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Boulder-Stazio criterium
March 7, 2004
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Moniger returns to racing on US soil with a victory
The first official day of spring might still be a little more than two weeks away, but you wouldn't have known that in Boulder, Colorado this past Sunday, as 60 degree F temperatures and blue skies helped kick off the 2004 racing season with a bang. Over 330 riders showed up for Clark Sheehan Production's Boulder/Denver Couriers Grand Prix at the classic 1.1 mile circuit surrounding the Stazio ball fields on the North East edge of Boulder. This being the first of 4 races in a series, action will return to Stazio each Sunday through the end of March.
The Elite men's race was a nail biter down to the hill top finale. The start list resembled a National Racing Calendar classic, not an early season warm up race! Chris Baldwin (Navigators), Travis Brown, Eddie Gragus (Trek/VW), Dan Schmatz, Danny Pate, Scott Moninger, Chris Wherry (Health Net presented by Maxxis) Michael Creed (USPS presented by Berry Floors), Will Frishkorn (ColaVita/Bolla), Colby Pierce (TIAA-CREF), Alan McCormack and Chuck Coyle (Vitamin Cottage) were only a few of the big engines that lined up for the 75 minute main event, the Elite men's race.
The attacks were being instigated from lap one as everyone seemed intent on finding out where they stood after a long cold winter. Travis Brown, Colby Pierce and Chris Baldwin seemed ready to match the juggernauts from Health Net and TIAA/CREF, as the feeling out process seemed to be extending a little longer than most races. Move after move went up the road only to be quickly reabsorbed.
The one constant of the first half of the race was the fact that no move was going away without a member of the Health Net team not only involved, but probably the strongest man in it! The danger men didn't seem to get more than a few meters up the road before they had a TIAA/CREF or Health Net team member tucked in behind them, happy to watch and see if they had the bottle to make the move stick.
Power in numbers, yes, but there was no shortage of strong men racing without team support. Travis Brown seemed to be one of the best hopes for an upset, which looked to be a tall order this day. With about 30 minutes of racing remaining a group containing most of the pre-race favorites went clear of the field. In the move were Frishkorn, Brown, Coyle, Schmatz, Moninger, Pate, Coyle, Gragus, Pierce, and the days sensation, 20 year old Ang Sheldrake of the TIAA/CREF team.
The group worked well together until just a few laps remained. The combinations of riders then going up the road were many with the deck being re-shuffled numerous times until the key move formed with under two laps remaining. Back in the pack, new US Postal signing Mike Creed was taking long hard pulls at the front, with Alan McCormack playing the waiting game as it looked to be a decent chance of things coming back together for a group sprint. But it was not to be as the two man break just held off the field as the podium was completed by a hard charging Travis Brown.
A recent crash endured by Moninger at the Tour de Langkawi didn't seem to be a problem. The win was well deserved, and had to be sweet for one of Boulders favorite sons, even if he is from Kansas! When asked how it feels to win at home, Scott Moninger said "Very good! Today was my first race back in the US... even though I raced a bunch in Australia and Malaysia... today WAS the return to U.S. racing, wow!"
In the elite women's race, Kerri Soraci-Schmatz single handedly held off a hard charging field, staying out in the wind all by herself in true hard woman's style. It should be noted that Kim Bruckner (T-Mobile) and Kori Kelly both raced with the men earlier in the day, with the amazingly fit and friendly Bruckner racing in two back to back races (Cat 3's and 4's).
Thank you to all of the race sponsors, Boulder/Denver Couriers, The Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, and Excel Sports.
Hope to see you next week!
Results
Senior Men Pro/1/2 1 Scott Moniger 2 Chris Wherry 3 Travis Brown (Jimmy D. Racing) 4 Danny Pate 5 Dan Schmatz 6 Angetti Sheldrake 7 Eddy Gragus (Jimmy D. Racing) 8 Grayson Pointer (Schwab Cycles/Torelli) 9 Will Frischkorn (Colavita Olive Oil Professional Cycling Team) 10 Christopher Stockburger (Team Rio Grande) Senior Men 3 1 Bill Danyluk 2 Peter Horn (GS CIAO) 3 Don Williams (Colorado Velo - Denver Spoke) 4 Ian Holt 5 Doug Johnson (Excel Sports) 6 J Brent Hanlin (Unattached) 7 Craig Wu (Vitamin Cottage Cycling Team) 8 Levi Bowman (Unattached) 9 Kevin Barker (Unattached) 10 Nathaniel Ksiazkiewicz (GS CIAO) 11 Eric Liprandi (Laurel Street Racing) 12 Daniel Underkofler (GS Boulder Masters Cycling Team) Senior Men 4 1 Simon Alexander (Colorado Velo - Denver Spoke) 2 Corey Carlson (Rocky Mounts Racing) 3 Garrett White (FCCC- Lee?s Cyclery) 4 Dave Harber 5 Ryan Cole (CU Cycling) 6 Charles Corbin (Colorado Velo - Denver Spoke) Senior Women 1/2/3 1 Kerry Soraci 2 Lara Kroespch 3 Kori Kelly (Diet Rite) 4 Elizabeth Fisk (Colorado Velo - Denver Spoke) 5 Julie Emmerman (Unattached) 6 Eszter Horanyi 7 Holly Borowski (ACME) 8 Abigail Hippely 9 Erin Huck 10 Amy Jamison (Valdoro Mountain Lodge Cycling Team) Junior Men 1 Alex Coelho (Team Rio Grande) 2 Vincent Chavanon (Team Procycling/Fuji) 3 Emil Marinov (North Metro Cycling)
