Land Rover sweeps Senior Men's podium at OBRA champs

(UPDATE, Sunday, 6:30 p.m. -- The complete Cycling Action OBRA Road Race Championship photo gallery is now posted online HERE).


RAINIER – Shadows of the 1986 Tour de France Lemond-Hinault summit finish fell over the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association Senior Men’s Road Race Championship Saturday as Land Rover-ORBEA teammates Bobby Sweeting and Jim Camut crossed the line hand in hand after shedding the rest of the competition.

Sweeting, who got the win, broke away with Camut early in the first lap of the 80-mile race and held off the field to take the top two spots. Teammate Josh Bartlett won the sprint for third from a three-man chase group to cap the green-and-yellow squad's podium sweep.

“We were both on the rivet the whole time and just giving it everything we had,” Sweeting said of the winning move. “With a couple miles to go, when we knew we had it, we just said, ‘What do you want to do? Do you want to race for it?’ Jim was like, ‘No, let’s come across together and you can take it.’”

Camut, who won the Silverton Road Race May 17, said it was easy to decide how to end the race.

“It was a team effort,” he said. “So I thought it was probably appropriate we came over together. We worked really well together. That’s the advantage of having a teammate up there. You’re not trying to trick the other guy. We were both just going as hard as we could the whole time.”

Sweeting agreed, saying the pair’s selfless cooperation may have been the difference.

“When you’re not saving something for the end, and both guys are just maxed out, you’re going pretty good,” he said, although the pair’s pace didn’t leave them overconfident.

“I was worried pretty much the whole time,” Sweeting admitted. “The gap was really inconsistent. It got up to two minutes at one point, then back down to a minute. So I knew the guys in the field were attacking each other. I knew if something got away and a chase group got established with five or six guys, we could come back”

Attacks in the chasing bunch were shedding riders off the back, but none of the moves seemed to get much permanent traction until Team Oregon’s Kennett Peterson and Cyclepath Racing’s Aaron Sander got away with Bartlett with about one and a half laps to go.

“Aaron (Sander) had been up the road by himself for five or 10 minutes kind of riding tempo,” Peterson said. “Josh (Bartlett) attacked. I got onto his wheel and we bridged up to Aaron.”

Bartlett said his team had been attacking to try and get another group going but not actually bringing back the two leaders up the road. He found success with a lukewarm attack that bridged to Sander.

“It was one of those attacks that’s not really that hard,” he said. “You just go and no one follows you. We worked together pretty well pulling through. Toward the end I was like, ‘Sorry guys but I’ve got three field sprinters back in the group, I’m not going to pull though.’ It’s unfortunate, but that’s how it works.”

Bartlett’s chess move proved to be the advantage on the climb to the finish, as Sander dropped off the pace early and Bartlett sailed past Peterson to take the final podium spot by several bike lengths.

Peterson said he wasn’t sure what happened to Sander in the finale, but he had a pretty clear idea why he didn’t repeat his own performance last week at the Rehearsal Road Race when he snagged the final podium spot.

“(Sander) was on the front and then he was gone,” Peterson said. “And that’s right when I attacked. I attacked for a couple hundred meters and then sat up to let Josh pass me because I thought it would be smart to have his draft coming into the sprint. But that was a bad idea. I should have just kept going because he went straight by me. He had plenty of space for third place.”

Sander just managed to hold off Land Rover-ORBEA’s Evan Elken and a charging field for fifth.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
2009 OBRA Road Race Championships
Rainier, Oregon - May 30, 2009

