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PA/NJ State Championships
Lehigh Valley, PA, July 25, 2003
Top Olympic riders take PA/NJ Open Championships
Top U.S. and international riders make final World's preparations
By Jacob Burns
On a beautiful evening in Trexlertown, PA riders from around the world competed for the honor of becoming the first PA/NJ Open Champion and for state residents their respective state's champion. The evening marred with crashes proved that top local talent is prepared for the World Championships that lie ahead.
In the junior girls 10 -12 events Colleen Gulick and Shelbe Eck battled all night with Eck edging out Gulick in the final race to win the omnium and the PA state championship. On the junior boys 10-12 side, it was all Jeremy Shirock. Taking the hat trick Shirock won the 3 lap final, 5 lap final and 500m in convincing fashion.
The keirin proved itself as one of the most dangerous events on the track with two crashes in the qualifying heats. Art McHugh, former Lehigh Valley Velodrome Rider of the year sustained only minor scrapes in his incident. In the Women's keirin final Becky Conzelman narrowly defeated Team T-Mobile's Sarah Hammer to take home her first PA state championship. The Men's final, being very dicey, proved that Andy Lakatosh is prepared for the Junior World Championships keirin, an event he placed second in last year. Lakatosh, of Amoroso's/Tri-State Velo, took the win leading out the entire final two laps fending off top keirin riders Mike Beers, 2003 kilometer national champion, and former Japanese professional keirin rider Gibby "the Bear" Hatton who finished second and third respectively.
"I feel I'm ready for Moscow (2003 Junior World Championships venue), taking on and winning over a stacked field like the one here tonight really gives me confidence and I can't wait to move one place up the podium over last year's second place," said Lakatosh of his triumph.
In the women's points race final Graciella Martinez of Victory Brewing took the win but with Conzelman, Ashley Kimmet and surprise contender Laurnen Shirock following closely behind.
"The women's field is so strong, Graciella put in an excellent performance tonight, and watching Lauren (Shirock) progress and perform so well against these top women is very exciting for the future," said Pat McDonough, Velodrome Director.
On the men's side Jame Carney (Prime Alliance Cycling Team) took on one of his top rivals in Milton Wynants of Uruguay. Wynants and Carney took second and fifth in the 2000 Olympic points race respectively. On this night however, Carney showed his form and possibly a preview of his performance at next week's World Championships to be held in Germany. Carney took all but the final sprint with Wynants never really playing an aggressive role in the race.
"The points race always hurts and with Wynants here I knew it was going to be a hard race, but I prevailed and I think my preparation for the World's has gone well," said Carney.
Results
Junior Women 3-Lap Final 1 Colleen Gulick (Future Champions) 2 Shelbe Eck (Unattached) 3 Hannah Hayduk (Unattached) Junior Men 3-Lap Final 1 Jeremy Shirock (Unattached) 2 Matthew Baranoski (Unattached) 3 Booey Hottenstein (Unattached) Women Keirin Heats Heat 1 1 Sarah Hammer (T-Mobile) 2 Becky Conzelman (Frisco Cycling Club) 3 Jamie Pettinato (Gotham Cyclists) Heat 2 1 Ashley Kimmet (Colavita-Bolla) 2 Graciela Martinez (Victory Brewing) 3 Cindy Lakatosh (Tri-State Velo) Men Keirin Heats Heat 1 1 Kevin Belz (Gotham Cyclists) 2 Jame Carney (Prime Alliance) 3 Jeremy Miller (East Coast Velo) Heat 2 1 Dave Cresswell 2 Erik Bonser (East Coast Velo) 3 Bobby Lea (TEAM Fuji) Heat 3 1 Gil Hatton (Gotham Cyclists) 2 Dave Wiswell (Gotham Cyclists) Heat 4 1 Mike Beers (Gotham Cyclists) 2 Andy Lakatosh (Tri-State Velo) 3 Brandon Haines (Lite Bites) Junior Women 5-Lap Final 1 Shelbe Eck (Unattached) 2 Colleen Gulick (Future Champions) 3 Hannah Hayduk (Unattached) Junior Men 5-Lap Final 1 Jeremy Shirock (Unattached) 2 Matthew Baranoski (Unattached) 3 Booey Hottenstein (Unattached) Women Keirin Final 1 Becky Conzelman (Frisco Cycling Club) 2 Sarah Hammer (T-Mobile) 3 Graciela Martinez (Victory Brewing) Men Keirin Final 1 Andy Lakatosh (Tri-State Velo) 2 Mike Beers (Gotham Cyclists) 3 Gil Hatton (Gotham Cylists) Junior Women 500m Final 1 Shelbe Eck (Unattached) 2 Colleen Gulick (Future Champions) 3 Hannah Hayduk (Unattached) Junior Men 500m Final 1 Jeremy Shirock (Unattached) 2 Matthew Baranoski (Unattached) 3 Booey Hottenstein (Unattached) Junior Women Omnium 1 Shelbe Eck (Unattached) 2 Colleen Gulick (Future Champions) 3 Hannah Hayduk (Unattached) Junior Men Omnium 1 Jeremy Shirock (Unattached) 2 Matthew Baranoski (Unattached) 3 Booey Hottenstein (Unattached) Women 30-Lap Points Race Final 1 Graciela Martinez (Victory Brewing) 2 Becky Conzelman (Frisco Cycling Club) 3 Ashley Kimmet (Colavita-Bolla) Men 60-Lap Points Race Final 1 Jame Carney (Prime Alliance) 2 Milton Wynants (Fraysee Sports) 3 Todd Yezefski (Nerac.com)
