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RACE PACE WRAPS UP BikeReg.com MABRAcross SERIES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 6, 2006; Sykesville, Maryland, USA: The BikeReg.com MABRAcross series concluded its successful 2006 campaign at the Race Pace Cyclocross in Sykesville Maryland on Sunday. Located just west of Baltimore, Sykesville is a pretty, sleepy little town that would look just right in a country music video, and the muscle car convoy heading to a local car show the same morning as the bike race only added to the ambience. Held in the town�s Freedom Park, the course utilized many of the paths that route between the park�s baseball and soccer fields. According to Chip Sovek, BikeRreg.com MABRAcross Series Director, �The park is a nice little location with a bunch of ball fields and the perfect terrain for a cross race.�
The Masters were the first of the Elite classes to take to the course. Comprised of both the 35+ and 45+ age groups, the BikeReg.com MABRA Masters were dominated in 2006 by four riders: Richard Mihills and Blair Saunders of Henry�s Bikes, John Lux of Hunt Valley Bicycles/Marathon Roofing and Mark Kutney of the Van Dessel Factory Team. Of the four, Kutney was the only 45+ competitor and came into the race with three second place finishes, while Mihills had a perfect season of five wins in five races on the line as they stepped up to start the final race of the season. When the dust settled, Mihills� perfect season was broken and Kutney had finally broken through to beat the �young� guys. Richard Mihills� third place was more than enough to earn him the season championship in both the Masters Overall and the 35+ categories. Mark Kutney easily won the 45+ title, scoring nearly double the points of he closest competitor.
In the preliminary main event, Melanie Swartz (Velo Bella Kona) once again stormed to the front and rode a commanding race off the front the entire time with a small group behind her. Swartz had elected to support her former club�s Tacchino Cyclocross yesterday instead of traveling to New England to chase UCI points. Staying local, she scored her second BikeReg.com MABRAcross Series win for the weekend. But, while Swartz did everything she could to try to cover the series championship title for her absent Velo Bella teammate Deidre Winfield but, strangely enough, she didn�t get the help she needed from the other competitors. Demonstrating the value of both consistent podium finishes and consistent support of an entire series, Lisa Vible (C3/ADG/Joe�s Bike Shop) rode to the line in second place to secure the BikeReg.com MABRAcross Series Championship by a mere 5 points.
In the Men�s Elite race, the group rode together for the first couple laps before a small group of five split off. In addition to Kyle Hammaker of Trek VW and Greg Marini of Coffee Plus, the lead group also contained all three of yesterday�s podium finishers: Weston Schempf and Greg Wittwer of the FORT Factory Team and Nathan Deibert of Holmes Cycling. Hammacker attacked and opened up a gap, but the group reformed -- this time as a group of four as Deibert fell off the pace. Hammacker attacked again with Greg Wittwer, only to have the first four riders regroup again for the final couple laps of the fast Freedom Park course. Finally, with half a lap to go, Kyle Hammaker attacked the select group going up the last incline to steal the win. It was an impressive and confident win for the 19 year old Trek VW mountain biker.
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