Laudien Cross

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Laudien Cross
Race #7 of 8 of the PA Cyclo-cross Series
December 5, 1999
Pennsylvania

By Bill Laudien

The course: 1.25 miles of mostly grass with some paved sections and one long sand crossing. Relatively flat with one long runup.

Weather: Sunny to partly cloudy and unseasonably warm. A morning shower cleared up well before the race, but softened up the ground to change the course from a fast layout to a real grinder.

The racing:

Men's C
Lancaster Runner Mark Buckwalter decided to crossover to two wheeled fun for the day and rode away from the field to win easily. The race also saw the return to the peleton of Michael Doupe accompanied by his son Decker

Women
Laurel Graves had a clean first lap and looked to be walking away with the race, but Bonnie Stokel (Evolution) had other plans. Stokel chased down the Tro-State Velo rider to take the win and set up a three way race for the overall between the Team Evolution riders.

Men's B
Ransome Weaver ( Penn ) had another fine race and after one lap of pack riding, left the main group and rode away to a win. Larry Kauffman had another fine ride for second and with the ability for riders to throw away their lowest two scores, the overall standing should be interesting.

Men's A
With the Trek riders in Portland preparing for Nationals, the Bicycle Therapy contingent of Skip Menard and Bill Eliston decided to make things interesting by giving the other riders in the field a 1 minute head start. The should have given them a little better cushion. The two riders rejoined the main field after two laps and then proceeded to hunt down John Kelly and Simone. Once the two NJ riders were caught the boys n yellow worked together to forge a solid lead. That lead was needed as Skip broke his chain at the beginning of the last lap and had to run the final lap to hold onto second. Good rides should be noted of Brent Kametz (5th, Green Mt.) and Andrew Albright (6th, First State).

Other Notes:

On a personal note. Thank you very much to Scott Haverstick, Mike Kuhn, Brent Kametz, Ron Gross, Lynford, and all the others who came out to help with the race.

The race was run, for the first time in PA, under the umbrella of the American Bicycle Racing Association.

Anyone who has any coments or suggestions for the race next year, please feel free to send them to me at Laudien@manortwp.org

Full results and great pictures (thanks again Ron Gross) can be found at Brian Gallagher's excellent website. www.pacyclo-cross.com