Tacchino Ciclicross
A BikeReg.com MABRA Cyclocross Series Event
Presented by
Squadra Coppi
Leesburg, VA
Saturday, November 04, 2006
							


BIG DAY FOR BIG TEAMS AT THE BikeReg.com MABRAcross TACCHINO CICLIOCROSS



November 4, 2006; Leesburg, Virginia, USA:  The penultimate round of the 2006 BikeReg.com MABRAcross series took place in the beautiful and historic town of Leesburg, Virginia on Saturday, November 4.  Promoted by the Squadra Coppi, a local club named in honor of the legendary Italian Fausto Coppi, the race was held in the pristine Ida Lee Park and Recreation Center less than a half-mile from the town center.  While Catoctin Mountain served as a backdrop, the racers didn’t need any visual reminders about hills as the course featured two very long (for cyclocross), grassy and sometimes off-camber climbs.  The repeated climbing was devastating for the slower classes, but even the elite racers characterized the course as “grueling”.
 


The featured Elite/Pro Men started fast, with a group of 8 getting away up “Mount Ida” on the first lap.  One of the pre-race favorites, Greg Marini of Coffee Plus, was the first of the contenders to lose contact when he dropped his chain on the high-speed double barrier dismount on the first lap.  Those barriers, placed on a long straight section of track, appeared to be relatively straight-forward -- but for some reason they played havoc with racers all day long.  And before the end of this race, they would play a pivotal role again.
 


Within a few laps, the composition of the lead group had stabilized.  Keck Baker (CVCC), Bryan Butts (SPBRC/Bianchi) and Nathan Deibert (Holmes Cycling) were in a three-on-two tag-team match with the FORT Frames duo of Gregg Wittwer and Weston Schempf, who kept taking turns attacking the group.  Less than halfway into the one-hour race, Schempf put a gap on the rest of the group.  “I put in an effort up the hill toward the finish line and saw that I got a gap, so I kept on going“, he said afterwards.  Baker just barely hanging on and unable to work (he was eventually dropped late in the race), and Wittwer not about to chase down his own teammate, the responsibility fell to Nathan Deibert to lead the chase.  He rode aggressively, but Schempf’s well-timed attack had given him an insurmountable lead and he won with about a 300 meter advantage.  Behind him on the last, some of the best action of the day was unfolding as the man-on-man battle for second place between Deibert and Wittwer flew down the hill and toward the barriers just 500 meters from the end of the race.  Wittwer drew gasps from the spectators as he flew across the dismount section visibly faster than any other racer had all day long, gapping Deibert.  In desperation, Deibert tried to sprint back to Wittwer, but he accelerated too soon out of the next corner, causing him to fall when his rear wheel to lose traction.  Wittwer had time to celebrate as he came across the line to give the FORT Factory Team a one-two finish.
 


For Velo-Bella Kona’s Melanie Swartz, most of the drama took place during the weeks prior to the race.  Swartz is a former BikeReg.com MABRAcross champion who lives just 35 minutes away from Leesburg and is also a former member of the promoting Squadra Coppi club.  She was also a front-row starter at last-year’s National Championships due to her placings in UCI races.  At Leesburg, she attacked on the first lap of the Elite/Pro Women’s race and never looked back, winning by a wide margin.  But in the two week’s leading up to the Leesburg race, Swartz and her Velo Bella Kona team had to choose between two of their major objectives for the year -- trying either to win the BikeReg.com MABRAcross series championship or scoring UCI points in New England for a better start position at the U.S. National Championships.  At the end of the day, after the course had been knocked down and cleaned up, Melanie Swartz summed up her decision in one sentence, “Sometimes, supporting your local race is more important than UCI points.”
 



These results are provided for informational purposes only.  Please note that 
the protest period for this event has expired and no changes can or will be made 
to these results.

