Schouten gets top spot in Rockdale

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On August 7, the 214 residents of the Village of Rockdale, Wisconsin welcomed over 650 WORS racers to the Battle of Cam Rock. The Battle of Cam Rock was the seventh race of the Subaru-sponsored 2011 Wisconsin Off Road Series.

The new venue, near Wisconsin's state capitol, was located at Dane County’s Cam Rock Park and featured trails built and maintained for over a decade by the volunteers of the Capital Off-Road Pathfinders (madcitydirt.com). Hard-packed dirt trails, technical singletrack, over 1,000 feet of climbing per lap and a sudden downpour during the second lap made for an exciting and challenging race.

The elite men’s winner was Tristan Schouten (Mafia/Felt) in a time of 1:56:18.8. Tristan was followed closely by Brian Matter (Gear Grinder / Trek) and Mike Phillips (Adventure 212/Specialized).

Schouten attacked at the onset of the rain shower, and managed to hold his gap to over four seconds until the end of the four lap men’s Pro/Elite Race. During the final lap, Matter and Phillips battled back to within 17 seconds of Tristan, but were unable to overtake him.

The elite women’s winner was Iowa’s Kim Eppen (Mercy/Specialized). Kim powered over the competition including second place Lori Sable to cross the line with a gap of over 3 minutes.

Both Tristan Schouten and Kim Eppen are the Series Overall Leaders after the 7th race in the Wisconsin Off-Road Series. The next event is the Border Battle located in River Falls, Wisconsin.

Best times in the amateur categories were:

Cat. 2 - Vince Steger of Mc Farland, Wisconsin

Cat. 2 Male - Mike Daish of Chicago, Illinois

Cat. 2 Females - Heather Stelljes of Madison, Wisconsin

Cat. 3 Male - Mitch Otto of Appleton, Wisconsin

Cat. 3 Females - Anna Poulton of Lake Forest, Illinois