Summerhill claims Cincy3 opener at Harbin Park

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Cold, wet, and slippery conditions could not hold back Danny Summerhill (K-Edge-Felt) from winning at Harbin Park on Friday, the first day of the Toyota Cincy3 CX Festival. Summerhill opened up a large gap early in the race, and held on for his second ProCX win of the season.

After a relatively mild season of ProCX races, it was a harsh re-introduction to traditional cyclo-cross conditions for the peloton.

“It was a cold race, I haven’t felt my hands like that since I got frostbite in Bend,” Summerhill said. “It was nasty. It was my first wet race pretty much of my whole year.”

Geoff Kabush (Scott-3Rox Racing) nabbed the hole-shot but was eclipsed early in the first lap by Yannick Eckmann (California Giant-Specialized). Summerhill didn’t let Eckmann spend too much time up front before taking charge.

Summerhill opened up a gap and by the end of the first lap he had put 10 seconds on the field. Justin Lindine (Redline Factory/NBX) moved to the front and took the helm of a chase group that included Troy Wells (Team Clif Bar), Kerry Werner (Optum-Kelly Benefit), Jamie Driscoll (Raleigh-Clement) and Ben Berden (Raleigh-Clement.)

“It was chaos on the first lap, a bunch of people crashing,” Lindine said. “So my goal was to stay clean through that first lap and I figured I would be in an okay place, and I was.”

Despite the slippery and cold conditions Summerhill rode like he had glue on his tires and steadily built his lead to over 20 seconds.

“I just tried to put power down where it was smart to do it and not take the risks that I easily could,” said Summerhill. “By avoiding those risks I was able to keep it upright all but one time.”

Lindine and Wells battled for second for most of the race, with Driscoll chasing a few seconds behind them. After a hard, slow fight to make contact with Lindine and Wells, opportunity knocked and Driscoll answered.

“Fortunately I was able to claw back the second place and third place guys back,” said Driscoll. “Unfortunately Troy dropped his chain - so that put him out but because I was able to come up to him I was showing I was a little stronger towards the end of the race.”

In the final lap Driscoll attacked, finishing the battle with Lindine. After a hard day of racing, Lindine shifted his efforts to protecting the last podium spot.

Summerhill won by a wide margin ahead of Driscoll in second and Lindine held on for third. Berden picked up the pace in the closing laps of the race to finish in fourth place, followed by young upstart Cody Kaiser (Lange Twins/Specialized) in fifth. 

Toyota Cincy3 CX Festival racing continues on Saturday November 1st when the elite men’s field takes on the Kings After Dark UCI C1 race.

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