Racing and Rides Information Blog 2008

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Tue, 27 May 2008

SKYLANDS 4/5 TEAM REPORT
HALL OF FAME CRITERIUM: A huge congratulations to Skyland's 4/5 team member and Garden State Cup 55+ fast guy, Gerry Ryerson, for his perfectly timed sprint into the finish head wind. Gerry's knowledge of his rivals and execution of last lap tactics, gained him his first Garden State Cup victory of the season...surely more to come. Skylands teamate Joe Skorupa held a big part of Gerry's win by chasing down any attempted breakaways and keeping the field together knowing Gerry had the speed to best the field in a sprint. The win puts Gerry in 2nd place for the Cup standings trailing first by a mere one point. Nice work guys! In the Cat 5 race solo Skylands racer, John Jackson was always at the front of the group waiting for any promising move and staying out of trouble (you don't want to hang around the back of a cat 5 peleton...SCAREY!!) Good news: On the last lap, halfway up the short hill before the final turn to the finish, a rider took a dig and John jumped on his wheel for the free ride in his draft. Bad news: As soon as they made the last corner and hit the headwind John's potential leadout man realized his legs can only go that hard for 10 seconds, leaving John in a bad situation...up front, sprinting the final straight into a headwind and pulling the field. He powered with the lead until 20 meters from the finish where the headwind and a 300 meter sprint were too much to overcome. He gamely held on for 3rd. Nice race John! The cat 4 race had Gene Victori once again facing teams with 5+ members each. After numerous breakaway attempts the field was all together for the last lap. Gene was in perfect position at the end of the hill before the final turn until another rider, half out of control, decided he wanted lock bars with Gene. Gene said after "playing hockey" with the guy to get himself free, and slamming him into the boards, all momentum was lost for the sprint. Gene was clearly the faster racer at the line but with the others given a head start and having too much ground to make up he gave it everything he had and squeaked out a 5th place. Another 12 inches and he would have had second, they were that close! You'll get'em next time, nice race. We need more Skyland 4/5 racers to enjoy more racing experiences!!! Let's keep the great results coming! Between the last two events at Bethlehem and the Hall of Fame crits, the Skylands 4/5 team has 2 firsts, 1 third and 1 fifth...in four races!!! The next event is two weekends away, the Watermelon crit at Rutgers...make some plans. See you on the road, Brian.

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