1st Place OVERALL
Pro/Expert Men
CHRIS EATOUGH
TREK / VW / JBL

ESCAPE FROM GRANOGUE
July 22, 2001
Jesse Piersol - staff reporter

In the midst of rolling pastoral countryside, stunning architecture, and rope swings arcing over shimmering ponds (you can tell where my attention was yesterday, unfortunately), the Escape from Granogue once again proved its mettle as a challenging, well-run event .Katie Compton (earning yet another Super Series victory in the Women's Pro category) remarked at the start line, "I think this course is harder than Michaux. It might not be as long or as technical, but there's no rest. It's really tough."

And hot! Much of the course jets through fields and gravel roads that are out in the open sun, sucking the water from your body. The sun, however, wasn't all that was tepid -Trek East Coast/Volkswagen rider Chris Eatough was smoking hot (or was that dust?) and rode a blistering pace to victory in the Men's Pro division. SoBe/Headshok member John MacInnis followed in second place, and third across the line was Jed Schober with his best placing yet in the Super Series. Jason Moore of Moore's/Reinhardt and Jay Duffy of Speedgoat.com/Yeti rounded out the top five, respectively. Scott Henry of Team Harrisburg, in his second race since upgrading to the Pro division for the series, placed a not-too-shabby eighth.

In the Men's Expert I field, Ed Bush of Guy's Bicycles rode to the number one spot, followed closely by Philip Wayne of Hive Bicycles. Erik Silva (still plagued by his nagging first lap gas pains) nonetheless managed to swashbuckle his way to third place, noting his race strategy of "keeping the pedal to the metal" and "looking good at all the spectator spots…oh, and staying out of the middle ring, that's trouble" (Erik rode the whole race without use of his middle chainring).

Kristine Oesterling of Team Harrisburg demonstrated why she's a Super
Series leader by winning the Women's Expert Senior category by almost
nine minutes. "I was behind Theresa for the first lap, after I dropped my chain, but then I made up the time. I didn't feel very good for the first two laps, but for some reason, I felt a lot better for the third." Kristine also noted that "my tires really weren't a very good choice for today, and I put them on right before my race, so my bike felt different. I need a personal assistant [laughs]." Theresa Richardson of Trek/Bike Doctor rode to a second-place finish, followed by Christine Clay of Wissahickon.

The Men's Expert II field saw Johnny Guentner of Wooden Wheels standing atop the podium, and Mike Kuhn of Harrisburg in second place. Robert Campos of Byron Lake Schwinn rounded out the top three.

Dave Henry again showcased his form with a win in the Men's Vet Expert field, shadowed closely by Blair Saunders of Team Delaware in second place and the ever-present Jay Dodge of Guy's in third. Blast-from-the-past racer Bob Reuther joined his Wooden Wheels teammates on Sunday, riding to seventh place.

IRON HILL CHALLENGE
RAIN OR SHINE

Registration
A NORBA license is not required, entry fee will be $25 with race-day registration only. Registration will open at 7:30am on August 5th and will close 15 minutes prior to each event.

VIRTUAL TOUR

START TIMES
Approx. 5 miles per lap

DIRECTIONS

Iron Hill Park is due south east of Newark, DE and is easily accessible from I-95.

Wooden Wheels occupied another top podium spot with Joey Thompson's win in the Expert Junior field. This was Joey's second race as an Expert and he remains undefeated. In second place was Wes Shirey of CycleWorks, followed by Chris Powers.

In the Men's Expert Master category, Robert Sauer got the winning points, further stoking the fire for Guy's in the bid for team series point leader. Wooden Wheels' rider Mark Nickerson was right behind, however, followed by Michael Connair (unattached).

All the racers commented on the great organization of the race. Thanks to Wooden Wheels for another super Super Series race-see everyone at Iron Hill!