November 2, 2005 - 3 More Wins

Matt White has been posting top results in UCI races, Chris Peck continued his winning streak with a couple of wins in the Crank Brothers master’s races, and Jon Hamblen once again beat up on the locals in North Carolina.

White 12th at Michelob Ultra Grand Prix of Cyclocross #2, Gloucester, MA October 30
Crank Brothers US Grand Prix Cyclocross Round 4

His best start of the year put Matt White right on the front of the race. You can see White in the Velonews photo here. After settling into a manageable pace, Matt was in the 2nd group on this grass crit course. Riders shot forward and backwards out of this group throughout the day. Matt was able to able to maintain the pace, and match attacks until the last lap, when falling off a little placed him in 12th. After the recent birth of his son Ryder, Johs Huseby made his return to cyclocross racing in Gloucester with a 21st place finish on Saturday, and a 32nd place finish on Sunday followed by Chris Peck in 33rd.

Peck Wins Michelob Ultra Grand Prix of Cyclocross #1 and #2 Masters, Gloucester, MA October 29-30
Crank Brothers US Grand Prix Cyclocross Round 3 and 4

As a first year master, Chris Peck chose to battle it out in the old men’s races in Gloucester, and was able to win both races in front of Roger Aspholm (Westwood Velo) and Dale Knapp (Kona). Unwilling to risk a group sprint with his skinny legs, both days came down to a last lap attack which saw Peck jump clear of the front group to finish solo. Peck also won the Focus first lap competition on Sunday and you can see some pictures at Jonathan McElevery’s site here and here.

White 5th in Wooden Wheels at Granogue Cyclocross - UCI C1- 1, October 22

Rain downpours on and off turned the hilly course into a real bike handler’s day in Delaware. With a strong start and mistake free first lap our lone competitor Matt White found himself close to the front group containing Ryan Trebon, Tim Johnson, Barry Wicks, and Mark McCormack. Near flawless bike handling allowed Matt to maintain his 5th place finish from the first lap to the last. White commented, “On my Michelin Muds I was really able to rip the greasy turns and descents today, that was a fun course!”

White 10th at Wissahickon UCI C2 Cross, October 23

Bright sun shine and mild temps revealed a day for group racing on a flat and reasonably featureless course. After a poor jump off the line, Matt was taken out in a first corner crash, leaving him close to the back with a lot of traffic to fight through. A ripping first half on the race brought Matt barely into the top ten, a solid fight to get something out of the day. With a large gap in front to 9th place Matt decided to wait out the sprint finish. With two riders to beat for the last of the UCI points and a 10th place finish, Matt wound up his sprint from the middle of the 3 man group and was able to take it too the line.

Hamblen Wins in Cary, North Carolina, Oct 30

The second round of the NC series was held in beautiful Cary, NC. Under sunny skies and with temp's in the low 70's, 25 riders took to the line in the men's A race. Fiordifrutta's Jon Hamblen, the series leader, skipped out on a cold and wet weekend of racing in Gloucester, MA to defend his leader’s socks. Things were strung out quickly as Jon and Mark Heckman (Savage Hill Racing) established a good lead on the chase group. Mark and Jon rode smoothly and steadily for two laps, until the tall Heckman fell hard on an off-camber downhill and high-sided his enormous bike. This left Hamblen alone, solo, for the remainder of the hour long event. Jon won the race in just about one hour, an amazingly quick time to complete a one hour timed race.