Cooper Rocks at Rockleigh

Evan in the hunt, Central Park, June 23. (photo copyright Andy Shen, velocitynation.com)


CRCA JrDev's Evan Cooper took the win at the Thursday night 3/4 race at Rockleigh, NJ on June 21st. Evan has been making steady progress in the nocturnal series and thanks to several top 5 finishes, completed the series in second overall. He will start July's round with an automatic upgrade to the A race. A Category Three upgrade should follow soon for Mr. Cooper.

Harlem/Housatonic

Khary Ward, future crit king. (photo copyright Andy Shen, velocitynation.com)

Harlem....Okay, so nobody apart from Khary Ward contested the Harlem Skyscraper Classic. Despite it being a main event in NYC racing, the bulk of the team chose instead to travel north to the rolling macadam of Housatonic Hills. But first: Khary Ward's weekend...after recovering from abject dejection after his hard crash at Boundbrook, NJ, Khary rebounded on Saturday June 16 in Prospect park, capturing a fine second place in the Category Five event. Khary then put in an excellent showing at the 4/5 race at Harlem, finishing 21st and keeping body and soul upright, Khary continues to polish his criterium skills...

The bread in a podium sandwich: Almonte, Estevez, and Caputy (photo courtesey Stephen Sallee)


Housatonic...Pascual Caputy, Lewis Almonte, and Graham Lang put the junior division through its paces at Housatonic Hills, while Connor Sallee chose to suffer along in the Category Three event. Lewis and Pascual (riding his season debut after a spring knee injury) ambled away with Hot Tubes Danny Estevez. Pascual did the bulk of the pace setting on the climbs, fatiguing himself a bit too much to contest the finale. Estevez snuck off near the end, as Lewis struggled to keep pace. Again CRCA JrDev was the bread in a podium sandwich.

Balloon Festival!

If you had bling like this you'd be surly too...Evan Cooper, Filip Capala, and Ian Harris bemedaled at Balloon. Photo courtesy of Mr.Capala


Evan Cooper and Ian Harris were our lone reps in the junior division at the long and hilly 2007 Balloon Festival Road Race in Cambridge,NY, Saturday, June 9, while Connor Sallee and Lewis Almonte represented in the Category Three race. The 21 mile course takes in the most demanding parts of the season opener Battenkill-Roubaix, but without so much mud. In the Junor race the field came apart on the second of two ascents of the critical three-mile stair-stepped climb that determines this event. Under the pressure of 14-year-old climbing wunderkind Anders Newbury (New Hampshire Cycling Club), Filip Capala (Capala Bros.) and CRCA JrDev's Evan Cooper left the 30-strong field several minutes in arrears. Ian Harris launched a solo pursuit over the top of the climb and stayed away for fourth place. Up the road, Capala took the sprint for the win ahead of Newbury with Cooper pleading no contest. Due to age divisions, Evan and Ian took home the silver and bronze LAJORS medals in the 16-18 group. Lewis Almonte scored upgrade points and made a big impression with seventh place in the Cat Three event, while Connor Sallee rode to a sturdy mid-pack finish. Both 17-year-olds are on target to be Category Two by the end of the season.

Five races in five days, the countdown:

Ryan wins at Bethel! (Photo copyright Mr. Storm)


Lewis off the front with Nick Bax at Somerville (Photo copyright Marco Quesada /nyvelocity.com

Five races in five days, the countdown:
Friday: Night time in the burg of Manville, NJ. Ryan Storm hung on tight in the 3/4 race (the Madness at Manville) while the other JrDev members either sat out the race or sat in the World's Worst New Jersey traffic jam and did homework.
Saturday: Somerville, NJ: The US Bicycle Racing Hall of Fame Criterium. Ian Harris tries and fails to get away from a 30-strong field, a field sprint is contended. Naturally, this goes to Dan Sullivan, with Filip Capala second. Ian finishes 13th. The rest of the team sleeps late.
Sunday: Bound Brook, NJ: More Jrs turn up as Sommerville approaches, including Hot Tubes, the junior team to beat nationwide. Again, Ian Harris is either off the front or caboose. Today the strategy pays off. Ian attacks with two laps to go on the classic 1 mile crit course. He is pursuing Nicolai Masluk (3D racing) who has been off the front alone for 8 laps. Ian draws to 15 seconds behind Masluk, but cannot close. He finishes 2nd. Evan Cooper comes home in the field for 11th. Khary Ward took a bad fall in the one fairly technical chicane on the course and is now on the injured reserve list.
Monday, The Main Event: The Tour of Somerville. We have Ian, Ryan, Lewis, and Evan in the mix. 75 riders in the race, the largest junior field so far this year. Lewis gets into a nice looking move with two of the strongest juniors in the land: Carter Jones ( Colavita, just back from Europe) and Nick Bax (Hot Tubes). When this move is caught, Ryan and Ian take their chances. Nothing moves. A field sprint is inevitable. Lewis is 9th, but fails rolllout and is DQ'ed. Ryan is 15th, Evan 25th, Ian 35th. Lewis goes home and pulls a tooth off of his chainring.
Tueday: Bethel Summer Night Series: Ryan Storm victorious! Ryan pulls off his first win in a senior event in the Cat 3/4s. The words of the man himself:
It was a 29 lap race....primes every 5 laps starting 25 to go.....i took 3rd, 6th, 1st,15th....then won the overall in a field sprint....at the bottom of the hill i said screw it....if i don't make a move now, i'll get blocked....even though my attck was early, i still won by almost 5 bike lengths!"
Congrats Ryan!