Jr. Women 15-16
1. Sara Slawta (Land Shark)
2. Fiona Graham (Specialized River City)
Masters Women 30-39
1. Anne Davis Usher (Bridgetown Velo)
2. Kelly McKean (Veloce/Felt)
3. Tessa Sugahara (Team Group Health)
Masters Women 40-49
1. Jenny Slawta (Land Shark)
2. Martha Walsh (ZteaM)
3. Debra Stolt-Krichko
Masters Women 50+
1. Mary Ross (Nomad Sports Club)
2. Helen Grogan Sunnyside Sports
3. Debra Windus (Finnegans Toys/Discover Chiropractic)
Jr. Men 15-16
1. Colby Wait-Molyneux (North River Racing)
2. Joe Prettyman (Beaverton Bicycle Club)
3. Andy Su (Hutch's/Clear Choice/Bend Dental)
Jr. Men 17-18
1. George Zack (Beaverton Bicycle Club)
2. Zack Bowden (Fred Meyer/Lakeside Cycling)
3. Michael Burton (Fred Meyer/Lakeside Cycling)
Masters Men 30-39
1. Mark Hibbard
2. Nick Skenzick (Hutch's-OIC)
3. David Gates (Bridgetown Velo)
Masters Men 40-49
1. Chris Haverty (Bridgetown Velo)
2. Mark Steger (Nike)
3. Matthew Slater (ZteaM)
Masters Men 50-59
1. Scott Seaton (Hutch's/ClearChoice/Bend Dental)
2. Peter Serrurier
3. Luis Valls (Fred Meyer/Lakeside Cycling)
Masters Men 60+
1. Terry Brown (Nike)
2. Lance Brigman (Three Rivers Racing)
3. Ron Magnus (Fred Meyer/Lakeside Cycling)
Senior Men
1. Bobby Sweeting (Land Rover-ORBEA Benefiting LAF)
2. Jim Camut (Land Rover-ORBEA)
3. Josh Bartlett (Land Rover-ORBEA)
4. Kennett Peterson (Team Oregon)
5. Aaron Sander (Cyclepath Racing)

Turnbull takes Road Race title at the line; Van Uden outsprints break group

(The complete Cycling Action Rehearsal Road Race photo gallery is now posted online HERE).

RAINIER -- Therapeutic Associates Inc's Lisa Turnbull outlasted the field up the finishing climb at the Senior Women's OBRA Road Race Championship Saturday to take the win in a close charge to the line.

Turnbull adds an OBRA championship jersey to the Oregon Cup Leader's jersey she currently wears. She won the sprint from a select group that paired itself down to 16 riders over three laps of the 16-mile course that will be used again next Saturday to decide another handful of champions.

The group was temporarily slowed by a confused fawn in the road ahead that had slipped on the asphalt while trying decide if it wanted to cross or turn around. Other than that, the leaders plowed ahead unimpeded, shedding remnants of the starting field in their wake. But the group seemed to hold steady at 16 for the last half of the race.

“It seemed like less of a selection than usual,” Turnbull said.

The group approaching the finish line at the Rainier schools complex was more than twice the size of the lead group that contested last Sunday’s Silverton Road Race finale, where Turnbull finished third behind Sue Butler (MonaVie-Cannondale) and Teri Sheasby (Bend Bike & Sport).

Turnbull took advantage of having several teammates with her in the lead group this time.

“I had a teammate working hard up front, so I got to sit near the front,” She said. “And then in the end I sat on whoever had legs until they got tired, and then I went on my own.”

Lindsay Kandra (Hammer Velo) finished second overall and won the Women's Cat. 3 Championship, which was scored separately. Tina Brubaker finished third overall and second in the Senior Women's Championship, followed closely by a group that contained Washington rider Patricia Bailey (Wines of Washington), Lindsay Fox (Team Oregon), Beth Burns (Veloce/Felt) and Stepahnie Chase (Veloforma).

Turnbull was happy with the result, but she still wouldn’t mind a rematch.

“We don’t get to rehearse,” she said, noting that the Senior Men get two chances at the course. “Next year I hope they consider adding two races for the women.”

Van Uden Serves Up Rehearsal Win

Roman Van Uden, who rode to the race from his home in Vancouver with his Land Rover-ORBEA teammates, also rode his way into the break and then out-rode that group up the final 200 meters to take the win in the five-lap, 80-mile men's race. Junior racer Wes Stein (Hammer/CMG Racing) added a lot of power to the breakaway and finished second ahead of Team Oregon's Kennett Peterson in third.

