Mt Holly-Smithville GP - NE

New Jersey, USA, July 22, 2007

2006 Results Results Past winners

Frattini victorious in Mt Holly

By Kirsten Robbins in Mt Holly, New Jersey

The Colavita/Sutter Home and Navigators Insurance squads were undisputedly the strongest teams on paper before the start of the Mt Holly Smithville ninth annual event. The two squads didn't disappoint on race day, either, with 'Baby' Giro d'Italia winner Davide Frattini (Colavita/Sutter Home) riding away with the victory after a two up sprint against the solo specialist Glenn Chadwick (Navigators). Alberto Blanco (G.S. Mengoni) convincingly took third place away from the chase group sprint.

"I know that Glenn is a specialist of the break away, a solo finisher so I tried to make sure to be on his wheel right away when he jumped," said the elated Italian after his podium debut. "We worked together in the last two laps and it was enough to be able to take the last corner with a 200 metres head start on the other guys. I went into the last corner in second position and was able to pass Glenn by the end."

More than one hundred men were recruited to take part in the gowing Mt Holly Smithville Grand Prix, a one hundred kilometre criterium that has become on of the most recognized events on the east coast. "We had a road race last year but decided to turn the race into a criterium for 2007," said the event's organizer Ken Mills. "It's a great event and we are hoping to replace it in the calendar where it doesn't conflict with other races so that everyone is able to compete next year."

How it unfolded

Both Colavita/Sutter Home and Navigators ignited a flurry of attacks that began after the first intermediate sprint. But for the following 15 laps it was the strength and motivation of Sakonnet Tech, Nerac, Target Training, Battley Harley Davidson and Empire Hotels that continuously add fuel to the fire of aggressive racing lap after lap.

Every lap saw a new break of riders until 25 laps to go when Target Training's Matt Baldwin shattered the front of the peleton and took three riders with him. An initial five-rider break established itself to include Baldwin, Chadwick and Alejandro Acton (Colavita/Sutter Home). Shortly after Toyota-United's Bobby Lea made successfully bridge to the group to make a strong six rider break. "I didn't want to work too hard in the first part of the break because I don't consider myself a real crit rider," said 2006 winner Chadwick. "I worked as little as possible as not to upset the break. Also, there was a point when the gap was coming down and my teammates were trying to bridge across."

A second group of five riders that included Frattini, Blanco, John Loehner (Empire), Matt White (Fiordifrutta) and Todd Yezefski (Nerac) bridged across to the six escapees and by 22 laps to go the break had swelled to nine riders with a 30 second gap on the field. "We were the only team with two riders up front, which was good because Alejandro is the sprinter on our team," Frattini said.

One team noticeably missing from the break was Rite Aid, who quickly organized a gut-wrenching chase from the behind. The gap was reduced from 30 seconds to a mere seven seconds when Darren Lill (Navigators) and Alec Donahue (Nerac) had almost bridged to the break, but Frattini attacked the group and split the break of nine into a more manageable break of six. "I jumped when the group was close to catching us to try to make a selection," Frattini said. "The remaining six was a good number because we opened a gap again and worked together until Chadwick started to attack."

Chadwick is known for his solo efforts and tried to make a break for it but was covered by White on his first attempt. "I attacked a couple of times in the end and Davide Frattini came with me," Chadwick said. "We worked well because we both wanted to keep away from the guys chasing - but he was quicker than me."

Frattini attributes his first win of the 2007 season to his recent training trip to the high-altitude area of Boulder, Colorado. "I just came back from training at altitude in Boulder, thanks to my friend Bobby Noyes who invited me there to prepare for this next part of the season, it was nice to see that my form is coming around," he said. "Also thanks to my teammates because they did a great job today, especially because it's in New Jersey, where John A. Profaci and his company Colavita are based."

The four riders left behind worked hard, just five seconds off the back of the winning move, but Alberto Blanco stormed out of the final corner well ahead of his break away companions to take third place. The field came barreling down the straight away in a sprint for seventh place won by Adam Myerson (Nerac).

Fiordifrutta's cyclo-cross talent Matt White accumulated enough points during the break away to take home the sprint jersey while he also won the U-25 competition. "I didn't intend to go for the primes, in fact I couldn't even hear the bell ringing for them over the pounding of my heart rate in the break today," White said. "It was just happenstance that I gathered the points based on the way we had rolled through in the break each lap."

Rite Aid's Stephan Kincaid stood on the podium as the event's most aggressive rider after his team's whole-hearted effort on the front of the field to bring back the break.

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Mt. Holly-Smithfield GP

Bill Elliston (Rite Aid) smiles at the camera while a Navigators Insurance rider enjoys the free ride
Nerac.com forms at the front to discourage any sort of chase to protect its man in the break
Adam Hodge-Myerson (Nerac.Com) comes in for 7th while Lisbon Quintero (Empire Hotels) and Jeremy Powers throw at the line for 8th places.
The winning break starts to organize after turn 2
Glenn Chadwick (Navigators Insurance) strings out the field through the start/finish.
A Rite Aid rider pushes the pace
Jonathan Erdelyi (Metra/Wendy's) the first winner of Mt Holly in 1999.
Frattini (Colavita-Sutter Home) outkicks Chadwick (Navigators Insurance) killing Chadwicks attempt to be the first repeat winner at Mt Holly
Frattini scores his first win of the year
A Hudson Trail/Harley Davidson rider attacks
The Velocity Sports Performance/CCE boys before the starts
Tom Mains (Van Dessel Sports) leads the field through the start/finish area.
Matt White (FiordiFrutta), Todd Yezefski (Nerac/Outdoorlighting.com) and Bobby Lea (Toyota-United) on the sprint podium
Stephen Kincaid (Rite Aid) was most aggressive rider
Davide Frattini (Colavita-Sutter Home) with Glen Chadwick (Navigators Insurance), Alberto Blanco (GS Mengoni) on the winner's podium
Ben Abney (Velocity Sports Performance/CCE ) strings out the field
Mengoni Best U-25 rider Matt White (Fiordifrutta)

