1st Place OVERALL
Pro/Expert Men
JASON MOORE
MOORE'S / REINHARDT

GUY'S RACING
SUMMER CLASSIC
June 3 , 2001
Jesse Piersol - Staff Reporter

"It's embarrassing, really," reflects Yong Kong of Guy's Bicycles. "Somebody said the reason we're winning is because we're like a Chinese army. There's just so many of us!" Those are the words of not only the fourth-place Vet Expert finisher in Sunday's Guy's Racing Summer Classic in Sewell, New Jersey, but also the words of a member of team Guy's Bicycles, which may still be leading the overall team standings for the Mid-Atlantic Super Series.

Why the uncertainty as to who is current leader? Wooden Wheels (Newark, DE) had a terrific day taking three Expert and two Sport first place finishes. (see race notes) The competition between the top five teams is tight due to the team point system allowing the larger teams to score only their top ten riders with the remaining members receiving just one point.

Sunday's race started out super muddy for the beginners, and then dried out throughout the morning as another record crowd of racers took to the course for their chance at glory. The course was flat and fast, with a sheen of sticky, slick mud on top. Even the few dirt road sections were beguiling - the mix of sand and clay sucked the speed and energy from the legs.

Jason Moore - Moore's / Reinhardt and Jay Duffy - Speedgoat.com were tied for first in series pro men points coming into today's race. However, Jason rode a strong race and emerged as series leader. Ryan DeWald - K2/Shirks Bikes put a gap on the field in the first lap and after flatting still managed to finish fifth place! Jason kept a steady pace and pulled away from the rest of the field with John McGinnis - Sobe/Headshok in hot pursuit. John ended up crossing the line 41 seconds back. Third place Jay Duffy - Speedgoat.com was having a bit of trouble getting traction with his tire selection for the day and finished a little over three and a half minutes back.

Katie Compton - TREK/VW East Coast Factory Team powered away from her competition with an awesome display of power. She is not likely to repeat her dietary mistakes that caused her to finish third at Hibernia. Kristine Oesterling - Team Harrisburg continued her winning ways taking first place Expert Women 29 and under.

The Guy's team was in good spirits after seeing several of their team members place well. Bart Passanante (fifth, Expert Vet) "felt like a million bucks" even though he got a flat after borrowing a friend's wheel. "The team started a couple of years ago, and it's been growing. We all use the Internet to communicate, and there's really a great sense of community."

"Tire selection was a big thing today," said Jay Dodge, who used a brand new set of 1.7 knobbies in his quest for second place Vet Expert. "I pushed it pretty hard, harder than usual, so I'm glad it was only four laps. The mud definitely made it more technical. I think the more you ride the mud, the better you get at it."

Watch out though, Wooden Wheels, and Guy's, because Wissahickon Cyclery is also in the running. And they had several terrific placings: Erik Silva won the Expert Senior I category, even though he was without his tires of choice. "I was running some Huchinson 1.75's, they seemed to dig in the traction
without clogging up the frame / fork / brakes at all, so cheers to them. I had an old pair of Panaracer Spike tires (remember them?) but UPS lost them when my other bike went for a wild ride across the country. Those spikes would have been awesome for this race."

Jesse: What was your strategy for this race?

Erik: I really felt like I was on the verge of bonking in 3 of the 5 laps (lap 2, 3, 4) but two things kept me going: one, my family and friends do an outstanding… no, absolutely fantastic (like rockin' 80's music) job of cheering. Every time I went by they made me feel huge. And two, I just finished reading Lance Armstrong's book and I just kept thinking that I didn't have a good enough reason to quit and so I kept fighting, just like Lance."

Jesse: What did you think of the course?

Thais: I liked it a lot better last year! [laugh]. It was a lot of fun, it's like a roller coaster. And the way the course is set up makes it easy to keep track of the competition.

Jesse: Were you in third place the whole race?

Thais: No, actually I was in fourth place for the first and second laps, and then I passed Theresa [Richardson] at the end of the third lap.

Jesse: D*&%! What makes you so fast?

Thais: [laughing] R U Fit Training and Racing!

Good cheer was everywhere. "I didn't suck so bad today," noted Paul Incognito. Indeed he didn't, turning in an impressive ninth place in the Vet Expert race.

Mike Yozell was pretty pumped too, managing to squeak out a fourth place. "Yeah, I surprised myself today. I woke up tired, but I persevered. Got a good start. I just think it's nice to see all these people out racing. Kudos to the promoters."

Even the racers who didn't have the most fruitful race could be seen enjoying themselves in other ways. Les Leach and I blabbed on the hood of his car while he enjoyed a favorite post-race beverage. "Yeah, I only did three laps today. I hit my head pretty hard…I got taken out by one of those wet bridges. I had fun though," Les ruminated semi-thoughtfully. "And there's always next week!" That there is. See ya at Fell Mountain.

Reporter's note: I might not have been particularly fast on Sunday, but I truly owe whatever speed I had to Clifford at Control Tech Bicycle Components. He bought my sob story about ejecting my quick release skewer spring into the hay abyss of the Race for Chocolate parking lot (which is true), and sent me a replacement set at the speed of light!

MESSAGE FROM
DON MORRISON - SUPER SERIES PROMOTER:

Guys did a great job!! Special thanks need to go out to Mike Flynn and Rich Cordoro for a job well done. They worked long and hard to put it all together.

DUE TO UNUSUAL RESPONSE TO INTERVIEWS WE REGRET THAT WE WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO POST TOP THREE PLACE FINISHERS FOR PRO/EXPERT SENIOR MEN/WOMEN - AND ONLY FIRST PLACE FINISHERS IN ALL OTHER CATEGORIES FOR FUTURE RACES. WE WILL LEAVE THE ONES THAT ARE ALREADY ONLINE BUT SINCERELY REGRET NOT BEING ABLE TO ADD ANY MORE TO THE HOMEPAGE FOR GUY'S RACING SUMMER CLASSIC.
WE CANNOT HAVE THE HOMEPAGE LOAD TOO SLOWLY AND ARE VERY SORRY THAT WE CANNOT POST ANY MORE THAN THIS........