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)

Rathe Report: The streets of Hoboken

(Oregon juniors Jacob Rathe, Austin Arguello and Ian Boswell are currently in Europe with the USA Cycling Junior National Team, which just completed the Grand Prix Hoboken in Belgium. Rathe sent Cycling Action this report).

HOBOKEN, Belgium -- A typical race in Belgium: crappy roads, small roads, narrow roads, road furniture, lots of corners and more crappy roads. The race featured a total elevation gain of almost 300 feet in 116 kilometers, and more than 30 90+ degree corners in 50k.

It's been my first race in over two weeks due to an ear infection, I wasn’t expecting much but needed a good race under me for next week's Course de la Paix in the Czech Republic.

Thirty-three teams with a total of 196 riders lined up. We started in the city of Hoboken, did two 50 kilometer loops, then finished with two circuits around the town.

A break of three got away 20k into the race. They were joined not soon after by four more, including U.S. rider Andrew Barker. At the end of the first lap I made my way up to the break with four other riders. The break was now 12. Then more came up. Then it was 25. The group was more of a selection rather than a breakaway.

My only teammate in the group, Andrew, flatted on the second lap, and I was the only U.S. rider there until another teammate, Ryan Eastman, came up with another 10 riders. At the same time three riders sneaked off the front just as we got to the finishing circuits. They got out of sight, and I spent a lap trying to bridge up with another Belgian but couldn’t make it before getting swallowed up by the lead pack.

The finishing circuit was somewhat ridiculous, with several 90+ degree corners every kilometer and a cobble stone section that was scary to look at. From a big road, we turned onto a small road that turned to cobbles. Fifty meters later it opened up into somewhat of a field of cobbles, with train tracks and a sharp bend onto an uphill highway overpass. The train tracks weren’t even nice train tracks; rising above the cobbles and worthy of a good bunny hop.

There was no organized chase, but rather a constant barrage of attacks. Eventually five more riders got away to the lead group that grew to eight. I tried but had no more bullets left. We got caught by another group on the last lap, containing another teammate, Charlie Avis. I was destroyed, and he looked like he still had some hop in his legs so I told him I’d lead him out for the sprint. I led the last 1.5k through the town only to get swarmed with 200 meters to go.

Charlie ended up in 17th, Ryan in 28th, me in 29th. Austin came in not soon after in 41st, and all other U.S. riders finished in the top 100. We were 6th in team GC.

It wasn’t a great race for us, but not bad.

The Course de la Paix (Peace Race) starts on Wednesday. It's five days long with lots of climbing. Nations Cup-only national teams will be there, but the race is probably better suited to our strengths as a team.

VeloNews reporter Fred Dreier has been in Europe and spent some time with the Junior team. Read his report HERE.