’04 Ohio State Cross Championship Results

2004 USCF Ohio State Cross Championships – presented by Advert Signs

70 racers came out to contest round #7 of the Ohio-Valley Cyclo-Cross Series, the USCF Ohio State Championships at Harbin Park.  With riders carefully watching the weekly series standings, new rivalries have developed over the weeks.  With Ohio State titles on the line as well, the racing was quite spirited in all of

the categories.  To minimize damage to the Harbin’s wet grass, the course didn’t see the twists and turns of the UCI race earlier in the fall.  It was truly a hammerhead’s course today, for there was plenty of room to step on the gas.

Joe Collins and Lars Anderson have been close in the series Beginner standings since week #2, but with the end of series near, it’s starting to get interesting.  Both had not raced each other since the Cincinnati UCI race in week #1, with Collins taking the win there.  Anderson was out for revenge today, taking the early lead from the gun.  That early lead grew, and by the finish, the gap grew to a commanding 60 seconds.  Both riders would later go on to try their luck in the 35+ masters race.  Series contenders Josh Biven, Adam Balz, and Dave Emig were all in there finishing in the top six.  Lori Paholec of Miami University wrapped up the Women’s B race ahead of Kim Krimpenfort.

The Junior race was another meeting of Kentucky’s series leader Clayton Omer and Ohio’s Josh Lahmann.  Only separated by 50 points before the race, the series was still definitely up for grabs.  Today, though, was to be Clayton’s.  His early lead grew as he made his way through the men’s field, and he finished with a solid three minute win.  With his second place finish, Josh was the Ohio State Junior Cyclo-cross champion.

Next up was the men’s B, 35+, and 45+ categories.  The series B leader, Darkhorse team rider Nick Tinsler, had the target on his back today.  After the 22 racers rolled out, it was clear Nick was not intimidated, for he found himself in a nice 3 man move with teammate Dan Ott and Indy’s Steve Rider.  Montgomery Cyclery’s Andy Bracke poured the heat on early, pulling the race open in the first lap.  After the first of 7 laps, riders were coming through the start/finish in very small groups.  It was Bracke first, then Tinsler, that would fall off the early pace.  While Rider and Ott would take off, Rapid Transit’s Jason Crivello and Cincinnati triathlete Joe Porter were chasing hard from behind.  Porter came from near dead last on lap one to hammer down on rider after rider.  Had there been another lap, Porter would have been the likely winner.  As it was, Dan Ott took a solid and smart win to become the Ohio State B Champ.  Congrats to Dan!  The steadiest B rider to this point has been Ohio’s Todd Otanicar, who with today’s 10th place finish, overtook the lead in the hotly contested Ohio-Valley Series B-Category.

Mixing it up in the same group were the Masters 35+ and 45+

categories.  The favorites in the 35+ were Bio Wheels’ Charley Miller, Rapid Transit’s Chris Heintz, and Montgomery Cyclery’s John Gatch.  The man to beat in 45+ was series leader Rick Toler (Airborne), who has had 3 series wins to date.  On lap one, it was Miller and Gatch off the front with Heintz a short five seconds back. A solid group was formed another 20 seconds back consisting of many series contenders.  Murray Wilberding, the man, the myth, took the early lead in the 45+, with Rick Toler sitting solidly on his wheel.  Chip Ellison (QCW) and Harry Wicks (Bio Wheels) were near at hand as well.  As mystery new guy Wilberding starting stretching out a lead, the rest of the regulars started to become concerned, and began pulling him back.  With Toler and Wicks dropped, Ellison just made contact in the final lap at the haybales, and only 400 yards to go.  A bobble by Wilberding exiting his bike opened the door for Ellison.  Unfortunately, trouble getting back into his pedals spelled doom for Chip, as Murray was able to come around and secure a 10 second win.  Miller and Gatch drag raced around course, picking off B rider after B rider, but it wasn’t clear to the spectators who was stronger.  The question was answered on a last lap attack by Gatch on the long uphill stretch which put Miller away for good.  Heintz rode a steady race alone to hold off the field for 3rd on the day.

Men's elite winner Noble smoothly through the bales

The Men’s and Women’s A races finished off the day.  Although the fields were light compared to weeks past, the action was heavy.  Mike House made a guest appearance for what would prove to be a re-enactment of last year’s State Race against Airborne’s Phil Noble.  House and Noble drove it hard off the start, and pulled another group of two that contained NUVO-BAP’s Al Senft and Wood-n-Wave’s Zach Wilkins out in front.  Behind them, Bill Crank (CES-Schellers) lead Mitch Graham (BioWheels Racing) in chase.  As the laps wore on, the course wore on the riders. The run-up, which is typically tough enough when it’s dry, was getting more and more chewed up and slippery.  Noble took charge and left the front runners behind, while Schellers’ Jim Algrem joined teammate Crank in the second chase group.  Noble would go on to

take the win by 50 seconds over House to take the Ohio State Cross title, while Senft put away Wilkens to round out the top three finishers, who were all from Ohio. Amy Matson-Hyland rode away early in the women’s A race from Anne Conroy (Revolution) and Sheila Senft (Citgo).  A late-race surge put the two chasers within striking distance of first place, but the newest fast girl out of Ohio, Matson-Hyland, was able to maintain her lead to the finish.  Conroy edged out Senft at the finish to take second.

