Pennsylvania Lightning to gain experience at Univest GP

Besides featuring top teams, the Univest Grand Prix in Pennsylvania will showcase the developmental team Pennsylvania Lightning as one of ten elite amateur squads invited to compete Saturday in a 107 mile road race around Souderton and Sunday in a 55 mile circuit race in Doylestown. A total of twenty-six teams are entered in the two days of racing including ten registered professional teams and eight elite amateur teams from the USA plus international squads from Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Mexico.

In its first year as a registered team, the PA Lightning's four under 23 riders, Taylor Brown, Tucker Brown, Michael Chauner and Jackie Simes have competed successfully in over 40 American track and road events this season with a dozen top three finishes in elite and professional races from March through August. With an eye toward expansion for 2008, the team's entry in Univest will include Tucker Brown, Chauner, Simes and U23 National Time Trial Champion Nick Frey, European veteran Peter Horn and top Pennsylvania all-rounder Chris Ruhl.

"This is a good development team based in the local area," said Univest Race Director, John Eustice. "They will get valuable experience against the pros and a chance to show that we have good young talent coming up."