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Golden Wheelrace - NE
Pennsylvania, USA, August 8, 2008
Armstrong surprises in Wheelrace
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For the third year in a row, the Golden Wheel Race and Ondra Huyett Corporate Challenge was a great success as the Valley's biggest organizations took to the track along with the pro's. Last year's champion, Lehigh Carbon Community College finished in a close second with long time participants Bicycling Magazine taking the win.
The wheel race final took a surprise ending when U.S. rider Andrew Armstrong beat out top sprinters Jason Niblett of Australia and Leandro Bottasso of Argentina. The field was strong with a mix of endurance riders and sprinters such as Pete Fitzpatrick, Shane Kline, and Doug Repacholi. Fitzpatrick came back strong in the repechage after not qualifying in the scratch race heats, but was unable to tackle Armstrong, who placed first in his scratch heat and made a big move in the finals to take the win in the Golden Wheel Race Final.
In the men's Miss-and-Out, David Espinoza stayed in the race and sprinted for the win passing Taylor Brown and Mario Mazza by a bike length. It was Shane Kline who had a strong performance during the 10-lap prime where he crossed the finish line first in the final sprint making that the third lap of the race where he earned a prime. Chris Ruhl and Pete Fitzpatrick finished second and third respectively.
For the women it was Australian national sprint team rider Kaarle McCulloch who took the win in the final wheel race. McCulloch has proved to be unstoppable in T-Town this summer as she has gone home a winner after each feature race she has competed in here. Fellow Aussie Laura McCaughey created some tough competition for the women but fell just short to McCulloch and took second place.
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McCaughey kicked the racing into high gear during the women's 15-lap Scratch Race, shutting out both Liz Reap Carlson and Golden Wheel Race champion Kaarle McCulloch. In another outstanding finish, McCaughey sprinted hard for the final lap of the women's Miss-and-Out, leaving Theresa Cliff-Ryan and Veronica Martinez close behind.
The Corporate participants gave it their all in several grueling Italian Pursuits in order to earn bragging rights in the Lehigh Valley. As previously mentioned, Bicycling Magazine took the big win of the evening with LCCC in second, Rodale Composite taking third, Air Products in fourth, and Valley Preferred finishing fifth. The hard work that these teams have put in over the months has paid off and the Cycling Center looks forward to another great Corporate Challenge in 2009.
Don't miss the final World Series of Bicycling event on August 22nd with the Red Robin Madison Cup XXXII featuring the Air Products Finals.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Donna Chiarelli
- Andrew Armstrong held off the scratchies to take the Golden Wheelrace win.
- Kaarle McCulloch was the women's winner in the wheelrace.
- Laura McCaughey keeps her eye on the prize in the scratch race.
- Shane Kline wins the prime race.
- Kaarle McCulloch causes some pain in the women's race.
- Andrew Armstrong takes the win in the Golden Wheelrace.
- Riders get ready for a heat.
- Gary Ryan puts some effort into it.
- Pete Fitzpatrick had to qualify for the final through repechage.
Results
Wheelrace qualifier - 3km scratch race Heat 1 1 Brent Morehouse 2 Bruce Donaghy 3 Andrew Kuklis 4 Matt Diefenbach Heat 2 1 Andrew Armstrong 2 Espes Harris 3 Thomas Mains 4 Chris Ruhl Heat 3 1 Nick Reinert 2 Ben Barczewski 3 Jason Niblett 4 Lanell Rockmore Wheelrace repechage (2 km) 1 Leandro Bottaso 2 Peter Fitzpatrick 3 Mike Miller 4 Shane Kline 5 Douglas Repacholi 6 Rodney Santiago 7 Stephen Meyer 8 Gary Ryan Prime race Lap 9 1 Jason Niblett 2 Ryan Gary Lap 8 1 Jason Niblett 2 Espes Harris Lap 7 1 Ben Barczewski 2 Espes Harris Lap 6 1 Douglas repacholi 2 Stephen Myer Lap 5 1 Douglas repacholi 2 Lanell Rockmore Lap 4 1 Andrew Armstrong 2 Nicholas Reinert Lap 3 1 Andrew Armstrong 2 Peter Fitzpatrick Lap 2 1 Shane Kline 2 Peter Fitzpatrick Lap 1 1 Shane Kline 2 Peter Fitzpatrick Final 1 Shane Kline 2 Chris Ruhl 3 Peter Fitzpatrick Elimination 1 David Espinoza 2 Taylor Brown 3 Mario Mazza 4 Mike Chauner 5 Simon VanVelthooven Men's Golden Wheel Race (2000m) 1 Andy Armstrong 2 Leandro Bottaso 3 Espes Harris 4 Douglas Repacholi 5 Shane Kline 6 Lanell Rockmore 7 Peter Fitzpatrick 8 Nick Reinert 9 Chris Ruhl 10 Brent Morehous 5km Scratch 1 Laura McCaughey 2 Elizabeth Carlson 3 Kaarle Mcculloch 4 Mary Castelloe 5 Davina Summers Elimination 1 Laura McCaughey 2 Thersa Cliff-Ryan 3 Veronica Martinez 4 Elizabeth Carlson 5 Laurei Anna Dupont-Renaud Women's Golden Wheelrace 1 Kaarle Mcculloch 2 Laura McCaughey 3 Dana Feiss 4 Davina Summers 5 Thersa Cliff-Ryan 6 Mary Costelloe 7 Veronica Martinez 8 Karine Cota 9 Kate Veronneau 10 Laurei Anna Dupont-Renaud Corporate challenge Qualifying 1 LCCC (Defending Champion) 2.32.96 2 Bicycling 2.35.19 3 Air Products 1 2.38.88 4 Rodale Composite 2.39.15 5 Valley Preferred 1 2.39.16 6 Red Robin 1 2.42.54 7 Ondra-Huyett 2.44.17 8 Mack Trucks 2.44.45 9 St. Lukes Rehab Home Straight 2.45.03 10 Fuji 2.45.92 11 VSAS 2.49.94 12 Valley Preferred 2 2.50.82 13 Dual Temp 2.51.02 14 Valley Preferred 3 2.56.29 15 Red Robin 2 3.01.21 16 Air Products 2 3.04.32 Finals 1 Bicycling 2 LCCC 3 Rodale Composite 4 Air products 1 5 Valley Preferred 1 6 Red Robin 1 Women Scratch Race 1 Jen Hetrick 2 Kim Procaccino 3 Gail Kelley 4 Unknown 5 Sue Williams 6 Teri Reuvers Men Scratch Race 1 David Tidey 2 Chris Mammarella 3 Jimmy Hessler 4 Justin Park 5 Ben Steward 6 Angelo Procaccino 7 Ken Rachwal 8 Brian Dries 9 Kevin Servass 10 Jeff Hashagen
