Race Results

However, the reborn Ridgefield Bank team, now Fiori DiFruitta, had plans of their own. With break specialists Pat MacNamara and John Funk present, the team worked tirelessly to set up attacks for their leaders. Verge Sports was especially active, sending rider after rider in two and three man breaks. But when Chris Pile (Remax) attacked the then-together field, MacNamara launched a ferocious counter that only one rider could follow (Verge?). Pile regrouped with a Team Squiggle rider and Pollo and set off to chase the two men up the road. With memories of MacNamara's winning break on the 11th, the field put down a committed chase. After about 10 hard laps, the field was all together. Funk countered hard with Wirtz and the two got a small gap. The field stayed within sight but when the individuals chasing started to tire, the Fiori DiFruitta and Bethel Cycle teams went to the front and looked after any more chase attempts. Wirtz's move started to look good and based on previous finishes between the two, the bet would have been for him to win the two up sprint.

Up front there was no time to relax as the two started to tire. With an unusual tailwind on the backstretch, the field tended to ride faster than normal and this contributed to a declining gap to the break. At the bell Wirtz and Funk were still clear but the field was closing fast. With no time to relax, Wirtz had to work hard to maintain the gap - after all, the field had a lot of sprinters just waiting to pounce if the break came back. Wirtz's effort allowed Funk to win the race, just in front of a dismayed Wirtz. The field, led out by Stage One Cycling, was right behind as Anthony Allesio (Remax) came roaring up the hill just meters behind the break. GS Mengoni finisher Rosavert Marte took fourth and Team Squiggles' took fifth. Pile took sixth with Morgan Stebbins (Westwood Velo) seventh. Bodin took eighth followed by teammate Andrew Holloper. Baldwin was tenth.

Cat 3/4 Race Report - Overall leader David Kim (Westwood Velo) could not make the race due to a business trip (annoying how work interferes with cycling...). This meant that the tight Cat 3/4 overall would be totally up for grabs. Behind Kim's 15 points was teammate and overall M40+ winner Morgan Stebbins with 14. Aki Sato (Carpe Diem Racing) also had 14, with Fernando Ferreira (Northeast Bicycles) sitting with 12. Stebbins brought along a few teammates and Ferreira's Northeast Bicycles seemed to have loaded the field with theirs. Sato had a couple teammates as well.

The pace was hard from the start with a three man break on the first lap. Some steady riding by Bethel Cycle's Brian Wolf kept things together for a while. Then a number of primes (one donated by a friendly racer) put the hurt on a lot of riders. Stebbins kept attacking, trying to get a break up the road, forcing his rivals to chase. Ferreira also wanted a break as his fitness and tactical savy suited small groups perfectly. However, with a lot of attentive individuals, nothing seemed to stick. One significant break went just as the clock started to run out of time - Stebbins and Ferreira were both in it, both with support. Sato had to bridge and then countered an attack by Ferreira immediately. His efforts would cost him later.

In the final few laps, the pace hotted up as individuals made last ditch efforts to escape the field. Westwood Velo and Northeast were super diligent in bringing everything back with some superb efforts by Stage One Cycling, Fiori Fruitta, and CogWild Cycling. On the last lap Ferreira seemed out of position, leaving the overall battle to Stebbins and Sato. Stebbins went so hard up the hill he rode clear of everyone else, winning the race and the overall. Behind, Stephen Gray (Bethel Cycle), fading hard after leading out the sprint, took second. Sato took third with Cat 4 Matt Jamieson in fourth. Robert Scott (Cannondale) took fifth with a fast closing Garrett Brooks (Northeast Bicycles) in sixth. John Morales (Cafeteros) took the final point in seventh while Robert Woudenberg (Westwood Velo) finished eighth. Marc Risigo took ninth for Stage One Cycling and Rick Spear (Northeast Bicycles) rounded out the top ten.

