Curtis White (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) overcame muddy, cold conditions Sunday at the Supercross Cup in Stony Point, New York, to sweep the pair of weekend C2 races with a second win in as many days.
White beat USA Pro CX Calendar points leader Kerry Werner (Kona Maxxis Shimano) in similar conditions on both Saturday and Sunday. Merwin Davis (Cycle-Smart) duplicated the podium from the previous day when he finished third. Harsh conditions and a battle of attrition whittled the finishing field down to just six riders by the end of the hour-long race.
"It was a lot of running today," said White, who wore a mud-splattered Vittoria Series leader's jersey to a solo victory. "I was just trying to be as smooth as you can carrying the momentum. The first couple of laps I just tried to see what guys like Kerry and Cooper Willsey [Furman University] were doing, and learn from their lines. Then I just gave it the diesel and gaps started opening up pretty steadily after that. I got a flat tyre late in the race, but it didn't really affect things. It actually felt like I was hooking up better on the off camber with less pressure. It worked out very well."
Werner, who took second to White in the same race in 2017, finished 2:35 back to take second place.
"I would say if yesterday was a swim meet, then today was the Supercross Cup 'tough mudder', Werner said, referring to the muddy cross-country running races. "Man, I don't know what percentage of the course was running today, but it had to be over half."
Werner was side-by-side with White early on. It wasn't until the third lap on the course that White began opening a gap.
"I was able to keep up for maybe the first three laps or so. But then Curtis was just beating me hard on the running sections. It was all I could do. They were tough conditions out there."
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Just like on Saturday, a battle for third place ensued between three riders: Davis, Sam Noel (UVM Cycling/Cannondale Cyclocross) and Willsey. And for the second day in a row, Davis emerged with the bronze medal, finishing 4:18 behind White. He would hold off Noel in the middle laps to maintain third place. Noel, the under-23 leader for men in the Vittoria Series, would finish fourth. Willsey would finish fifth.
"I approached both days kind of the same: go out strong, hang with Curtis and Kerry as long as I could, and then from there just settle in, minimise my mistakes and try to keep Sam and Cooper at bay," said Davis.
"I had one mechanical, dropped my chain and slid out in one turn on the following lap. So that's when he [Noel] probably got the closest to me. Then I knew I had to put a couple of digs in."
The Vittoria Series will conclude at Goddard Memorial State Park with the NBX Gran Prix of Cyclocross in Warwick, R.I., December 1-2. White extended his lead to 300 points after his sweep.
