• Cyclocross

Weekend ‘CrossWrap: Brown wins Colorado; Tilford storms Nebraska; Wells, McConneloug sterling in Sterling

by VeloNews.com

• November 29, 2004
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The “Weekend ‘Cross Wrap” is a service of VeloNews.com.Stories and results are provided by race promoters and are not producedby VeloNews or VeloNews.com. Promoters are welcome to submit race reportsthroughout the cyclo-cross season to Rosters@7Dogs.com.Reports may be edited for length and clarity.

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Brown Wins Colorado ‘Cross Series
Boulder, Co (November 28, 2004 — Travis Brown won the Boulder Racing Cyclo-Cross Series Sunday, closing out the season with five straight wins for a season total of eight wins. Colorado offered three cyclo-cross series to Front Range competitors this season: The Foothills Series, The Red Rocks Velo and Boulder Racing Series.

Brown rode and won all three series finals on a single speed and took the overall series win for two of the three race series.

The grueling and competitive Colorado field included Marc Gullickson, Jason Tulles, Jonathan Baker, Brandon Dwight and Ben Turner.

While most competitors choose to race on full cyclo-cross rigs, Brown instead opted for his single speed in many of the races: “I found that for most of the conditions, the single just proved to be the best choice for me because it’s the most fun.”

Brown will go on to race two UCI races in California and then on to Portland, Oregon for the Cyclo-Cross National Championships.
Boulder Cycloross Series #5
1 Travis Brown
2 Brandon Dwight
3 Marc Gullickson
4 Mike West
5 Tim Faia1 Heather Szabo
2 Gretchen Reeves
3 Margell Abel
4 Cristina Begy
5 Megan HarrodBoulder Cycloross Series Overall
1 Travis Brown
2 Marc Gullickson
3 Brandon Dwight
4 Time Faia
5 Mike West1 Margell Abel
2 Heather Szabo
3 Gretchen Reeves
4 Megan Harrod
5 Catherine Johnson
 

Tilford wins Nebraska ‘cross series finale
Wilhelm, Neville State ChampionsSteve Tilford (HRRC/Maclaren Racing/BikeSource) rode to an impressivewin on a cold and snowy sunday afternoon at the Nebraska Cyclo-cross StateChampionship (Mid-America Cross #5) at Pioneers Park in Lincoln. From thegun Tilford, a mountain-bike world champion, powered to the front and exitedon to the grass in first position putting the entire field on notice.

As riders picked their way through the muddy, slick turns, Tilford maintaineda brisk pace gaining over 2:30 on the field in just three laps. “You learnsomething new every time you race cross,” commented Tilford. “Each laprode different due to the conditions today, but I figured it out each timearound.”

While Tilford would eventually lap the field, the race behind saw hisBikeSource teammate, Shadd Smith having his own fantastic outing as hesoloed to a second place finish, rising to second in the Cross Cup standings.Nebraska State “Men’s A” Champion and Cross Cup series leader, Tony Wilhelm(LBC/Highgear) battled the course at the beginning of the 60-minute contest,going down twice and finding himself in last place after just two laps.After an amazing comeback, which saw Wilhelm claw his way back throughthe field, he and Team X Cycling rider, Brad Cole exchanged attacks untilthe finale where Cole edged Wilhelm in the sprint for third.Despite missing the podium, Wilhelm grabbed top honors in the state.In the Women’s event, Catherine Walberg (Team Kenda) motored her way toher first victory of the Cross Cup Series over Team Kaos standout, MarieNeville. Neville took top honors as Nebraska State Champion with her secondplace finish overall besting Kristi Newcomb (Mountain Magnolias), who crossthe line in third place continuing to show impressive cross form. The Mid-AmericaCross Cup concludes next Saturday, December 4, 2004 in Kansas City. Forcomplete information on this event, please visit: http://www.cowtowncycling.com.

