June 23, 2007 4 Win Weekend

Fiordifrutta posted a four win weekend June16-17, as the team swept races in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Virginia. The schedule for the next few weeks includes the Cox Criterium in Providence June 24th followed by the Fitchburg-Longsjo stage race the next weekend.

Marzot Wins Cyclonauts Road Race, June 16

A powerful nine man Fiordifrutta squad dominated this Massachusetts race on a beautiful summer Saturday. Aggressive racing from the gun eventually saw Jamie Driscoll escape with 4 other riders. Fiordifrutta was content with the move, and had faith in Driscoll’s ability on the uphill finish. But late in the 56 mile race, Driscoll’s group was caught by the field after a chase led by brothers Mark and Frank McCormack.

Fiordifrutta then lined it up for the finish with Hayden Brooks and Curt Davis being the last to pull off before the sprinters jumped. Toby Marzot won the dash to the line, with Josh Dillon 4th, Will Rifflemacher 7th, and Chris Peck 9th. Four riders in the top ten made for a great day and confidence boost for the following day’s race in Connecticut.

Dillon Wins Housatonic Classic Road Race, June 17

Josh Dillon was determined to make Sunday’s race the second team win in a row, and he bided his time before putting in a powerful race-winning attack on the final climb. The plan for the 80 mile race was be attentive at the front to make sure nothing escaped without representation from the team. Will Rifflemacher and Todd Nordblom were the most aggressive riders for Fiordifrutta, but despite numerous attempts a break would not succeed on the day.

In the final downhill miles before the finishing climb, Rifflemacher pushed a group to a small advantage, but the race came back together and Josh Lipka hit the front to bring Dillon into the finishing climb. Once the climb began, Dillon immediately attacked solo, while Marzot and Driscoll marked the chasing group. Dillon stayed away for a solo victory, with Driscoll sprinting in for 2nd and Marzot in 4th. It was a dominating performance for Fiordifrutta with 3 other riders in the top twenty as well: Brooks-12th, Peck-15th, Rifflemacher-18th.

Burns Wins Whitney Point Road Race, NY, June 17

I showed up about two minutes before the start and had to sign my waiver while my lovely girlfriend pinned my number on me and I pumped up my tires. I chased the group of a whole ten guys down during the neutral start. When we got to the climb right after the neutral I went hard and was away with two of the guys in the group. Then it narrowed down to me and the guy I train with, and then just me about twenty minutes later.

I rode as hard as I could until the finish and ended up 5 minutes or so ahead of second and almost double that ahead of third. Good hard workout for the day and it felt good to be out on my own, my personal favorite way to ride a race

White Takes on Crystal City Criterium, Arlington VA NRC, June 16

After BikeJam/Kelly Cup, I've had a real thirst for NRC crit racing. I love it, the speed, the uncomfortable duration of about 2 hours at threshold, the crowds, the technical aspects. I decide to travel to VA for another one last weekend.

The field wasn't as star studded as some of the other races we have done, but did have a good mix of seasoned pro's and amatuers including full Colivita and RiteAid teams, 3 Navigators, a couple United Pro riders, and the infamous FDF alum Jon Hamblen. Well it's June, and Exeter (the only race that matters) is right around the corner, so little Johnny might have started training or something.

Anyway the parade lap around the Pentagon was eventful, full of crashes, one of which took me out at 20mph, but with only a couple scratches I got right back in there and was quickly up to more comfortable pace of 30mph on the 7 corner course. I tried to stay settled in the field waiting to light my match till the end, but got antsy and followed a couple promising moves half heartedly, and I have to say I was hurtin' pretty bad just to make these selections.

Nothing was sticking until late in the race when the Hamblen attacked casually and got a great gap, I did the same casual acceleration of the front, was not followed, and was quickly gaining on him with a nice gap on the field and only a couple laps to go, just as I caught him, I caught a rock with my back wheel in a corner and down I went, damn, I just crashed myself out of the winning move in an NRC crit!!

I got back into the field close to the free lap deadline, and tried my luck in the sprint, avoiding yet another crash in the same place I went down. I settled for 17th, at least in the money to fix my bike. Hamblen held on for second, after being caught by a solo Kyle Wamsley of the Navigators. I'm sure we could have taken him had I kept my tires on the pavement. Maybe next week!

White Wins RFK Hub Racing Speedway Criterium, VA, June 17

Bruised and battered I made my way with my lady friend Alie and her team to DC for this non Pro, non NRC race. The Premier race of the day was the women’s race, which I guess is nice for a change. They got to do equal distance, got the better start time and were racing for a purse 7 times the size of my race, but heck the men’s race still had $1000 and all the pride that comes with any "W".

I got there 30 minutes before my race, and hardly felt like racing, my body ached, but I got it together and hit the line in time to spend 40 minutes last wheel warming up. With about a third of the race left I started racing, I had some gaps to jump to get to the front, thought "huh these guys are kinda going pretty hard right now", I got to the front, drilled it for a lap, and waalaa, the break was formed.

About 12 guys rolled away, and again I went to the back of the group and watched. I pulled again when the field looked like it might catch. Not for long! We were gone again. With little desire to work any harder than I had to, I waited for the sprint while the others attacked each other, and the teams represented did there best to keep things together.

One to go, 12 guys single file, PERFECT, last corner 6th place for me, OK hit it! 1350 watts later I'm throwing my bike at the line (just in case, cause you never know, I won a race once because my opponent felt like celebrating a little to early), and the WIN was mine!