Weekend Racing Report - May 21, 2005

Kensington Road Race - Milford, Michigan

The big race of the weekend was the 3rd race of the season long Michigan Challenge Series, the Kensington Road Race, held at Kensington Metro Park in Milford, MI.

This race is considered one of the 3 toughest courses in Michigan road racing due to the number of climbs on the 8 mile course.

In the Men’s Category 3 race the team representation was HUGE. Fourteen Sunrise Sports Cycling Team members took the start line. That probably won’t happen again this year. With so many team members racing, the team set out an extremely aggressive race strategy, maybe TOO AGGRESSIVE. From the start the team was on the front, pushing the pace, attacking. In hindsight, what actually happened was probably that the teams aggression backfired and the result was a worn out team and a field sprint deciding the winner. Jason Rafeld rode extremely well to place 5th. The next highest team placing was Mark Caswell in 21st. OUCH!

The tepid team placing in the Cat 3 race was fortunately overshadowed by the FANTASTIC team showing the ProI/II category race. With a field that included 3 pro cyclists from the Advantage Benefits/Endeavor pro cycling team as well as 7 cyclists from the Advantage Benefits/Endeavor elite amateur team, the 4 Sunrise Sports team members, Vince Roberge, Andy Weir, Ian Lockley and Jeff Hamilton rode superbly.

With 4 laps to go in the 8 lap, 64 mile race, Vince Roberge launched an attack that drew out AB/E pro cyclist, Brian Sheedy. Within 2 laps AB/E pro cyclist, Brent Bookwalter had bridged to make it a leading trio. These three continued to push their advantage to the finish line. In the chasing pack, Vince’s Sunrise Sports Cycling Team teammates worked with the remaining 8 AB/E team members to shut down the chase and counter the efforts from the remaining teams.

On the last climb before the finish line, Sheedy and Brookwalter gave Vince a 1-2 punch that shedded him from the leading group. The AB/E duo went on to win by 15 seconds over Vince who held off the chasing field by another 15 seconds to place 3rd. In a great finish, Jeff Hamilton and Ian Lockley put in great sprints to place 6th and 8th in the pack sprint, which was good for 9th and 11th overall. That gave Sunrise Sports 3 riders in the top 11!

Unfortunately for the team, Vince will be leaving within 2 weeks to spend the next 3 months at the Cycling Center racing development program in Hertsberge, Belgium. We'll definitely miss Vince and wish him good luck! Watch for his race reports detailing his Belgian race experiences!

You can also listen to a great interview with Vince on the Michigan Cycling Podcast

Full race results from the 2005 Kensington Road Race are available HERE