A group of 11 formed eight miles into the race and eventually whittled itself down to eight as it built a lead that hovered around a minute-and-a-half before surging to four minutes in the final laps. Most of the top teams had at least one rider in the break; Paul Bourcier (Hutch’s), Dave Zimbelman (ZteaM), Todd Gallaher (Counterbalance), Brandon Dyer (Therapeutic Associates Cycling/GENR8), Mark Blackwelder (Gentle Lovers).

Peterson said he was a little surprised the leaders got away so easily.

“Roman (van Uden) attacked and Wes (Stein) followed,” he said. “We didn’t really go that hard, and all of the sudden we had 11, 12 guys up the road. It was a really slow breakaway; felt like a bunch of people had noodle legs. It was kind of frustrating, but we stayed away.”

Van Uden shared that assessment.

“The bunch really didn’t react at all, so we got away with a good gap,” he said. “I set it up by rolling to the front just for one of the hills and attacked. The road’s skinny enough that if three guys sitting up front don’t go anywhere, then you can get a bit of a gap and go away with it.”

The leaders played a bit of cat and mouse on the last lap, but as the group approached the final kilometers intact, the uphill pitch at the bitter end dissuaded any long-lived solo fliers, setting up Van Uden’s powerful finishing kick.

“One of the older guys sort of tried to go with about a kilometer to go, which is a bit too early," he said. “But it gave me a good lead out and I got the position I wanted.”

Van Uden bided his time near the front but not quite on it until the time was right to strike.

“I was pretty tired by the end,” he said. “And I knew the uphill finish was going to be tough, so I waited as late as I could -- until about the 200 meter mark. I was following the young Hammer kid and I just came around him with about 75 meters to go. And it hurt.”

Blackwelder crossed the line fourth, ahead of Dyer, Bourcier, Zimbelman and Gallaher. Van Uden's Land Rover-ORBEA teammate Jim Camut and Nike Northley finished ninth and tenth.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Rehearsal Road Race/OBRA RR Championships
May 23, Rainier, Ore.

Senior Women Championship
1. Lisa Turnbull (Therapeutic Associates Cycling/GENR8)
2. Tina Brubaker (Veloforma)
3. Patricia Bailey (TRIA/Wines of Washington)
4. Lindsay Fox (Team Oregon)
5. Shari White (Team Castelli)
Women Cat. 3
1. Lindsay Kandra (Hammer Velo)
2. Beth Burns (Veloce/Felt)
3. Stephanie Chase (Veloforma)
Women Cat. 4
1. Anna Vaughn (Hammer Velo)
2. Kira Crawford (Ironclad Performance Wear)
3. Lisa Reeve
Tandem
1. Jim Fischer/Heather Paris (Pacific Power Blue Sky)
2. Allen Kraft/Ronny Brigham (North River Racing)
3. Ivan Meadors/Mike Adams (Finnegans Toys/Discover Chiropractic)
Juniors 10-12
1. Grant McElroy (Beaverton Bicycle Club)
2. Sam Rosenberg (Hutch's)
3. Hannah McDade (Beaverton Bicycle Club)
Juniors 13-14
1. Maris Eryn (ASC Racing)
2. John Sullivan (Beaverton Bicycle Club)
3. Walker Prettyman (Beaverton Bicycle Club)
Men Cat. 5
1. Jeff Curtes (Twin Six)
2. John Eckert (One Cup Cafe)
3. Andrew Buswell
Men. Cat. 4
1. Jeff Ballantine (Portland Velo)
2. Adam Edgerton (Team Oregon)
3. Phelan Kostur (Fred Meyer/Lakeside Cycling Team)
Men Cat. 3
1. Brandon Fisher (Team S&M)
2. Kent Heli (Southtown Velo)
3. Jeff DeWolf (Therapeutic Associates Cycling/GENR8)
Men Pro/1/2
1. Roman van Uden (Land Rover-ORBEA)
2. Wes Stein (Hammer/CMG Racing)
3. Kennett Peterson (Team Oregon)
4. Mark Blackwelder (Gentle Lovers)
5. Brandon Dyer (Therapeutic Associates Cycling/GENR8)