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Mengoni rider scores again in New Jersey. -
Saturday, March 07, 2004 at 11:22 |
Round two of the acclaimed Branchbrook Park
training series commenced this Saturday with the "Ghost Rider Tour,"
as it was to be known.
The dust had long since settled since last weeks "Tour de Lion,"
where riders and spectators alike were greeted with blue skies, in
addition to an abundance of sunshine during the event. On the
contrary, today fewer riders and only the bravest of fans and loved
ones showed up, due to intermittent rain, and outright nasty
conditions throughout the entire race.
Before the start, racers could be seen applying liniments, and
various warming ointments to their chilled albeit chiseled limbs, in
an effort to mitigate these most undesirable of conditions.
Due to the aforementioned conditions, a far smaller field was in
attendance, though the field's quality, made up for what it lacked
in quantity. Many of last weeks same protagonists were ever present
throughout the race, including last weeks winner, Eugene Boronow (GS
Mengoni), Joe Papp (UPMC) along with his two Uruguayan past national
champions Mateo Sasso and Gerardo Castro. Also in attendance was
Bobby Lea (Fuji), the current US national kilometer champion, as
well as Tyler Wren, a second year professional with the Colavita/Bolla
team. In addition, absent last week, team Ideal Tile/Brielle Cyclery
lined up, numbers on back, recently returned after a successful
campaign logging race miles in the Dominican Republic's Stage Race,
despite political unrest in neighboring country Haiti.
As many of today's riders have already raced extensively in warm
weather climes, it would be rather interesting to see how they
faired in these adverse conditions.
The whistle blew, and the riders were off. Nobody attacked from the
gun, as keeping warm was originally of most importance. Soon enough
however, the games began. A group of 15 split off the front in the
beginning laps including Lea, Wren, Papp, Jason Schneider (GS
Mengoni), Michael Norton (Ideal Tile/Brielle Cyclery) among many
others. Although with so many in the group, confusion soon slowed
these riders as the peloton regrouped.
Just as the peloton was caught with 14 laps (20 total) to go, a
barrage of counter attacks took place, with Bobby Lea and Tyler Wren
causing the bulk of the damage. These attacks formulated a breakaway
of 8 riders. With numerous squads represented, this new coalition
was willing to work together cooperatively. These 8 riders continued
to press on, once again with Tyler Wren and Bobby Lea never missing
a turn in the wind. Other breakaway riders included Roger Aspholm
(Westwood Velo), Juras Kapko (Wonder Wheels), Jason Schneider and
Eugene Boronow (both-GS Mengoni) and finally the Uruguayan duo of
Mateo Sasso and Gerardo Castro (both- UPMC).
These 8 continued to gain valuable time on the field behind, as the
pace was kept moderately high and steady. Lap after lap the lead
grew, larger and larger, until finally, it became evident that the
winner of today's event would certainly come from a rider in this
breakaway. With 5 laps to go, Eugene Boronow, feeling his oats,
broke the ice and pointedly attacked on the right side of the road.
The group behind wasted no time in chasing the GS Mengoni rider
down, and Boronow was caught rather quickly. Smelling blood, the
shrewd Bobby Lea attacked while staying seated, so as to not cause a
commotion. Lea quickly glanced back once, but it would be the last
time he would do so, as his rivals were left in his wake.
And then there were 7. The remnants were trying to form a chase to
bring back Lea, but it was not to be, as many in the break still
lacked those precious race miles to bring forth an effective chase.
Fed up, the young Tyler Wren, a wiry rider who feels more at home
when the rode tilts up, attacked the remaining riders decisively. By
this time with 2 laps to go, both Mateo Sasso and Juras Kapco fell
off the pace as the break was now whittled down to just 4, with Wren
just in front of the original break.
These water laden escapees, dug deep to bring back Wren with just 1
to go, as Aspholm, a masters rider as well as elite rider, provided
the necessary horse power to do so. At this juncture, Lea was out of
sight, showing anyone who was present today, just why he won the
national kilometer championship just yesteryear. Lea would go on to
take a crisp and clean victory unanimously.
Just behind, Eugene Boronow was the best of the rest, as he just
edged out the recently caught Wren. While Boronow proved last weeks
victory was no stroke of luck, Wren rode impressively throughout the
entire event.
Ghost Rider Tour / Branch Brook Park Series Round 2
Pro 1-2-3 Race (44 miles)
March 6, 2004
Results
1. Bobby Lea - Fuji
2. Eugene Boronow - GS Mengoni
3. Tyler Wren - Colavita Olive Oil Pro Cycling Team
4. Roger Aspholm - Westwood Velo
5. Gerardo Castro - UPMC
6. Jason Schneider - GS Mengoni
7. Gui Nelessen - Nerac.com
8. Michael Norton - Ideal Tile/Briell Cyclery
9. Joe Papp - UPMC
10. Juras Kapko - Wonder Wheels
This report was written by:
Jason Schneider
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