Lozano and Storm Score Big at Fitness Concepts Capital Cross
Classic
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The Verge Mid-Atlantic Cyclo-Cross Championship Series made its
final stop of the 2004 season in Lake Fairfax Park in Reston, Virginia.� Warm
temperatures and a beautiful blue sky made it difficult for riders to believe
that it was the first weekend in December.�
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At the start of the Elite
Women�s race, everyone was talking about the impending battle between current
series leader, Betsy Schauer (Fort/GPOA) and Amber Itle (Yellow Breeches
Racing).� Itle started the race only four points behind Schauer in the series�
ranking and had a good shot at claiming her first Verge title.� While everyone
was expecting a Schauer/Itle showdown other riders had their own ideas of how
the race should play out.� On the first lap, a lead group of five formed that
contained Itle, Schauer, Kami Tremblay (LSV), Georgia Gould (Alan Mid-Atlantic)
and Mandy Lozano (Easton/Kona/CCA).�� As the race progressed, Tremblay was the
first to lose contact.� Lozano and Gould then started to pull away from Schauer
and Itle.� Itle, who appeared to be riding stronger than Schauer early on,
started to struggle to hold contact with Schauer and eventually popped off.�
With Schauer now riding solo, Lozano and Gould continued to pick up time as the
laps counted down.� As the lead duo hit the barriers for the final time, Lozano
was first back on the bike and threw down an attack heading out to the back part
of the course.� Gould could not match the effort and Lozano held onto a
sixteen-second lead to pick up her first Verge Mid-Atlantic win.� Gould rolled
in for second and Schauer hung tough to pick up third.� Itle finished fourth and
Tremblay rounded out the top five.� Schauer�s finish in front of Itle, even
though it was only one spot higher, allowed her to claim her second consecutive
Verge Mid-Atlantic Series title.
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In a scenario similar to that of the
Elite Women�s field, two riders came into the final race of the Elite Men�s
class in a nail biting battle for the Verge series title.� Ryan Leech
(Fort/GPOA) had the lead coming into Reston but Greg Marini (Coffeeplusinc.com)
was sitting right behind him.� Although Marini was sitting in second, there were
actually several other riders in the field that mathematically had a chance to
wrestle the title away from both Leech and Marini.� Lap one saw the formation of
an early lead group that contained Leech, Marini, Jon Hamblen (Fior di Frutta),
Ben Turner (TIAA-Cref/Clif Bar), Charlie Storm (Fuji/BTD) and Gunnar Shogren
(Fort/GPOA).� With Hamblen and Turner driving the group, Leech appeared quite
comfortable and had his man Marini marked when all of a sudden Leech had a
mechanical. A problem with his chain forced Leech off the bike and as he
struggled to fix it, the rest of the group took off.� Leech�s teammate Shogren
immediately went to the front, trying to limit Leech�s damage but Turner was
having none of that.� Turner attacked and blew the group apart.� The only rider
able to go with him was Storm.� Behind Turner and Storm, Marini and Hamblen were
together and Shogren was alone.� Shogren, realizing his teammate Leech was
behind him and that a Verge title was on the line, decided to give his all to
help Leech regain contact with the leaders.� With Leech attached to his wheel,
Shogren buried himself to close the gap to Marini.� Two laps to go saw Turner
and Storm still together and the duo of Hamblen and Marini still together.�
Shogren had wasted himself helping Leech and now Leech was left riding solo in
fifth.� Shogren had dropped off to sixth.� As the leaders got the bell, Storm
attacked Turner and got a small gap which he held going into the last set of
barriers.� As soon as he hit the road, he attacked again and got the gap for
good.� Storm scored the win and Turner, who animated much of the race, picked up
second.� Marini and Hamblen crossed the line in a vicious sprint that was won by
Hamblen for third.� Marini was fourth and Leech finished fifth.� Quick
calculations by those on the sidelines indicated that Leech had held onto his
lead and had wrapped up the Verge Mid-Atlantic Elite series title.� Greg Wittwer
(cyclocrossworld.com) finished in eight place as the top placed U23
rider.
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Other winners of the day include Patrick Ryland (Rad Racing) in
the Junior class, Nick Bax (Artemis)� in the Junior 10-16 class, Ransom Weaver
(Guys Bicycles)� in the Masters 35+ class, Randall Root (Snow Valley) in the
Masters 45+ class, Eric Roman (Independent Fabrications) in the Men�s B field,
Heidi Von Teitenberg (Alan Mid-Atlantic) in the Women�s B field, Kateland
Schlemm (unattached) in the Junior Women�s field and Robert Campbell (NCVC/Edge)
in the Men�s C class.
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Additional information, full results and series
details can be found at www.monkeyhillcs.com/mac/mac2004/
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