Powers repeats in Baystate 'Cross

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Jeremy Powers (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) had a bit more competition today from 19-year-old Luke Keough (Champion Systems), but easily rode away with two laps remaining and take the victory. Keough rounded out an impressive weekend with another second place. Adam Myerson (Cycle-Smart) earned third place in a sprint finish against Verge series leader Justin Lindine (Bikereg.com). Lindine hung onto the Verge series jersey, while Powers was awarded the NACT series championship.

Today's course changes by designer Tom Stevens were numerous. They totally altered the complexion of the race. The number of turns increased dramatically including dodging pine trees at one point on the course. Riders were treated to some sweet singletrack and a longish climb from the bottom of the course to the top. As the men took to the line, temperatures were falling and the ground seemed to firm up somewhat.

"The course was really twisty and turny. It was really hard to find a section where you could say I'm going to put in one minute of really hard bike riding," said Powers. "Yesterday was a lot of pedaling, and today was a lot of driving. There's a speed limit on all those corners."

The men's race seemed to be a bit of a repeat of the women's race. Breakaways were made more difficult by the constant turning so a large group stayed together for several laps. It included Powers, Myerson, Lindine, Luke Keough, Travis Livermon (Mock Orange Racing), Josh Dillon (Richard Sachs), and others at times.

There were numerous mistakes made on the complicated course, and Powers found himself fighting to recover after riders ahead of him went down. "Three laps in I made it a point to get to the front since there were a lot of guys falling over on those tight corners" explained Powers.

Derek St. John (Garneau Club Chaussure) had a very early mechanical and found himself chasing unsuccessfully the rest of the race.

One by one the riders seemed to disappear from the lead group with three laps to go. Luke Keough found himself the last man standing who could challenge Powers. "It's always fun to ride with Jeremy" said Keough. "He was not at his limit so he was able to ride smoothly. It was amazing to watch him ride. I was just trying to stay with him and we got away from everyone else. I got to ride my own race which was nice," Keough said.

Behind the leaders, Adam Myerson and Justin Lindine found themselves locked in battle as both wanted the valuable Verge series points. Both entered the final stretch of dirt track together, but Myerson's road pedigree was evident as he easily took the sprint for third place.

The Verge series finale will take place at the NBX G.P of Cross in Warwick, Rhode Island on December 4-5. Many of the top racers including Powers and Luke Keough will head instead to the USGP in Portland, Oregon which is taking place on the same weekend.