Images by Eugene Boronow

Results

1 Davide Frattini (Colavita/Sutter Homes)                
2 Glen Chadwick (Navigators Insurance)                   
3 Alberto Blanco (G.S. Mengoni)                          
4 Todd Yezefski (Nerac/Outdoorlighting.com)              
5 Matt White (FiordiFrutta)                              
6 John Loehner (Team Empire Hotels)                      
7 Adam Hodges-Myerson (Nerac/Outdoorlighting.com)        
8 Lisbon Quintero (Team Empire Hotels)                   
9 Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly)                            
10 Stephan Kincaid (Rite Aid)                            
11 Darren Lill (Navigators Insurance)                    
12 Pete Fitzpatrick (Velocity Sports Performance/CCE)    
13 Ray Diaz (TargetTraining)                             
14 Bobby Lea (Toyota-United)                             
15 Colin Jaskiewicz (High Gear Cyclery/WW)               
16 David Guttenplan (Sakonnet Tech/CRCA)                 
17 Eneas Freyre (TargetTraining)                         
18 Todd Hipp (Battley Harley Davidson)                   
19 Eric Schildge (GPOA/Meredith Group)                   
20 Gustavo Artacho (Colavita/Sutter Homes)               
21 Scott Bodin (TargetTraining)                          
22 Adam Carr (Van Dessel Sports)                         
23 Patrick Walsh (Nerac/Outdoorlighting.com)             
24 Daniel Holt (Nerac/Outdoorlighting.com)               
25 Gavi Epstein (Sakonnet Tech/CRCA)                     
26 Amos Brumble (CCB/Volkswagen)                         
27 Sean Forsythe (CCB/Volkswagen)                        
28 John Minturn (GPOA/Meredith Group)                    
29 Jackie Simes (PA Lightning)                           
30 Sean Barrie (Battley Harley Davidson)                 
31 Chad Butts (Champion System Racing)                   
32 Jared Bunde (G.S. Mengoni\)                           
33 Brady Gibney (Metra/Wendy’s/Ideal Tile)               
34 Todd Nordblom (FiordiFrutta)                          
35 Jonathan Bruno (Fast/IF PB Lionette’s)                
36 J. Alain Ferry (Legal Seafood/Metlife)                
37 Josh Dillon (FiordiFrutta)                            
38 Martin Lechowicz (G.S. Mengoni)                       
39 Dean Zmolik (Team Empire Hotels)                      
40 Jonny Hayes (Sakonnet Tech/CRCA)                      
41 Tucker Brown (PA Lightning)                           
42 Dan Cassidy (CCB/Volkswagen)                          
43 Nick Bennette (Legal Seafood Metlife)                 
44 Mike Chauner (PA Lightning)                           
45 Brian Butts (Battley Harley Davidson)                 
46 Lou Devlin (High Gear Cyclery/WW)                     
47 Mike Norton (Rite Aid)                                
48 Nate Buyon (Metra/Wendy’s/Ideal Tile)                 
49 Taylor Brown (PA Lightning)                           
50 Matt Baldwin (TargetTraining)                         
51 unidentified                                          
52 Valeriy Kobzarenbko (Navigators)                      
53 Paul Komanecky (Preferred Care)                       
54 Jake Hollenbach (CCB.Volkswagen)                      
55 Hayden Brooks (FiordiFrutta)                          
56 Craig Luekens (Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield)         
57 Alejandro Acton (Colavita/Sutter Homes)               
58 Mike Margarite (Team Empire Hotels)                   
59 Alex Bremmer (Champion System Racing)                 
60 Chris Kuhl (Sakonnet Tech/CRCA)                       
61 Peter Petrillo (Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield)        
62 Phil Gaimon (Sakonnet Tech/CRCA)                      
63 Rob Wing (Velocity Sports/CCE)                        
64 Sebastian Alexander (Rite Aid)                        
65 Greg Montello (Fast/IF PB Lionette’s)                 
66 Edwin Bull (Van Dessel Sports)                        
67 Bill Elliston (Rite Aid)                              
68 Christopher Worden (High Gear Cyclery)                
69 JP Partland (High Gear Cyclery)                       
70 Lee Rosenthal (TargetTraining)                        
71 Nitola Smutny (Nerac/Outdoorlighting.com)             
72 Alec Donahue (Nerac/Outdoorlighting.com)              
73 Wilson Vasquez (G.S. Mengoni)                         
74 Jason Skalski (Preferred Care)                        
75 Alejandro Guzman (Team Empire Hotels)                 
76 Luca Daniani (Colavita/Sutter Homes)                  
  
Sprint Competition
 
1 Matt White (FiordiFrutta)                            17 pts
2 Todd Yezefski (Nerac/Outdoorlighting.com)            11
3 Bobby Lea (Jelly Belly)                               9
 
Rusty Potts most aggressive rider award

Stephan Kincaid (Rite Aid)

Past winners

2006 Glen Chadwick (Navigators)
2005 Melito Heredia (TOGA-GOTHAM) 
2004 Mark Walters (Navigators)
2003 Melito Heredia (Toga/CRCA)
2002 Victor Ripinski (Saturn Developmental)
2001 Alex Lavallee (Kissena Cycling)
2000 Roosevelt Martes (TOGA-dash.com/CRCA)
1999 Johnathan Erdelyi (Ideal Tile)