Weekend Racing Report - August 27, 2005

Rockford Criterium - Rockford, Michigan

The big event in Michigan Racing for the month of August was the Rockford Criterium. The very tidy city of Rockford Criterium is home to many of the executives of professional team sponsor, Advantage Benefits. As such the national Advantage Benefits/Endeavor team brought in their “A” list of riders, including the current 4th placed ranked rider on the National Racing Circuit, Karl “Ten Men” Menzies. AB/E further stacked the race with other pro team members, Brian Sheedy, Frank Pipp, Richard England and Jake Rytlewski. Incredibly, the organization added another 8 riders from their amateur squad, including “future” pro cyclists, the brothers Graham and Steven Howard.

As the newly crowned Michigan Criterium Champion, Jeff Hamilton got the “CALL-UP” to the line, which included 5 pros from AB/E, as well as multiple US National Criterium Champion, Kirk O’Bee of the Navigators Pro Cycling Team.

Jeff Hamilton on the line with Graham Howard-ABG, Brian Sheedy-AB/E, Kirk O'Bee-Navigators, Tom Archer-Ford/Giant, Jake Rytlewski-AB/E, Frank Pipp-AB/E, Karl Menzies-AB/E and Richard England-AB/E

From the gun of the Pro1/2 race AB/E riders were out in force. First an AB/E two-some lapped the field, then a group of 6 AB/E pro’s and amateurs took off. At times the head of the race looked like an Advantage Benefits team training ride. Predictably, Karl Menzies took the win with AB/E Pro Cycling teammates Frank Pipp and Richard England rounding out the podium.

Kirk O'Bee, Frank Pipp and Karl Menzies form an early breakaway

Ian Lockley suffering!

Jeff Hamilton (C) and Ian Lockley (far left) help pull the chasers to the finish

In the fight for the scraps which followed, Jeff hung tough and placed 19th, just inside of the money, which paid to the top 20 places. Jeff was also the only Non-AB/E rider to win a race prime, bagging $100 at the beginning of the race, outsprinting several of the pro-cyclists racing to the line. That will probably be one for Jeff's race scrap book!!!

A very tough race out of a field which included 11 top national pro cyclists.

In the Men’s Category 3 race the pace was blistering from the start. In another YOUTH MOVEMENT, the Sunrise Sports Juniors took the reins and punished the field. Derek Timmerman, Alex Keomany, Jordan Stohl and John Zaccone set a blistering pace which decimated the peloton. In the end only a group of 5 remained at the front, with many remaining riders getting lapped multiple times. From this lead group, Tucker Olander of the national Rio Grande junior development team took a solo flyer to win. In a fine finish, Jordan Stohl gave Derek Timmerman a text book lead out to take 2nd, with Jordan Finishing 5th. Paul Kundrat and Robert Iser worked together to hold on to 6th and 7th about 30 seconds back. After these two finished, riders struggled to the finish in 1’s and 2’s.

Paul Kundrat, Alex Keomany and Jordan Stohl take the line in the Men Cat 3 race

Again, Sunrise Sports riders had luck with race primes, taking 2 of the 6 on offer. Paul Kundrat took $100 and Derek Timmerman won a prime of equivalently valued $2000 of holistic medical treatments from a "Shaman" in Seattle. Who knows how this got offered up as a prime. This even beats the sushi primes offered by a local Japanese restaurant at last years race!

We're still trying to figure out just what Derek gets and how he can cash in on this. The concensus is that the treatments include a "aura-reading" and "karma-analysis", which understandably are worth the cash equivalent of $2000!!!

It was a pretty successful day of racing for the team on what is regarded as the hardest criterium course in Michigan.

Full race results are available (in .pdf format) at www.mbra.org