Weekend Racing Report - August 5, 2006

Michigan Criterium Championships, Ada, Michigan

The first race in August for the team was the Michigan Criterium Championships in Ada, Michigan. The event was promoted by the Ada Bike Shop and the Alltel/Ada Cycling Team

This was the 3rd year that this event was the Michigan Criterium Championships and again the racing was fast and exciting.

The team tactic for the day was to have guys enter as many events as possible. Certain team members who were on form would reserve themselves for individual key events, but for all the other categories and age groups, it was GAME ON!

With a free hand to attack the race, first on deck was the Masters 30+/40+ Criterium Championships. Lining up were Rich Stark and Randy Hermann. Immediately the guys from the Priority Health Cycling Team attacked hard. Rich Stark kicked his diesel motor into gear and motored out of the pack chasing a very promising 4 man chase group. Within 2 laps Rich had tagged onto the break-away and it was a 5 person TTT from there! With Randy Hermann riding tempo in the back and chasing down any counter-attacks, Rich and his group pulled away and lapped the field with 4 laps remaining. Remarkable, the 5 break-aways took off again and contested the sprint for the win amongst themselves. Rich took 5th in the sprint, but was the first racer over 40 years old and was awarded the Masters 40+ State Criterium Championship!

Next race was the Juniors 10-18. What a race that was! Lining up on the start was what seemed like EVERY Junior racer in the state. So, you had 10 year old kids fighting it out with 17 year old young men. Talk about a broad spectrum of abilities!

Tony Wieczorek stings them out during the Juniors race!

In the overall race, John Zaccone, Tony Wieczorek and Taylor Birmann all lined up. John took 3rd in the overall race and was awarded 2nd in the Junior 17-18 category. Taylor and Tony placed 9th and 14th and were awarded 1st and 2nd in the Junior 13-14 category. This was Taylor's 2nd State Championship as he also won the Junior 13-14 StateRoad Race Championship!!! Tony had to settle for 2nd place to go with his 1st in the State TT Championship, but vows to even the score with Taylor by winning the State Cyclocross Championship in December!!!

John Zaccone cruises in the pack during the Juniors race!

In the Masters 45+ race Dominick Zaccone (father of Jr team member John Zaccone) led out the sprint and looked to be the winner, but in a nail-biter of a finish, was just caught and passed in the last 10 meters and had to settle for 3rd.

What might be considered the most exciting race was the Elite Men Category 3 event. Lining up for the team were Joe Lekovish, Rich Stark, Jason Brake, John Zaccone, Dominick Zaccone, Alex Keomany, and Craig Rice. The pace was fast from the start and despite a lot of attacking, no one could escape. The final turn at Ada is the most important as it's a 120 degree turn to the downhill finishing straight. Alex took the turn in 3rd wheel and bided his time till 300 meters to go and launched his sprint. He immediately broke out a decent gap and then committed the most embarrassing mistake any racer can make (as well as breaking USCF rules) and put his arms up in a victory salute, only to get beaten on the line by 3 inches!!! It was a tough lesson to learn, but Alex took it in stride and was happy with his 2nd place.

The chief officials photo finish of the Ca 3 race. Would Alex have won if he hadn't celebrated too early??? You be the judge.

Check out the video of the Cat 3 finish here:

http://www.gattoracing.us/Pictures/Road/Ada-8-5-06/images/DSCF9184.AVI

It works best if you right click on the link and select "Save Target As..."

In the Elite Cat 1,2 race the team had Jeff Hamilton, Jeremy Woocock, John Rigdon, Derek Timmerman, Rob Iser, Mark Caswell, Jason Rafeld, Ian Lockley, and Randy Hermann take the line. The plan was to protect Jeff and defend his 2005 State Criterium Championship title. The team put in great efforts to keep things together and at the finish of 80 minutes and 4 laps, everything was together. On the final lap the West Michigan Coast Riders team put every rider from their “A” team on the front and launched a lead out train that barreled around the last lap at nearly 34 mph. At the line it was WMCR racer Ben Renkema taking the win by a wheel, a great result for the 20 year old college student.

Ian Lockley battled throughout the Cat 1/2 race!