Racing and Rides Information Blog 2008

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Fri, 04 Jul 2008

Augusta Racing Series Finale is a Great Sports Moment!
BEWARE: this is long-winded recap, read at your own risk.

The Augusta Racing Series Finale on Tuesday night turned out to be just as exciting as we had anticipated. The weather was perfect, the racers were ready and the course was in decent shape (the pavement on one corner is starting to pull away). We had a total of 54 racers for the night with 20 or so spectators that made it a great atmosphere for the last race of the series. I hope our new recreational riders who came to watch had a great time. Thanks for joining us and supporting the racers.

On to the results...
The U19 race: It started with 18 juniors which is more than double any one of our other U19 races this season. Mike Fraysee brought a bunch of his boys from his camp, which made the race very exciting. The three main players racing for the podium were Steven Tvedt with 32pts, Max Mancuso with 28pts and Dag Anderson with 24pts. While the boys raced hard as usual the Fraysee boys changed up the usual tactics for Steven which caused him to come in 11th in the pack which did not give him enough points to keep his title. Dag and Max stuck in there with Kevin McGuire and came in 3rd and 4th that bumped them up to top spots on the podium.

1st place: Max Mancuso with 43pts (Upstate Velo, Skylands member)
2nd place: Dag Anderson with 40pts (Somerset Wheelmen)
3rd place: Steven Tvedt with 39pts (Colavita Racing Inc.)

The Masters race: The main challenge here was the fight for third place. Earl Perretti basically had 1st place all wrapped up with an 18pt lead. Vin Mancuso had a secure hold on 2nd place as well with an 11pt lead but John Autore who was in 3rd place and only had a 2pt lead from 4th place that was held by Andrew Buchanan. Now before I continue, keep in mind that although not all of these men race for Skylands, they are all Skylands members and have exhibited a great amount of respect for one another during the season. The finish line proved to be as exciting as we had hoped for with David Buegler crossing the line first which was his goal the whole season. He let out a " FINALLY " cry the moment his wheel crossed the dilapidated tape finish line. We all smiled for his success; but where were Andrew and John? Here comes Vin....ANDREW and JOHN! A few men later we saw Earl. Andrew closed the gap but not by 2 places. The podium remained the same in the end. It was a great effort by all.

1st place: Earl Perrtti with 169pts (Montclair Cyclists, Skylands member)
2nd place: Vin mancuso with 155pts (Skylands Cycling)
3rd place: John Autore with 142pts (Montaclair Cyclists, Skylands member)
(Andrew had a total of 141pts, nice job!)

The B race:
Unfortunately the B race contenders who held 1st and 3rd place were not able to attend. However, a podium threat came from Nick Iacovelli in 4th place. John Jackson did an amazing job this season from beginning to end, proving what a strong racer he has become. I mentioned in my last long email that John missed 6 races due to work yet he was able to maintain top podium position for his return. The number of first and second places accumulated throughout the season ultimately determined the top podium spot. John picked up 2 pts on Tuesday that tied him with his absent competitor. Bruce and I tallied up the number of 1st places they each took during the whole season...another tie. So on to 2nd places...Nate had one and John had two. John was the winner!

1st place: John Jackson with 91pt, 2-1st's, and 2-2nd (Skylands Cycling)
2nd Place: Nate Morgenstern with 91pts, 2-1st's and 1-2nd (Montclair Cyclists, Skylands member)
3rd Place: Doug Allen with 67pts (DKNY)

The A race:
The dynamics of this race were a bit different due to the number of Fraysee kids who were Cat 3 racers. So we sort of had 2 races going on. The kids who were vying to win the nights race and the Men who were racing for top positions for the season. The comment that was made by Glenn at the end of the night was "The Skylands Team picked this year to race like a Team." Milo had every one of his teammates working for him, so he could beat Glenn in the final race. Erik Kristiansen, Kevin Keane, Gene Victori, Brian Gristick all gave 100% to box in Glenn, pull or lead out Milo to his spectacular finish. So in the end the break had the kids and the pack contained the season's racers that made the pack sprint really exciting. It looked like a swarm of bees heading to the line with Milo in the front. It was a memorable sports moment.

1st place: Milo Bastianelli (Skylands Cycling)
2nd place: Glenn Babikian (DKNY)
3rd place: Dave Freifelder (Westwood Velo, Skylands member)

A special thanks goes out to all the Volunteers with out them there wouldn't be a safe and well organized series. Linda Kristiansen did registration each and every week. Buz and Larry helped with the last minute sweeping and setting when I got tired. Dan, Gary and Eric were tag teaming the marshalling duties each week. Gerry Ryerson and Kevin Keane gave up a race or two to help with scoring and videotaping. Bob Perlee organized the results and posted them each week. Last but not least, a big thanks to our very own official extraordinaire, Bruce Kristiansen.

This was truly a blast to be part of this year! Thanks for making it so exciting. I can't wait to see what the team can do next year. Keep up the great racing and the fantastic teamwork. You should all be really proud of yourselves.

Thanks for all the support you all gave me. I really appreciate it!!!

Have a Great Holiday weekend!
Blake Hargrave
Skylands Cycling President


posted at: 08:32 | path: | permanent link to this entry