A Men
1       Weston Schempf          Fort Frames
2       Greg Wittwer            Fort Frames
3       Nathan Diebert          Holmes Cycling/BodyLogicTherapy
4       Keck Baker              Team Seigler/CVCC
5       Greg Marini             Coffee Plus Inc.
6       Bryan Butts             SPBRC/Bianchi
7       Mike Hebe               GPOA-Cannondale
8       Mason Haymes            Team Seigler/CVCC
9       Stephen DeLisle         Fort Frames
10      Erik Leaver             NCVC/Inova Health Systems
11      Adam Fung
12      Judd Milne              Squadra Coppi/IM Saab
13      Bill Gros               Squadra Coppi/IM Saab
14      Chip Sovek              Potomac Velo Club

A Women
1       Melanie Swartz          Velo Bella/Kona
2       Marjan Huisang          DC Velo/Martens Volvo
3       Lisa Vible              ADG/Joe's Bike Shop
4       Jessica Hill            Trail's End Cycling Co.
5       Beth Mason              ADG/Joe's Bike Shop
6       Jennifer Bodine         Artemis/GWU
7       Janet Olney             ADG/Joe's Bike Shop
8       Jennifer Maxwell        NCVC
9       Lorena Candrian         SC Velo
10      Marisa Peacock          Potomac Velo Club

Masters 55+
1       Fred Wittwer            Charlottesville Racing Club
2       Rob Lea                 TEAM Fuji
3       James Carlson           Potomac Velo Club
4       James Wagner            DC Velo/Marten's Volvo
5       Ben Williams            Snow Valley

U19 Juniors
1       Nathaniel Wilson        NCVC/Inova Health Systems

B Men
1       Evan Ellicot            DCMTB-City Bikes
2       John Brewer             Squadra Coppi/IM Saab
3       Brian Fouche            LSV/Kelly
4       Miles Smith             C3/ADG/Joe's
5       Morgan Gerlak           C3/ADG/Joe's
6       Jared Nieters           Warrenton Cycling
7       Peter Nicoll            Squadra Coppi/IM Saab
8       Steve Fife              Rockville Harley Davidson
9       Mark Russell            Unattached
10      George Milinkovic       Squadra Coppi/IM Saab
11      Kyle Murphy             The Bike Lane
12      Sam Thompson            Unattached
13      Gordon Davies           NCVC / Inova Health System
14      Joe Foley               DCMTB-City Bikes
15      David Crouse            Team Bike Lane
16      Gregory Sampson         Unattached
17      James Revere            Team Cobblestone
18      Mike Scardaville        DCMTB-City Bikes
19      Garner Woodall          Rockville Harley Davidson
20      Ken Woodrow             Squadra Coppi/IM Saab
21      Scott Thompson          Squadra Coppi/IM Saab
22      Kenneth McDowell        XXXRacing
23      Steve Dontigny          Team Bike Lane
24      Hawker Dawes            Team Cobblestone
25      Karl Connolly           LSV/Kelly
26      Ryan Newill             Squadra Coppi/IM Saab
27      Joe Ashman              Unattached
28      Peter Bell              Bayside Velo/Bike Doctor
29      Syd Lea                 TEAM Fuji
30      Steven Viers            Unattached

 Masters 35/45+
1       Richard Mihills         Henry's Bikes
2       John Lux                HVB/Marathon
3       Blair Saunders          Henry's Bikes
4       Mark Kutney             Van Dessel Factory Team
5       Chris Scott             Unattached
6       Randall Root            Team Snow Valley/Sibex
7       Fred Wittwer            Charlottesville Racing Club
8       Joe Fritsch             College Park Bikes
9       Ron Heubner             Potomac Velo Club
10      Todd Pittman            Lucky Lucy's
11      Bernie Schiao           LSV/Kelly
12      Jim Bronson             LSV/Kelly
13      Michael Kolb            First State Velo Club
14      Roger Masse             All American Bike Club
15      John Evanko             Unattached
16      Karl Kensinger          Unattached
17      Marc Gwadz              DCMTB-City Bikes
18      Kevin Breckmaker        Yellow Breeches Racing
19      Paul Incognito          Mighty Spot Brand
20      Christopher Sellman     C3/ADG/Joes
21      Mark Laser              Yellow Breeches Racing
22      Mike Buchness           Pedal Shop/Old Dominion Brewery
23      Leo Pizzini             Henry's Bikes
24      Barry Hollman           TEAM Fuji
25      Chris Schaefer          Yellow Breeches Racing
26      Les Russell             Yellow Breeches Racing
27      Micahel Birner          All American Bike Club
28      William Browne          Team n-teractive
29      Tony Billota            Van Dessel Factory Team
30      Joel Gwadz              DCMTB-City Bikes
31      Cary Hunter             Potomac Velo Club
32      Norman Kreiselmeier     Snake Bite Racing
33      Gary Kelley             South Mountain
34      Brad Devries            Squadra Coppi/IM Saab

