Clarke and Pic Repeat at Chris Thater Memorial Criterium
(August 26, 2008)
Report filed by USA CRITS
Australian sprinter Hilton Clarke of the Toyota-United squad added yet another victory to his 2008 season at today's Chris Thater Memorial Criterium, the ninth stop on the USA CRITS racing series.
Clarke, who won this race in 2006, edged out Colavita-Sutter Home strong man Alejandro Borrajo and Eric Boiley (Volkswagen) to take the win during the 25th anniversary of this NRC event held annually in Binghamton, New York.
“My guys on my teams really put their trust in me today, and I was glad I was able to pull it off for them.” Clarke said after his win.
Clarke was part of an eight-man breakaway group that separated itself from the remainder of the 118-man field midway through the race. Also represented in the break with Clarke, Borrajo, and Boiley were Kelly Benefit’s rider David Veilleux, Mark Walters (Team R.A.C.E. Pro), Gerardo Fernandez (MikeFraysseSports.com), Tom Soladay (TIME), and TOSHIBA-Santo’s rider Mark Hekman. Once the group had ensured that their effort would stick, they quickly gained an advantage.
“It took a while for the break to go, but when it did we seemed to get a minute or a minute and 30 seconds right away.” Clarke continued. ”It was not the best situation with all their teams having their best guys there, but there was complete cooperation from all the guys in the break. It seemed like everyone just wanted it to come down to a sprint finish from among that group.”
And a sprint finish is exactly what they received. Coming into the final corner, the select group of riders fought furiously to be the first man headed for one. Clarke, however, bided his time and his careful tactics resulted in his seeing the top step of the podium.
“That last corner is really deceptive and going into it, I was only fourth. But coming out I got a whiplash effect and I went by the others and won pretty easily.”
The victory, Clarke’s second in this year’s series after his earlier win at the Wells Fargo Twilight Criterium in Boise, Idaho now puts the Aussie rider in fourth place on the overall series leader board, three spots behind TOSHIBA-Santo rider Yosvany Falcon who currently still holds the top slot.
The women’s event also saw a repeat victor in Colavita-Sutter Home’s Tina Pic. Pic who won this event both in 2003 and 2005, found herself engaged once again in a two-woman duel with rival Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine). After 10 laps of racing, the pair broke away from the main field, and essentially sewed up the top two spots on the podium.
A good 1:40 seconds behind them, the contest for the remaining podium berth heated up when Kacey Manderfield (Verducci/Breakaway) attempted to distance herself from the rest of the riders and wound up taking Pic’s teammate Nichole Wangsgard with her. They duo were soon joined by Cheerwine’s Anne Samplonius, Laura McCaughey (Juice Plus) and Anna McLoon (Colavita-Sutter Home).
Pic once again outsprinted Van Gilder for the win and Kacey Manderfield got the best of her chase group to take third.
For now, Van Gilder and the rest of the Cheerwine squad can console themselves with the fact that their teammate Kelly Benjamin still holds the first place slot on the series overall leader board. Benjamin is closely followed in the standings, however, by Jennifer Wilson (Vanderkitten Racing) and ValueAct Capital’s Taitt Sato.
The USA CRITS Series now heads to the extreme opposite end of the country for the much-anticipated San Francisco Twilight Criterium, set to take place on September 13th.
The remaining events in the Series are as follows:
San Francisco Twilight Criterium San Francisco, CA Saturday 13-Sep-08
USA CRITS Final Las Vegas, NV Thursday 25-Sep-08
About USA CRITS
USA CRITS National Criterium Series has been developed to feature a brand of cycling unique to the United States, the criterium. Criteriums are historically run on short laps through city streets. They offer spectators the opportunity to watch Olympians, world and national champions up-close as they ride at top speed. This has made the criterium format the most spectator-friendly form of cycling entertainment. Events on the USA CRITS series have the ideals that have made criterium racing an American legacy: Challenging courses that showcase arts and entertainment districts; a large and energized base of spectators; broad community support; and strong marketing opportunities for sponsors. For more information, visit www.usacrits.com.
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