Hammer's Rathe, Arguello grab top Tabor spots; Vanderkitten's Sanborn takes women's race

Vanderkitten's Melissa Sanborn christened her inaugural attempt at the Mt. Tabor Series with a win Wednesday night in the Senior Women's field. Sanborn finished ahead of Hammer Velo's Sam Yeo and Bridgetown Velo's Anne Davis Usher. Veloce/felt's Kelly McKean was fourth, followed by Gentle Lovers' Dawn Riddle in fifth.

Sanborn's gobbling up of the 100 points for first place should help tame the shake-up in the overall race. Coming into the race, Yeo's consistent efforts placed her just 52 points behind Sue Butler (Monavie-Cannondale), who won the opening week and again on week three but missed the latest race because she's competing on her mountain bike at the BC Bike Race in Canada. Also missing from the latest race was third-placed overall rider Alice Pennington (Veloforma). Her absence form the race should help Davis Usher, who won the week two race and sat sixth overall, 100 points behind Butler.

The Senior Men's race took on a familiar pattern when, just as in the Salem-Fairview Circuit Race a few days before, the full compliment of junior riders on the Hammer/CMG Racing Team showed up ready to step on the throttle. And just as in Salem the team took the top two spots, placing Jacob Rathe first and Austin Arguello second. Cyclepath Racing's John Browning, who once again won the masters race earlier in the night, battled with the two USA Cycling Junior National Team riders and ended up third.

The nearly 50 riders contesting the race got off to a fast start, with plenty of primes to add to the action. Shannon Skerritt, winner of two consecutive weeks at the Portland Mountain Bike Short Track Series at PIR, made his presence known with several uphill bursts that earned him some prize-lap cash.

But just about anything else that tried to get off the front was followed closely by the red and black of Hammer/CMG or the blue and white of Cyclepath. In the end, the field approached the finish intact, setting up the battle between the veteran Browning and the fresh legs of Hammer/CMG.

But Browning had good reason to plead fatigue if he wanted after also winning the Masters Men's race earlier in the night. The Cyclepath strongman got away with ZteaM's David Zimbelman, Finnegans Toys/Discovery Chiropractic's Ivan Meadors and a Veloce/Felt's Michael Benno. Meadors was first to pop off the group, then Benno. Zimbelman held on but lost the finish to Browning. Benno finished third, ahead of Cyclepath's John Bravard and the rest of the field. Browning's effort also moves him into the series overall lead. He started just 10 points down on Bridgetown Velo's Chris Haverty, who did not compete Wednesday night.

Just two weeks remain in the 2009 Mt. Tabor Wednesday Night Series, but all the overall races are still up for grabs.

(The complete Cycling Action photo gallery for this race is now posted online HERE).

RESULTS
Mt. Tabor Wednesday Night Series
Portland, July 1

Cat 4 Women
1. Reeve, Lisa
2. Tyrrell, Leia (CAPA Cycling Team)
3. Vaughn, Anna (Hammer Velo)
Masters Women
1. Wenzel, Kendra (Wenzel Coaching)
2. Morin, Rhonda (Sorella Forte)
3. Kennedy, Ann (Team Guinness)
Senior Women
1. Sanborn, Melissa (Vanderkitten Racing)
2. Yeo, Sam (Hammer Velo)
3. Davis, Usher Anne (Bridgetown Velo)
4. McKean, Kelly (Veloce/Felt)
5. Riddle, Dawn (Gentle Lovers)
Cat 5 Men
1. Grant, Michael
2. Siemens, Jordan
3. Russell, Calon
Cat 4 Men
1. Bedford, Stephen (Word-RCB)
2. Rankin, Shane Portland Velo
3. Tuttle, Chris
Cat 3 Men
1. Liverman, Ryan (Veloce/Felt)
2. Brush, Walton
3. Hansen, (Jake Word-RCB)
Masters Men
1. Browning, John (Cyclepath Racing)
2. Zimbelman, David (ZteaM)
3. Benno, Mike (Veloce/Felt)
Senior Men
1. Rathe, Jacob (Hammer/CMG Racing Team)
2. Arguello, Austin (Hammer/CMG Racing Team)
3. Browning, John (Cyclepath Racing)
4. Green, Tyler (River City Bicycles)
5. Groblewski, Pete (Gentle Lovers)