C Men
1       Kyle Rodland            Charlottesville Racing Club
2       James Wittwer           Charlottesville Racing Club
3       Ben Sandberg            Two Roadies
4       Judd Walencikowski      Unattached
5       Bruce Buckley           The Bike Lane
6       John Neil               UVA Cycling Team
7       Alex Monte-Sano         Unattached
8       Trevor Shattuck         Team BBC
9       Andrew Welch            BRKNNCK
10      Steven Burke            Hunt Valley Bicycles
11      Matthew Summers         Team-N-Tieractive/Bike Doctor/Waldorf
12      Matthew Donahue         DCMTB-City Bikes
13      Brian Bradley           Lanterne Rouge
14      Sid Rappe               PBR
15      Joseph Kotun            Lanterne Rouge
16      Ryan Douglas            Route 1 Velo
17      Jeff Anderson           HPC/List
18      Jordan Cross            Squadra Coppi/IM Saab
19      Darren Biggs            PPTC/MORE
20      Gary Morris             Lanterne Rouge
21      Eric Ciccoretti         Unattached
22      Brian Geary             All American Bike Club
23      Greg Hoffman            Bike Doctor
24      Thom Moore              Potomac Velo Club
25      Joe Penano
26      Christopher Gould       Lanterne Rouge
27      Jeff Ehler              Unattached
28      Mike Berube
29      Alven Williams          Unattached
30      Dave Parramore          Unattached
31      Todd Gue                Downhill by Design/Bicycle Palace
32      Paul McIntyre
33      Bryan Burns             Warrenton Cycling
34      James McNeely           Squadra Coppi/IM Saab
35      Chad Foster             Team ARMY
36      Joseph Malin            Lanterne Rouge
37      Ka Chun Leung           Squadra Coppi/IM Saab
38      Aaron Ghais             All American Bike Club
39      Andrew Poulos
40      Jon Nguyen-Weaver       Unattached
41      Owen Abbe               Unattached
42      Gary Morris             Lanterne Rouge
43      Ben Townsend            Unattached
44      Damien Clark            Blue Collar Velo Club
45      Robert Colby            NCVC
46      Pat Burn
47      Joseph Ventosa          Unattached
48      George Blakenship       Unattached
49      Unknown
50      Brian Stoner            Cole's Bicycle Velo Club
51      Matt Gayford            Unattached
52      James Saunders          Route 1 Velo

B Women
1       Mary Fetrow             Yellow Breeches Racing
2       Vera Ros                Unattached
3       Toke Beellsma           Unattached
4       Yo Kim                  Artemis
5       Tracey Lea              Team Fuji
6       Christine Briseno       NCVC
7       Anne Kingery            Unattached
8       Lauren Miner            Bike Doctor
9       Christine Kelley        Team BBC
10      Tris Newbury            DCMTB/City Bikes
11      Anna Noller             Unattached

U16 Juniors
1       Justin Mauch            NCVC/Inova Health Systems
2       Jake Thompson           Squadra Coppi/IM Saab
3       Tanner Browne           Team-N-Tieractive/Bike Doctor/Waldorf