Rad Racing GP Race Report.
Another surprisingly nice day in the Northwest this late into September and the Rad Racing GP at Fort Stillicoom Park in Tacoma, WA was on like donkey kong. In the past 2 years the Rad GP, (hosted by the Rad Racing local junior dev. team), was apart of the national Crankbrothers GP of Cyclocross Series. Unfortunatley the series is visiting some other cities this year but the Rad Cup was apart of this years UCI calender so a bunch of the heavy hitters showed up to race.
The Starcrossed hangover had hopefully worn off by the time 3 pm rolled around for the start of the Masters 1/2 race. Not much to report on this contest mainly because it was dominated by the current Masters National Champion out of Idaho Richard Feldman. He broke away from the group on the first lap on the back side of the course after the "Knapp-Time Run-Up" and increased his lead steadily each lap after that.
Other notable performances of the masters race came from Redline's Matt Hill who chased Feldman solo for the entire 7 laps and finished just under 1 min. down. Local favorite Dale Knapp finished 5th, 1 min. 25 sec. off the pace, after working the gave yard shift and not sleeping that Saturday night. Not Bad.
The Elite women's race was a tight battle between Starcrossed winner Wendy Williams of River City Bicycles, Rachel Lloyd of the Proman/Paradigm team and Wendy Simms (Kona). The three ladies fought it out in front of the rest of the competition. Simms suffered an unfortunate mechanical on lap three when she rolled a tubular off her rim and was immediately off the pace. She chased hard the rest of the race to come within 33 seconds of 2nd place finisher Williams but is was Rachel Lloyd who fended off all the rest for a solo victory an one of the northwest's toughest courses.
The last race of the day came from the UCI Elite Men. Favorites were showcased at Strcrossed, the previous day. The Kona Factory Racing boys, with a combined height of over 27 feet, Barry Wicks and Ryan Trebon, Swiss National Champ Christian Heule, Vancouver B.C.'s Geoff Kabush of the Maxxis Team, Cliff Bar's Todd Wells, and Andy Jacques-Maynes of Cal Giant Strawberries were among the main contenders. The race was fast, that all I can say. These guys are the best in the world at what they do so it is truly a pleasure to watch them work.
Kabush put in the first attack on the run-up. I could see this coming a mile away seeing as though his race at Starcrossed was cut short by a rolled tubie on the 2nd lap of the race. The field of guys behind Geoff did not seem to appreciate his enthusiasm so early in the race as they all had their bitter beer faces on while they sprinted up the "Knapp Time." A group of 4 formed off the front with the usual cast of characters, Wicks, Trebon, Heule, and Kabush. The first of the shattered chase groups had Jacques-Maynes and Wells leading the charge but they were ultimately unsuccessful in catching the leaders.
So it was down to four. Kabush was the first to fall off the pace due to his initial hard effort to weed out the field in the early laps. Next to get dropped was Wicks after attacking Christian Heule over and over again. Trebon and Heule were set to duke it out at the line again. As they snaked through the lower grass feild section you could see the tension between the two of them as they shadowed each other back and forth. Neither of these two wanted to loose this one. The Swiss Champ and the US. Champ head to head again. It was symbolic of the American-Swiss War of 1982. It was very short, you may never of heard about it, or is that what they want you to think? Hmmm....
Ok,
The two leaders rounded the final corner and Heule led out the final sprint. Trebon tried to come around him at the finish but went just a little too late and Heule won by half a by a packet of Swiss Miss. Nice work boys. Way to put on a show.
Maybe Ryan Can Beat Heule at Cross Vegas. We will have to see.
Later
Nick B.
The Starcrossed hangover had hopefully worn off by the time 3 pm rolled around for the start of the Masters 1/2 race. Not much to report on this contest mainly because it was dominated by the current Masters National Champion out of Idaho Richard Feldman. He broke away from the group on the first lap on the back side of the course after the "Knapp-Time Run-Up" and increased his lead steadily each lap after that.
Other notable performances of the masters race came from Redline's Matt Hill who chased Feldman solo for the entire 7 laps and finished just under 1 min. down. Local favorite Dale Knapp finished 5th, 1 min. 25 sec. off the pace, after working the gave yard shift and not sleeping that Saturday night. Not Bad.
The Elite women's race was a tight battle between Starcrossed winner Wendy Williams of River City Bicycles, Rachel Lloyd of the Proman/Paradigm team and Wendy Simms (Kona). The three ladies fought it out in front of the rest of the competition. Simms suffered an unfortunate mechanical on lap three when she rolled a tubular off her rim and was immediately off the pace. She chased hard the rest of the race to come within 33 seconds of 2nd place finisher Williams but is was Rachel Lloyd who fended off all the rest for a solo victory an one of the northwest's toughest courses.
The last race of the day came from the UCI Elite Men. Favorites were showcased at Strcrossed, the previous day. The Kona Factory Racing boys, with a combined height of over 27 feet, Barry Wicks and Ryan Trebon, Swiss National Champ Christian Heule, Vancouver B.C.'s Geoff Kabush of the Maxxis Team, Cliff Bar's Todd Wells, and Andy Jacques-Maynes of Cal Giant Strawberries were among the main contenders. The race was fast, that all I can say. These guys are the best in the world at what they do so it is truly a pleasure to watch them work.
Kabush put in the first attack on the run-up. I could see this coming a mile away seeing as though his race at Starcrossed was cut short by a rolled tubie on the 2nd lap of the race. The field of guys behind Geoff did not seem to appreciate his enthusiasm so early in the race as they all had their bitter beer faces on while they sprinted up the "Knapp Time." A group of 4 formed off the front with the usual cast of characters, Wicks, Trebon, Heule, and Kabush. The first of the shattered chase groups had Jacques-Maynes and Wells leading the charge but they were ultimately unsuccessful in catching the leaders.
So it was down to four. Kabush was the first to fall off the pace due to his initial hard effort to weed out the field in the early laps. Next to get dropped was Wicks after attacking Christian Heule over and over again. Trebon and Heule were set to duke it out at the line again. As they snaked through the lower grass feild section you could see the tension between the two of them as they shadowed each other back and forth. Neither of these two wanted to loose this one. The Swiss Champ and the US. Champ head to head again. It was symbolic of the American-Swiss War of 1982. It was very short, you may never of heard about it, or is that what they want you to think? Hmmm....
Ok,
The two leaders rounded the final corner and Heule led out the final sprint. Trebon tried to come around him at the finish but went just a little too late and Heule won by half a by a packet of Swiss Miss. Nice work boys. Way to put on a show.
Maybe Ryan Can Beat Heule at Cross Vegas. We will have to see.
Later
Nick B.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home