Saturday, November 20, 2004 -- Bruceton Mills, WV
Bruceton Mills Cyclocross - WV CX Series #3 (iPO Event Id#: 6553) Story and photos by Don Parks

[Details] [Coverage]
[Overall Results]
Pictures: [Set 1] [Set 2] [Set 3] [Set 4] [Set 5]

Racing through the drizzle

It was nice to have a November Saturday afternoon with temperatures near 60 degrees, but a week of rain in Bruceton Mills had left the ground nice and soggy. Add in a bunch of bicycles and you have the perfect ingredients for fun in the mud, cyclocross style.

The course started off with a slick 1/3 mile lap around a saturated motocross track. Then it was off to follow a fence line around a large field to cover another 2/3 of a mile. The final 1/3 mile was out on a gravel road and back to the start.

At 1:00pm the racing got underway with the men's sport class and the women heading out under clouds and an occasional drizzle. For the ladies it was Amanda Love jumping out to the early lead and spending the entire race fending off Lisa Stover.

Amanda Love powers herself to a win

With the last lap being signaled after roughly 30 minutes of racing, Love came through with the win at 43:06 to Stover's 43:51 for four laps. Wendy Click cruised in for third taking a slightly less frantic pace around the course to complete 3 laps in 41:37.

For the men's sport it was Jason McDaniel jumping to an early lead with Kerry Barnhart and Bob Vernon giving the strongest chase. A broken chain on Vernon's second lap put him out of contention even though he managed to get things fixed and finish the race.

Barnhart stayed close to McDaniel the whole race but could not close the gap. Four laps in 37:11 was good enough for the win with Barnhart just 22 seconds behind for second. Ed Frohnapfel (42:47/4) and Lew McGrath (46:10) finished on the same lap for third and fourth, respectively.

Jason Cyr takes the high road

Next up it was the men's expert field getting the go ahead with Jonathan Martin getting the holeshot. During the first trip around the motocross track, Martin was back in the field and it was Benjie Klimas launching an attack.

Klimas built a nice lead and held off the field for a good three laps before his pace began to slow. Jason Cyr was pulling Bryan Fawley around the course as they moved into position to take over the battle for first.

By the end of the fourth lap it was Fawley who moved out to the front with Cyr now trying to hang on his wheel. Fawley wasn't interested in keeping the race close and built his lead on his way to posting a win with 7 laps in 52:40. Cyr took second at 53:45, Klimas third at 54:24, and Martin fourth at 56:19, all with 7 laps.

Just playing in the mud

The race for fifth was close for the closing laps with Gef Moy (57:06/7) pulling away from Greg Moore (57:13/07) at the finish. Joe Stone successfully fended off Fawley to keep from going a lap down and finished seventh at 62:33. Rounding out the finishers with six laps completed were Dowain Ford and Robert Loehr who was slowed by a crash jumping the barriers.

At the end there was hot chili and cool drinks for all that came out. With the help of Wamsley Cycles and the WVU Cycling Team, there were enough prizes so that no racer went home without one.