Beardlsey wins, Wilcoxson repeats at OBRA crit champs

Aug 22, 2010 by editor

ALBANY — Steven Beardsley kept the OBRA criterium champion’s jersey in the Gentle Lovers family for the third straight year Sunday by taking a bunch sprint for the win in front of Stephen Bedford (Word-RCB) and his teammate Pete Groblewski.

In the women’s race, Flywheel Bicycle Solutiuons rider Jade Wilcoxson repeated her 2009 performance and took the win in front of Leia Tyrrell (CAPA Cycling) and Karey Swan (Therapeutic Associates/GENR8) in a bunch sprint.

Cycling invaded these downtown streets for the 3^rd Annual Historic Albany Criterium, the second year this wide-open, super-fast, six-corner course has hosted the championships. Moderate summer weather and the popular venue combined for a beautiful day of racing.

Aggressive tactics drove full-throttle paces throughout the entire senior men’s and women’s events, with plenty of attacks coming but nothing managing to stick enough of a gap to get dangerous. In the end, both fields charged to the line for gutter-to-gutter sprints.

Wilcoxson, the women’s defending champion, had a fairly short list of who to watch out for in the closing laps. CAPA Cycling’s Leia Tyrrell, fourth at last year’s championships as a Cat 3, has been on a tear this year. The young rider finished second at the collegiate criterium nationals and since July has won the Gresham Criterium, the Vancouver Courthouse Criterium, the OBRA Road Race Championship and the Longview Criterium.

“She was the main one that I was worried about,” Wilcoxson said. “I was sitting third wheel coming through the back stretch before the last corner and saw out of the corner of my eye that she jumped. So I thought I guess I better go now. “

Wilcoxson was first through the last corner and drilled it for the line. It was a winning move that she was able to practice earlier in the race.

“For the first prime that was kind of the same scenario,” Wilcoxson said. “I jumped way early and was able to hold her off.  So that was kind of my practice and it worked for the last lap, too.”

Wilcoxson held off Tyrrell, who took second in front of Karey Swan, Jen Akeroyd and Megan Chinburg (who won the separately scored Cat 3 race).

Defending her criterium champion’s jersey caps a successful season for Wilcoxson, who won the Kings Valley Road Race and the Umpqua Criterium before placing second at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic stage 5 criterium, winning the High Desert Omnium criterium and the finishing 18^th overall at the NRC Cascade Cycling Classic.

BEARDSLEY KEEPS IT IN THE FAMILY

The men’s race followed a similar pattern to the women’s, with constant attacking, chasing and counter-attacking keeping the field strung out and the racing safe. Word-RCB’s Stephen Bedford and Jake Hansen animated the race early on with repeated attacks. Aaron Olson, a former OBRA rider and pro back racing in Oregon again, also drove the pace with repeated attacks.

When Bedford, Team Oregon’s Chris Swan and Beardsley got a small gap about a third of the way into the race, the field immediately pounced to bring them back. And so it went for the rest of the day. The fast course and good-sized field combined to defeat any attempts to gain an advantage over the field, producing a mad rush from beginning to end.

When the field rolled into the final laps together, Portland’s Gentle Lovers swarmed the front with James Adamson pushing the pace, Pete Groblewski and last year’s winner Sam Nicoletti patrolling the front, and 2008 winner Steven Beardsley waiting patiently behind.

With one lap to go tack specialist Zac Kovalcik (BRIHOP) attacked over the start/finish, taking Beardsley and the rest of the field with him. Kovalcik pulled through the backside of the course until only three of the six corners remained.

“Bedford came in front of me on Zac’s wheel going down that back straightaway,” Beardsley said. “So I attacked on the inside and got into that corner right before Zac did. I had a clear shot coming out of the corner, so I just put my head down and shifted into a big gear.”

Beardsley had plenty of time for his signature heart salute crossing the line, while Bedford, able to grab Beardsley’s wheel but unable to come around it, nailed second. Groblewski crossed the line third, also saluting his team’s winning effort.

Check out the PHOTO GALLERY for this race.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
OBRA Criterium Championships
Sunday, Aug. 22

Senior Men
1. Steven Beardsley (Gentle Lovers)
2. Stephen Bedford (Word-RCB)
3. Pete Groblewski (Gentle Lovers)
4. Josh Liberles (Ten Speed Drive)
5. Zac Kovalcik (Brihop)
Senior Women
1. Jade Wilcoxson (Flywheel Bicycle Solutions)
2. Leia Tyrrell (CAPA Cycling)
3. Karey Swan (Therapeutic Associates/GENR8)
4. Jen Akeroyd (Sorella Forte)
5. Tina Brubaker (Veloforma)

Cat 3 Men
1. Alex Lightman (Guinness Cycling Team)
2. Brian Ratliff (Portland Velo)
3. Brent Poole
Cat 4 Men
1. Ryan Dunigan
2. Todd Berger
3. Ian Bagshaw
Cat 5 Men
1. Aaron Davis
2. Tom Cordier
3. Thomas McCann
Cat 4 Women
1.Liz Cartwright
2. Erin Goodall
3. Mielle Blomberg
Junior Men 17-18
1. Andrew Bennett
2. Zach Bowden
3. Jack Mahler
Jr. Men 15-16
1. Adam Artner
2. Jack Rising
3. Stephen Gann
Jr. Men 13-14
1. Sam Rosenberg
2. Killian Bailey
3. Emerson Webb
Jr. Men 10-12
1. Grant McElroy
2. Eric Hammerquist
3. Grayson Bailey
Jr. Women 17-18
1. Liz Cartwright
Jr. Women 13-14
1. Hannah Mcbride
Jr. Women 10-12
1. Haley Wilson
Women Masters 30+
1. Heather Hill
2. Jen Akeroyd
3. Amanda Atwill
Women Masters 40+
1. Kerry Martin
2. Mary Ramos
3. Sarah Tisdale
Women Masters 50+
1. Flo Leibowitz
2. Melissa Boyd
3. Cindy Minick Harder
Men Masters 30+
1. Nick Skenzick
2. Kenji Sugahara
3. Cliff Heaberlin
Masters Men 40+
1. Greg Van Scholten
2. Todd Fawcett
3. Paul Bourcier
Masters Men 50+
1. Jeff Tedder
2. Donald Vizzini
3. Ivan Meadors
Masters Men 60+
1. Ron Magnus
2. John Forbes
3. Phillip Lichtfield