Sunday Oct. 17, 1999    

    Junior/Master 35+ combined (about 70 racers total)

     What a fantastic and fast race! But what a bullshit start! In a repeat performance of last year's SuperCup finale, the race promoters and USCF officials forgot to think about what to do with such large fields of Juniors and Masters at such an important event. First someone told the racers to go to the line. Then someone else told the Juniors to go to the back of the pack. Then someone else called a random group of Masters and Juniors to the front, then a few more random late comers went to the front. The end result was a complete chaos of non-contenders (both Juniors and Masters) massed at the front and middle of the pack while top ranked Juniors from New England and other Jrs who came from farther afield were "relagated" to start from the back. After the race, one official claimed not to have known that some Jrs were told to start at the back. But later, when the "B" and Collegiate Men raced together, the Collegiates were given a well defined 30 second head start. Does this sound like sour grapes? You better freaking believe it! Somebody please explain to me why kids who are in contention to place on the podium at Nationals need to spend the race fighting their way through Masters way past their prime, who have trouble running up hills or keeping a fast pace through chicanes or loose dirt.

      At the beginning of the race, Bill Skinner (CRCA/ Hot Tubes) set off alone and fast with a breakaway that threatened to stick. But his juice ran out within a couple of laps as he was overtaken and then dropped by the group powered by Justin Thompson and Paul Curley. Paul gave Justin another lesson in how to race faster than he thought he could, pushing Justin to use his awesome power and showing him lines faster than he could see. Eventually Justin and Paul dropped the group of 5 or 6 Master and Juniors who were with them and continued to open the gap for the rest of the race. Scott Wade (Paul's teammate) kept a close guard on the gap and made sure that none of the other Masters would bridge up, at least not without him. Damion Donias and Josh Anthony raced neck and neck, changing positions throughout the hard race. The rest of the Juniors spent the rest of the race learning the hard lesson that it doesn't pay to be polite to slow, overweight Masters at the starting line; as they clawed their way through the huge field, trying to fight their way to the front of their own race. (yes, that was more bitterness, in case you weren't sure) Special kudos to Sterling Magnell who raced most of the time with a _very_ noisy wheel (I assume it was a broken spoke).

     Junior (31 official finishers recorded)

1 Justin Thompson (Trek/VW) 46:12 2 Dameion Donias (Redline) @ 0:52 3 Josh Anthony (Essex County Velo) @ 1:04 4 Craig Lipka (Northampton CC) @ 1:29 5 Jeremy Powers @ 1:35 6 Oliver Stiler @ 2:?? 7 Matt Hawkins (Sobe) @ 2:?? 8 Sterling Magnell (Mercury/Ritchey) @ 3:06 9 Ian Stuart (CRCA/ Hot Tubes) @ 3:21 10 David Werling (Coyote Hill) @ 3:28 11 Dan Wolfson (CRCA/ Hot Tubes) @ 3:36 12 TJ Valis (NECSA/ Richard Sachs) @ 3:52 13 Sam Sarcia (STC) @ 4:05 14 Jesse Anthony (Essex County Velo) " " 15 Jon Kalalev @ 4:11