The elite men's leaders(Image credit: Cyntergy Hurtland)
The elite men's start(Image credit: Cyntergy Hurtland)
Livermon, Mackey and Kaiser on the podium(Image credit: Cyntergy Hurtland)
The Elite Men’s race at Cyntergy Hurtland in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was a see-saw battle between Cody Kaiser (Lange Twins/Specialized) and hometown-favorite Skyler Mackey (KCCX Team).
The eight-lap battle started with Tristan Uhl (Team CCR Racing) of Texas taking the holeshot. In no time, it would set up for a four-rider duel for the early part of the race, with two North Carolina riders, Travis Livermon (Maxxis-Shimano Pro) of Winston-Salem. and Alex Ryan (MOB CX Team) of Lewisville, keeping pace with Kaiser and Mackey.
“Today’s race at Hurtland in Tulsa was awesome,” said Kaiser about his first ProCX win of the season. He sits in 12th position in the ProCX standings. “We got off to a pretty rippin’ start, and then basically from two or three turns in, Skyler and I started throwing punches at each other. We had a group of four, then three, then down to the two of us. We just kept towing the line back and forth.
“With two to go I attacked. With one to go he attacked. He put me on his toes, I hope I put him on his toes. And then going into that last off camber section at the two steps and lots of turns, I think I just turned the screws a little bit more, and got the win from there.”
Livermon dropped back with three laps to go, but never went away. He was closing on the final lap, and only finished two seconds behind Mackey to earn third place. Ryan would finish more than a minute and 53 seconds back for fourth.
“All in all a great, great race. I was really stoked to be able to come down and make it happen,” said Kaiser, who traveled from Louisville, Ky., where he finished 14th at the Pan Am Championships.
Three ProCX events are scheduled across the U.S. next weekend, Nov. 18-19, with six days of Category 2 racing. The Vittoria Northeast Cyclocross Series continues with Supercross Cup in Suffern, N.Y. Racing and a full course of family activities next to the “World Cup-style” venue will be hosted for a second consecutive year at Rockland Community College.
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Racing in Indianapolis, Ind. will return to the Indy Cycloplex for the 2017 Major Taylor ‘Cross Cup. In addition to ProCX points for Elite Women and Men, there will be competitions for Junior 17-18 Men. It is also a stop for the Ohio Valley Cyclocross (OVCX) Series event.
And on the West Coast, the weekend of cyclocross in the Los Angeles area has a new name and a new home. CX MoVal (Moreno Valley) will be held at March Field Park, neighboring March Air Reserve Base. The event is co-hosted by the City of Moreno Valley Recreation and Parks and SoCalCross. Categories will feature ProXC points for U23 Men as well as Junior 17-18 Men, Elite Women and Elite Men.
In Luke Tuckwell's latest column for Cyclingnews, he recalls his memorable week in France, and how he went from tears in training to his first yellow jersey