M40+ Race Report - After another dominating performance, Morgan Stebbins (Westwood Velo) was assured of the overall victory in the M40+ race. So he opted to skip the race, preferring to save his legs for the Cat 3/4 overall battle. This left the trio of Bethel Cycle Sport riders Stephen Gray, Scott Bodin, and Greg Pelican to fight out the honors for the other two podium spots. As previous weeks the team rode selflessly for Gray and after he launched a leg withering attack, the team dutifully shut down any chase attempts. However with a couple laps to go a crash on the course caused the race to be neutralized. The last three laps of the race would be run on the restart, with Gray given a 40 second lead (his lead before the race was neutralized). He demonstrated his strength by maintaining the lead and casually crossing the line, stopping to watch how the rest of his team finished. Speed skater Paul Marchese (CBRC) won the sprint for second, followed by Pelican, whose finish put him in third overall. Jon Furminger (HVVC) took fourth with Kevin Kielty (Skylands Cycling) in fifth. Charles Mattison (Tokeneke Road Club) had a good sprint for sixth followed by Wesley Beeman (Unattached), Series regular Diego Atehortua (Cafeteros), and Kissena race promoter Greg Avon.

Womens Race Report - After a crash on the course forced a race neutralization, the women had to do five laps to finish the Series. With Jen Magur (Verge Sports) safely in the lead, there was no pressure on her to win. She still put in a great sprint though, distancing everyone but an on-fire Laura Summers (HVVC) who finally won one of her Bethel duals with Magur. Dale Malkames (USI) took third to wrap up a very successful Series for her. Penny Buchar (HVVC) finished fourth, followed by Cheryl Wolf (Bethel Cycle Sport) and Gemma Barritt (HVVC).

Junior Race Report - Gavriel Epstein (CC Evesham), after a force absence one week, returned to try and salvage his bid for the overall title. With a two point gap to close to leader Barry Miller (USI), he had to win or get second ahead of Miller to win. He took no chances though and when the Juniors were free to race after the Masters finished up, Epstein immediately launched a ferocious attack and rode clear of the others. Miller, unable to respond, had to settle for second. Working hard with him was Philip Brunjes (Fiori Fruitta) who took third. Alexander Cropley (NECSA) put in a hard effort to earn his fourth place.

Cat 4 Race Report - The two powerhouse teams of the Cat 4 series lined up to do battle for both the individual and team overall. Ian Sinclair (Northeast Bicycles) lined up as the overall leader but CogWild Cycling held the team GC. Their rider Matthew Jamieson won the sprint in the April 4 3/4 race so was a definite threat to Sinclair. Appropriately the teams lined up on opposite sides of the start, each of them an imposing sight. The race, although aggressive, was self-neutralizing with the two teams chasing everything down. No one could escape their stranglehold as CogWild or Northeast shut down moves containing their counterparts.

Finally it came down to the last lap. Incredibly, a pair of Canada geese wandered by the road and one managed to waddle into the road just in front of the sprinting field. No one went down although there were, ahem, a few ruffled feathers. Both human and fowl were unharmed. With such distractions around, Istvan Benyei (Northeast Bicycles) took a massive chance and launched his sprint on the far side at the bottom of the hill. A leg breaking headwind up the hill didn't deter him and he took the inside line towards the line, pursued by a trio of CogWild riders, Peter Babins, Matthew Jamieson, and Michael Wonderly. Northeast had their leader Ian Sinclair in the thick of things along with Andrew Kalter. But in the end Benyai carried off his move to take the win - Babins drew even but could not pass him. Jamieson took a valuable third, followed by Kalter, Wonderly, and Thomas Chiudina of USI. Sinclair took seventh with Johan Koserius (Fiori DiFruitta) eighth. Kevin Stawiasz (Bethel Cycle Sport) took ninth and Chuck Leach (Housatonic Wheel Club) finished tenth.

Cat 5 Race Report - The first race featured overall contenders Colin Gotheer (Tokeneke Road Club) and Tom Arcari (Pedal Power). Gotheer, cheered on by family who showed up especially for this occasion, rode an inspired race and took a great win. Arcari finished just behind him in second spot. Alex Granick (Bethel Cycle Sport) took third and Jesse Dekray (Kinston Cyclery) fourth. Damian DiCostanzo (USI), an outside GC contender, managed fifth, followed by the unattached rider Joe Policarpio. Matthew Pearson (Sleepy Hollow) took seventh, Timothy Neal (Unattached) eighth, and Tom Kraak slotted in at ninth.