The Bio Wheels Racing team would like the thank all the riders and spectators that came out to the 2 events at Harbin Park this year.  A big thank you goes out to our presenting event sponsors, United Dairy Farmers and Advert Signs.  Next year we’ll be cutting back our efforts to just one race, and focusing on another big Cincinnati UCI race at Harbin Park in ’05.  We hope you all come out and join us then!

A Men’s Results

Place	Rider	Team	State	Time
1.	Phil Noble	Airborne.net	OH(1)	1:03:52
2.	Mike House	Sharper Image/Mathis Bros.	OH(2)	1:04:44
3.	Al Senft	NUVO-BAP	OH(3)	1:05:43
4.	Zach Wilkins	Wood n Wave	KY	1:07:24
5.	TJ Turner	Airborne.net	OH	1:08:55
6.	Bill Crank	CES/Schellers	KY	1:09:38
7.	Jim Almgren	CES/Schellers	KY	st
8.	Mark Lauterwasser	Bio-Wheels Racing	OH	1:10:12
9.	Jerry Witham	Citgo	IN	1:10:23
10.	Mitch Graham	Bio-Wheels Racing	OH	1:10:38
11.	Matt Bell	Darkhorse	OH	1:11:02
12.	Joe Bellante	Bio-Wheels Racing	KY	1 lap

A Women

1.	Amy Matson-Hyland	Unattached	OH(1)	40:47
2.	Anne Conroy	Revolution-Bio Wheels	OH(2)	41:20
3.	Sheila Senft	Citgo/PBF	OH(3)	41:23

B Men

1.	Daniel Ott	Darkhorse	OH(1)	44:47
2.	Steven Rider	Speedway Wheelman	IN	44:58
3.	Jason Crivello	Rapid Transit	KY	45:11
4.	Joe Porter	Unattached	OH(2)	45:16
5.	Nick Tinsler	Darkhorse	OH(3)	st
6.	Bob Combs	Bio-Wheels Racing	OH	45:54
7.	Andy Bracke	Montgomery Cyclery	KY	46:08
8.	Tim McKay	Unattached	IN	46:36
9.	Jim Parker	Darkhorse	OH	46:45
10.	Todd Otanicar	Unatt.	OH	47:17
11.	Andrew Cover	Midwest Flyers	OH	47:24
12.	Brett Brevoort	Darkhorse	OH	47:53
13.	Jeff Sakacsi	Darkhorse	OH	48:09
14.	Steve Busse	Revolution/Bio Wheels	OH	49:50
15.	Adam Fuson	UDF/UC	OH	49:57
16.	Andrew Millard	Midwest Flyers	OH	50:37
17.	David Jepson	Cycledots	KY	51:12
18.	Scott Lyle	QCW/UDF/Reser	OH	51:35
19.	Tom Davis	Speedway Wheelman	IN	52:26
20.	Ryan Lindsay	Cycledots	OH	52:48
21.	Keith Morten	Rapid Transit	IN	52:54

35+ Masters

1.	John Gatch	Montgomery Cyclery	OH(1)	42:30
2.	Charley Miller	Bio-Wheels Racing	OH (2)	42:45
3.	Chris Heintz	Rapid Transit	KY	43:39
4.	Keith Hutton	Rapid Transit	KY	44:14
5.	Morgan Webb	St. Matthews Schwinn	KY	44:25
6.	Brad Wunderlich	Team Louisville	KY	44:32
7.	Roger Wilson	CES/Schellers	KY	45:02
8.	John Kirchner	Indiana Masters	IN	46:50
9.	Lars Anderson	Unattached	OH(3)	47:24
10.	Doug McConaha	Vian Bank/Mid State Velo	OH	49:20
11.	John Riedel	Independent Fabrications	OH	51:14
12. 13.	David Hyland Joe Collins	Bicycles Inc. Team Louisville	OH KY	53:04 DNF

45+ Masters

1.	Murray Wilberding	EBR	OH(1)	47:02
2.	Chip Ellison	UDF/Reser	OH(2)	47:12
3.	Rick Toler	Airborne	OH(3)	48:14
4.	Harry Wicks	Bio-Wheels Racing	KY	st
5.	Doug Hamilton	Airborne	OH	51:14

C Men

1.	Lars Anderson	Unattached	OH(1)	27:42
2.	Joe Collins	Team Louisville	KY	28:42
3.	Josh Biven	Louisville Firefighters	KY	30:15
4.	David Emig	Unattached	OH(2)	30:35
5.	Scott Binzer	Team Louisville	KY	30:47
6.	Scott Arnold	Unatt.	OH(3)	32:29
7.	Adam Balz	Unatt.	OH	34:05
8.	Adam Palmer	Rapid Transit	IN	35:12
9.	Tony Welborn	Mob Squad	IN	35:28
10.	James Robertson	Unatt.	KY	38:02

B Women

1.	Lorelei Pacholec	Miami University	OH(1)	34:43
2.	Kim Krimpenfort	Unattached	OH(2)	1 lap

Juniors

1.	Clayton Omer	Texas Roadhouse	KY	30:15
2.	Josh Lahmann	Unattached	OH(1)	33:21
3.	Jarrett Frauhiger	UDF/Reser	OH(2)	38:06
4.	Michael Lange	Unattached	KY	38:15