March 14/05 9:34 am - BC Spring Series: Races 4 and 5: report, results and photos

Posted by Editoress on 03/14/05
 

BC Spring Series
Courtesy Gordon Ross

Photos by Greg Descantes: A group, B and C group

Race #4: Ft Langley Points Race - March 12th

In the A Group, Martin Gilbert riding for the Trek Volkswagen team out of Montreal used his international track racing experience to dominate the A race. Gilbert, in Vancouver en route to Los Angeles for the World Track Cycling Championshps at the end of the month and local racer Min Van Velzen of Symmetrics put on a good show dueling for points every second lap. Van Velzen finished the day with the second most points. US pro Kirk O'Bee of the Navigators Insurance Cycling team, fresh off riding the Classics season openers Het Volk and Kurne Brussels Kurne in Belgium, used his fitness to bridge across to a 4 man breakaway with 5 laps left in the race. Half a lap later, they were joined by 5 more riders growing the breakaway to 10 riders strong. Christian Meier (Symmetrics) and O'Bee then attacked the break with one lap to go, O'Bee taking the final sprint, the double points at the finish and securing third overall.

A strong Garth White of the Comox Valley CC was the clear winner in the B's with 18 points. Tim Abercrombie (Escape Velocity) again takes a spot on the podium in second place. Attilla Fritz of Mighty Riders had some early succeses and finished third.

Chris Smit of Coastal won the C's. Ron Klopfer was second followed by Deema Annyuk. All three of these guys have regularly been on the C podium and are definetly strong. Perhaps it's time for an upgrade to the B group, guys...


A Group: 52 riders, 20 laps, 130km

1. Martin Gilbert (Trek/VW)
2. Vin Van Velzen (Symmetrics Army)
3. Kirk O'Bee (Navigators Insurance)
4. (tie)Christian Meier (Symmetrics)
4. (tie) Murray Solem (Blak Dog Racing)
6. (tie) Dave Goosen (Rocky Mountain Adobe)
6. (tie) Keith Stark (Rocky Mountain Business Objects)
8. Jordan Guenette (Rocky Mountain Adobe)
9. (tie) Jim Kwasnicki (Coastal)
9. (tie) Luca Segato (Natural Earth Racing)
11. (tie) Dave Jenkins (Blak Dog)
11. (tie) Mike Koski (Rocky Mountain Adobe)
11. (tie) Ken Johnson (Blak Dog)


B Group: 58 riders, 16 laps, 100km

1. Gar. White (Comox Valley CC)
2. Tim Abercrombie (Escape Velocity)
3. Atilla Fritz (Mighty Riders)
4. Maurizio Giraldi (Mighty Riders
5. (tie) Mike Boehm (The Bike Co.)
5. (tie) Joel Lemaire (Pheonix Velo)
7. (tie) Mandy Poitras (Symmetrics)
7. (tie) John Perkins (Escape Velocity)
9. (tie) Horacio Chaves
9. (tie) Adam Schwith (WWU Cycling)

C Group: 42 riders, 11 laps, 68km

1. Chris Smit (Coastal)
2. Ron Klopfer
3. Deema Annyuk (Coastal)
4. (tie) Bob Lindsay (Vancouver Velo Vets)
4. (tie) David Ricci (Wedgewood)
6. (tie) Taku Imai (Devo Powerbar)
6. (tie) Micayla Gatto (Roacky Mountain Business Objects)
8. (tie) Wayne Henderson (Coastal)
8. (tie) Rob Dale (Atomic)

Race #5: Bradner Road Race - March 13th

The rolling farmroads of Bradner played host to 171 riders on Sunday, with a 9km circuit course. Another sunny and hot day (17 C), jerseys and shorts were the order of the day, as lots of very white legs received some much needed tanning.

In the A Group, a large group of 20 riders got away early on the third lap, not without being passed by an eager B Group on the first lap. Once the two groups were separated, the racing got underway. In the lead group, most of the Symmetrics squad (Brad Fairral, Christian Meier, Jeff Sherstibitoff), several Solo/Adobe riders including Carl Jacobson, and Trek/Red Truck Racing strong man Sean Dawson were all present, along with Martin Gilbert (Trek/VW) and pro Kirk O'Bee (Navigators). The large group, which seemed destined to ride away with the race, got over 2:30 on the chase group of 35 riders, but with 7 laps remaining, the group was pulled back in. Left in front was Andrew Kyle (Sugoi), Dawson, and Jacobson.

These riders would continue for a few more laps, before being caught by a hard-charging reformed peloton. The last 4 laps would be characterized by attacks on Bradner's rollers, with small groups of 2 and 4 riders getting away then being brought back in. Finally, a group of 5 riders secured their move, with Kirk O'Bee bridging up, followed by a solo bridge from Larry Zimich (Team Coastal). In the sprint, O'Bee took first place over Martin Gilbert and Luca Segato (Organic Athlete).

The B Group race was a continuation of the grudge match between two guys who will soon find themselves in the A Group. The winners of 4/5 B Group races to date, the familiar faces of Garth White (Comox Valley CC) and Tim Abercrombie (Escape Velocity) emerged on the last lap, along with Paul Craig (Natural Earth Racing), leading the pack by no more than 200m. Craig lost contact as Abercrombie towed White to the line for the last 2km. White then came around Abercrombie to take a cheeky victory...

Chris Smit (Team Coastal) made it 2 for 2 this weekend winning his second C Group race. Teammate Deema Annyuk was 2nd and 15 year-old phenom Cody Campbell (Team Soliton) took an impressive 3rd place.

A Group: 58 Racers, 14 laps, 126km

1. Kirk Obee (Navigators Insurance)
2. Martin Gilbert (Trek Volkswagen)
3. Luca Segato (Organic Athlete)
4. Christian Meier (Symmetrics)
5. Sean Dawson (Trek Red Truck Ale)
6. Larry Zimich (Coastal)
7. Bradley Fairall (Symmetrics)
8. Brad Issel (Trek Red Truck Ale)
9. Keith Stark (Rocky Mountain Business Objects)
10. Jordan Guenette (Rocky Mountain Adobe)

B Group: 79 Racers, 10 laps, 90km

1. Garth White (Comox Valey Cycling Club)
2. Tim Abercrombie (Escape Velocity)
3. Mike Boehm (The Bike Co.)
4. Mathew Campbell (CVC)
5. Celeo Guifarro (WWU Cycling)

C Group: 34 Racers, 6 laps, 54km

1st Chris Smit (Coastal)
2nd Deema Annyuk (Coastal)
3rd Cody Cambell (Soliton)
4. Dustin Gordon
5. Bill Letham