting in a very impressive sixth place performance and riding at or near the lead-main group for most of the day.
Michael Doupe shot these pictures of another successful MAC series round.
Elite Men 1 Tim Johnson (Saturn) 1.00.14 2 Marc Gullickson (Mongoose) 1.18 3 Johannes Huseby (Independent Fabrication) 2.32 4 Kristopher Auer (LSV/Trek/VW) 3.13 5 Jeff Weinert (Independent Fabrication) 3.25 6 Szymon Niemotko (Evolution Racing) 3.38 7 Ryan Leech (Monkeyhill) 3.51 8 Bill Elliston (Jaegermeister) 3.51 9 JD Boilermaker (Bike Reg. com) 4.08 10 Skip Menard (Snow Valley) 4.40 11 Adam Myerson (Bike Reg.com) 4.49 12 Greg Ferguson (Trek VW JBL east) 4.59 13 Jan Wiejak (Fuji) 5.40 14 Mike Yozell (Guys Bicycles) 6.09 15 Rob Hacker (Bicycle Therapy) 6.44 16 Jason Moore (Beans Rheinhardt) 7.00 1 lap behind 17 Ransom Weaver (Guys Bicycles) 18 Sean Groom (Team Snow Valley) 19 Nick Schaffer (Bicycle Therapy) DNF Jeremy Walker (Maumee Valley Wheelmen) DNF Ryan Dewald (Beans Rheinhardt) DNF Laurence Lane (Bike Doctor) Elite Women 1 Lynn Bessette (Saturn) 46.26 2 Jen Dial (Indep. Fabrications) 1.14 3 Rachel Llyod (Team Spine) 3.01 4 Katie Compton (Wooden Wheels) 3.19 5 Thais da Silva (Club Wissahickon) 6.22 6 Josie Shew (First State Velo Sport) 6.22 7 Jesse Peil (Snow Valley) 7.27 8 Kelly Yoder (Talgo America) 7.29 1 lap behind 9 Sami Fournier (Team Snow Valley) 10 Tammy Ebersole (Evolution) 11 Bonnie Stoeckel (Evolution) 12 Jill Morgan (Evolution Pro Bike) 13 Donna Anderson (Evolution Racing) Masters 1 Shogren Gunnar (Guiness) 44.42 2 Saunder Blair (First State Velo Sport) 0.57 3 Martin Jones (somerset wheelmen) 1.31 4 Mihills Rick (First State Velo Sport) 1.47 5 Eric Schlauch (Somerset Wheelmen) 2.14 6 Lux John (FCVC) 2.14 7 Kurt Dodds (Wissahickon Cyclery / Comcast) 2.52 8 McDaniel Tom (Wooden Wheels) 2.54 9 Douglass Gray (First State Velo Sport) 2.54 10 Lyon III Robert (FCVC) 3.32 11 Rob Gallucio (FSVS) 3.32 12 Caffrey Steve (First State Velo Sport) 3.46 13 Rob Frederick (Evolution Racing) 4.17 14 Gaarder John43 (First State Velo Sport) 4.23 15 Bernard Klees (Evolution Pro Bike Shop) 4.28 16 Andrew Hogg (First State Velo Sport) 4.32 17 Darrell Vreugdenhill (Team Snow Valley) 4.45 18 Bellora James (Squadra Coppi) 5.33 19 Mark Laser (Yellow Breeches Racing) 5.35 20 Paul Lemar Jr (Squadra Coppi) 6.05 21 Yong Kong (Guy's Bicycle) 6.25 22 Rich Cordero (Guy's Bicycle) 6.28 23 Ruoff Brian (Green Mountain) 6.54 24 Kevin Breckenmaker (Team Harrisburgh) 7.22 25 Pizzini Leone (First State Velo Sport) 7.20 1 lap behind 26 Morrison Don (Wissahickon Cyclery / Comcast) 27 Christopher Houston (Yellow Breeches Racing) 28 Marshal Sacks (Harrisburg) 29 Nunzio DiBiasi (Team Harrisburg) 30 Gary Dugovich (Allegheny Cycling Association) 31 Eckberg Tom (Liberty) 32 David Mitchell (Quaker City Wheelmen) 33 Abele Stephan Masters 45+ 1 Bernard Klees (Evolution Pro Bike Shop) 49.10 2 Vreugdenhill Darrell (Team Snow Valley) 0.17 3 Kevin Breckenmaker (Team Harrisburgh) 2.54 4 Pizzini Leone (First State Velo Sport) 2.52 1 lap behind 5 Morrison Don (Wissahickon Cyclery / Comcast) 6 Marshal Sacks (Harrisburg) 7 Nunzio DiBiasi (Team Harrisburg) 8 Gary Dugovich (Allegheny Cycling Association) 9 Eckberg Tom (Liberty) 10 Abele Stephan Women's B 1 Lisa Vible (First State Velo Sport) 37.29 2 Laura Hanlon (Fuji) 1.54 3 Karrie Mitchell (First State Velo Sport) 4.59 1 lap behind 4 Peg Crilley (First State Velo Sport) 5 Sue Hackler (Evolution) 6 Jacqui Sadashige Men's B 1 Eric Slick (Aquafina) 45.09 2 John Verhuel (Bike Reg.com) 0.17 3 Jeff Tonski (Bike Dr) 1.07 4 Andy Newman (Evolution) 1.13 5 John Cylery (Wissahickon) 1.17 6 Glenn Turner (Wissahickon) 1.26 7 Scott Zwizanski (Bicycle Therapy) 1.41 8 Andy Wulfhuhle (Wissahickon) 1.52 9 Jesse Semanchik (First State Velo Sport) 2.05 10 Brent Biddle (First State Velo Sport) 2.14 11 David Yu Greenblatt (Highland Park Hermes) 2.19 12 Joe Reynolds (Wissahickon) 2.22 13 Bart Kirk (Green Mtn) 2.27 14 Joey Thompson (Wooden Wheels) 2.34 15 Ignatius Baron (Artemis) 2.41 16 Christopher Chin (All American Bicycle Club) 2.44 17 Jon Baker 2.47 18 FJ Hughes (Bike Dr) 2.47 19 Mark Miklosovich (Gold's Gym) 2.56 20 Peter Schildt (Wissahickon) 3.12 21 Tom Mains (Knapps) 3.30 22 Chris Mayhew (FORT USA/ESSM) 3.39 23 Wayne Scott (First State Velo Sport) 3.39 24 Patrick Kelly (Guys bikes) 3.52 25 Drew Guldman (Wissahickon) 3.52 26 James Stone (Nittany Velo Club) 3.52 27 Jason Otte (First State Velo Sport) 4.10 28 Wade Andrews (Wissahickon) 4.20 29 George Yoder (Fredie Fu) 4.27 30 Steve Gergely 4.36 31 Brendan Marshall (Team Beacon) 4.39 32 Dave Manhardt (First State Velo Sport) 4.56 33 Matt Thompson 5.20 34 Colin Sandberg (Fort/ESSM) 5.24 35 David Flickinger (Ashby Street Racing) 5.24 36 Johan Anestad (Evolution) 5.33 37 Kelly Cline (Wissahickon) 5.49 38 Aaron Mackley (Cycle Works) 5.52 39 Nathan Deibert (Team Harrisburg) 6.21 40 Aaron Let Let (BBC Gold) 6.21 41 Paul Incognito 6.39 42 Craig Callan (Highland Park hermes) 7.03 43 Henry Tremper (First State Velo Sport) 7.21 44 Kenny King (guy's bikes) 7.45 45 joe Melillo (Wissahickon) 8.14 46 Joe Hudocks (Monroe Wheelman) 8.22 1 lap behind 47 Andrew Johnson (Leb Valley ) 48 Ron Hermann (Lateral Stress) 49 Matthew Yoder (Guy's Bicycle Racing) 50 Evans Rohrbaugh (First Capital Velo) 51 Ken Warner (Harrisburg) Men's C 1 Chris Merriam 31.35 2 Bart Torre JR (Red Rose Rockets) 0.07 3 Brad Viera (Red Rose) 0.52 4 Barry Holman (Fuji T.E.A.M.) 1.14 5 Hans Schneider 1.41 6 Matthew Panas (Millersville Bicycle Club) 2.06 7 Shawn Johnson (Lateral Stress Velo) 2.41 8 Rob Lea (Fuji) 2.48 9 Steve Heede (FCVC) 3.39 10 Craig Laogholn (Gettsyburg) 3.49 11 Scott Reynolds 3.53 12 Les Russell (Yellow Breeches) 3.53 13 John Warfel (Christiana Cycling) 3.53 14 Joshua Hill (Atlantic Cycling) 4.03 15 Randy Farmer 4.03 16 Jose Ramos (Main Line) 4.56 17 Chris Stine (B&B Bike) 4.58 18 Blake Bennett (First State Velo Sport) 5.05 19 Andrew Landis (Cycle Works) 5.30 20 Gary Kelly (Yellow Breeches) 5.51 21 Bart Torre (Red Rose Rockets) 6.05 22 Jeff Laogholn (Gettsyburg) 6.24 23 Jason Yeager 9.14 1 lap behind 24 P. John Paulson (Unattached) Juniors 1 Adam Beattie (First State) 32.42 2 Ethan Townsend (Wooden Wheels) 0.18 3 Chris Kohl (Gettysburg Cycle) 0.59 4 Wes Shiley (Red Rose Rockets) 1.07 5 Andrew Evans (Red Rose Rockets) 4.13 6 Chris Consorto (First State) 5.22 7 Syd Lea (Fuji) 9.46 8 Erik Mitchell (Quaker City Wheelmen) 17.46