April 2002
April 25, 2002Forty-six point five!
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| MG photo |
| Smilie sharing a grimace after his ITT |
After winning last years CRCA Fall ITT by over a minute, Craig (aka "Smilie") was heavily favored to take the CRCA Spring ITT title from his boss and teammate George Suter.
With near perfect conditions (light winds and warm spring temperatures in the high 50's), the ITT had a strong turnout of 120 competitors. Because of the mild winter we have had, fast times were expected. The first to break the 30-minute mark was fourth starter, SBCG's Eugene Boronow who pulled in a time of 28:11 (42.6 kph), but falling short of his 27:56 time of his previous Spring ITT. Eugene's top position was soon lost as Think Racing's cat. 4 revelation, Thomas Pennell, who has won a B race earlier this year, came flying in with a 27:29 (43.7 kph). With this excellent time Thomas would have gotten 2nd place last Spring and Fall. However, the heavy hitter had yet to start.
No riders even approached Thomas' sub-28 time until Team Metro/Sanchez's Scot Willingham came in, but he fell short at 27:46 (43.2 kph), a 23 second eternity--yet still good enough for 1st in the 40+ category. The sub-28 barrier proved elusive, for only one other rider, Renaissance's John Podesta, broke it with a time of 27:49. Then, 25 racers later, Kaplan's Justin Lubeley sped in with a time of 27:28, a second faster than Thomas, to take the No. 1 spot. Unfortunately, Justin's time as top dog was short lived for the surprise of the day, ReMax's Chris Rozdilsky (aka "Rozdo") flew in with a 26:24 (45.6 kph), shaving off two minutes from his time last year where he finished 15th. His teammate, Mr. Consistency, Stephen Badger who finished 2nd, and 3rd in last years TT's, soon followed at 27:04 taking up the bridesmaid position of No. 2 again. With last year's Spring ITT times not even breaking 27:00, Rozdo's time looked unbeatable. Afterwards many other racers completed sub-28 times in their bid to take the ITT title--Think Racing's Roger Aspholm (27:31), Terence Kerrigan another surprising cat. 4 (27:27), Axis' Jason Bremer (27:10)--but none could beat Chris' and Stephen's times. However, last year's ITT winners, George Suter and Craig Upton had yet to start.
At the start line George looked tanned and fit from the previous weekend of racing at the Festival of Speed in Florida, but he pulled muscle in his calf there which pretty much put him out of contention for the ITT win. Despite the injury George did a great time to finish 6th with a 27:25 (43.8 kph) only 9 seconds slower than his last Spring ITT win.
Smilie, starting 30 seconds behind George, had already completed his ITT before George had finished his own trial. However, George was not the only racer he passed. During his ITT Smilie passed at least 10 other racers (beyond his 5-minute man) to finally finish with an incredible time of 25:48. No one else would come close to Smilie's time. There were only two more sub-28 times: Think Racing's Paul Albert (27:15) and Team Hammer Gel's Inson Wood (27:53).
RACE NOTES:
After the race CFZ asked Smilie how he did. Smilie shook his head and said he felt horrible and, to everyone's frustration, did not clock his own time. After hearing that Rozdo posted a 26:24, we thought there might be an upset. Apparently even feeling horrible is not enough as Smilie's 25:48 left little to the imagination.
April 13, 2002
Think Racing wins 2nd Team Cup race!
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| CC photo |
| Leon Moser, a multiple Empire State Game qualifier and the designated sprinter of Think Racing |
There were many short lived breaks throughout the race. But on the final lap one almost took home the glory as it built up lead a substantial enough to be out of sight. However, unrepresented teams were determined to bring it back and in the final couple of kilometers Think Racing did an excellent job of hauling back the break and set a blistering pace the last kilometer with Craig Upton (Smilie) and Chad Davis finally delivering Leon to the line. The evergreen Ray Diaz (Gap) and Axis's Keith Ryan rounded off the podium.
RACE NOTES:
The morning was warm and wet. Although it was no longer raining there were a couple of crashes on the twisting downhill heading into the Harlem Hill which took down Chris Ryan and Anthony Allesio. Anthony was able to get back up and finished 4th. Inson Wood hit the pavement as well while being in a break. Apparently, he was looking back to see the gap the break had on the field and overlapped the rear wheel of the rider in front of him. No one was seriously hurt. The average speed for the race was a blistering 42kph.
April 11, 2002
Remax wins again!
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| Mihael Ginghina photo |
| Ralph Hassard, #7 ranked CUC rider, took 2nd |