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Massachusetts – While most people were still working off their Thanksgiving dinner, MaryMcConneloug (Seven Cycles) and Todd Wells (GT/Hyundai) used their new-foundenergy to take home victories in the elite races at the Gearworks Bay StateCyclocross in Round 6 of the Verge New England Championship Cyclo-CrossSeries, held in Sterling, MA.McConneloug, the overall series leader, who earlier in the day confirmedthat she will be competing in the upcoming national championships, didnot disappoint the assembled crowd, dominating the race from start to finish.She started strong with Anna Milkowski (Rona) and Celeste Drumm (HUP United)joining her at the front of the field early in the first lap. But by theend of the first lap she had a huge advantage that she would never relinquish.Milkowski dueled throughout the race with Maureen Bruno-Roy (Cyclocrossworld.com),and with 2 laps to go Milkowski attacked Bruno on the pavement, seizing2nd place. Bruno rounded out the podium in 3rd spot, with Drumm settlingfor 4th and Pauline Frascone (Mystic Velo) rounding out the top 5.The men’s race started at a blistering pace, with a group of 10 thatincluded the Wells brothers Todd and Troy (Kona/Easton/CCA). The brothersdrove the race like a bullet train for the first 3 laps, eventually splittingthe group with only series leader Mark McCormack (Colavita/Clif Bar), AdamCraig (Maxxis/Giant), and Tyler Johnson (CYBC-Richard Sachs) were ableto keep pace. Adam Craig was unable to stay with the front group for longas a flat rear tire and derailleur problems cost him a lap and would takehim out of contention. Later, when Troy Wells ran out of gas, he splitthe group in half and left the Todd Wells and McCormack to fight it outfor 1st. Todd eventually rode away from McCormack on the steep run-upsand earned a hard-fought solo victory, with McCormack riding home for 2nd.Meanwhile Tyler Johnson was sitting on Troy Wells’ wheel, hoping for anchance to seize the final podium spot; but what he got instead was a thunderousattack from Wells at 1 to go, which Johnson was unable to respond to. TroyWells finished 3rd on the day, and first of the under-23 finishers. Johnsonsettled for 4th and a good ride on the day. The 2nd group featured thebest battle of the day: the race for series lead in the under-23 standingsbetween Jesse Anthony (Cyclocrossworld.com) and series leader Matt White(NCC/BikeReg.com). Anthony just snuck past White for 8th place, but Whiteheld onto the leader’s jersey. The back part of the original front groupfought tooth-and-nail, with Michael Broderick (Seven Cycles) respondingto an attack from Ben Turner (TIAA/CREF/Clif Bar) and sprinting his wayto 5th spot.Other winners on the day included Greg Ferguson (Fort/GPOA) in the Masters,Toby Marzot (Corner Cycles) in the Juniors, Logan Hodson (Alan) in theB Men, Luke Keough (Corner Cycles) in the Cub Juniors, David Rath (GMBC/Catamount)in the Masters 55+, Talbott Ingram in the Beginner Men, Marei Titus Hallin the Beginner Women, and Daniel Abbe in the Beginner Masters.The overall series leaders going into next weekend series finale inS. Kingston, RI are Mark McCormack in the Elite Men, Matt White in theU23 Men, Mary McConneloug in the Elite Women, Mike Magur (Verge/Test Pilot)in the B Men, Jonny Bold (Corner Cycles) in the Masters 35+, Chris Long(Independent Fabrications) in the Masters 45+, Toby Marzot in the Juniors,Luke Keough in the Cub Juniors, and Bruce McGowan (Providence Cycles) inthe Masters 55+. The race next Saturday is worth double points, and couldhave a dramatic impact on the final standings for the Verge NECCS.The Gearworks Bay-State Cyclo-Cross Race is presented by Gear Works Cycles in Leominster, Mass., and is sponsored by Spin Arts Stevens Cycles.The Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series is sponsored byVerge Sport, makers of quality custom cycling apparel; Cycle-Smart, providersof custom coaching solutions for all riders and cycling disciplines; International Bicycle Center, New England’s cyclo-cross source, in Boston, Newton, and on the web at internationalbike.com; BikeReg.com, offering all of your online event registration needs; IntensePicts.com, professional event photography; The Ride Magazine, the magazine of New England cycling culture; and Pioneer Event Productions, offering technical solutions for cycling events, from course design and construction to results and timing.

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Home Depot center hosts Scary Fast California state cyclo-cross championships
The Home Depot Center Sports Complex in Carson, CA, USA will host theScary Fast California State Cyclo-cross Championships December 5, 2004.The 1.2-mile course will have a variety of challenging elevations aroundthe ADT Velodrome including two run-up sections.This is the first cyclo-cross event to be held at the Home Depot Center.Amgen Cycling Club will sponsor a Barbque and Beer Garden at the Expo Areain front of the Velodrome.  A few of the registered
companies to have booths in the Expo Area are Bianchi, Clif Bar, RedBull, Kona/Pyramid Brewery, Felt Racing, Shimano, Smith Optics, ProfileDesigns, Bellwether Sports, Agoura Cycles, Ford Motor Co.
and Rocket Power Parts.Racing begins promptly at 11am. During the event, spectators arewelcome to watch World Cup Track Racers who will be training on the Velodromefor the up coming UCI World Cup Track event which starts December 10, 2004.For more information, visit www.scaryfastracing.com.

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The “Weekend ‘Cross Wrap” is a service of VeloNews.com.Stories and results are provided by race promoters and are not producedby VeloNews or VeloNews.com. Promoters are welcome to submit race reportsthroughout the cyclo-cross season to Rosters@7Dogs.com.Reports may be edited for length and clarity.

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