Matter grabs another win to take lead in WORS

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The Wisconsin Off Road Series (WORS) held its penultimate race of the 2014 season this past weekend in Franklin, Wisconsin. Named The Colectivo Coffee Bean Classic, the race features burning climbs ascending a downhill bike park that hovers over miles of flowing singletrack in its basin. And yes, there was also coffee to get riders revved up for one of the last beautiful sunny days Wisconsin is likely to have this season.

The elite men's race started hot with Nathan Guerra (Vision Cycling/Attitude Sports) and Joseph Maloney (KS Energy Services) duking it out for the hole shot premium atop the first climb. Guerra impressively stayed in the lead for much of the race, saving enough matches after the sprint.

The first lap was a shortened prologue with two significant climbs. This allowed racers room to grab their spot before hitting the very narrow singletrack. The lead group was occupied by Brian Matter (KS Energy Services), Isaac Neff (5 Nines/Motorless Motion), Corey Stelljes (5 Nines/ Motorless Motion), Justin Piontek (Adventure 212/Specialized), Ben Senkerik (Team Extreme), Tristan Schouten (Rolf Prima/Attitude Sports) along with Guerra and Maloney.

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The group got a little smaller each lap with only Guerra, Matter, Neff and Piontek hanging on through the third lap. Guerra, who has held the overall lead in points for the WORS series throughout most of the season, held the lead until the final lap. Matter made his move on the first climb of the final lap, sprinting away from Guerra to get into the singletrack first.

Matter spent part of the race thinking about taking the overall WORS 2014 victory, that is, when he wasn’t wondering if the Packers won. He did his math and with this win, he cannot be passed in overall points. For Guerra, even a win at the final race would leave him one point behind Matter, and that is if Matter doesn’t race. But he will end up with his best season at 2nd overall. After Matter and Guerra took first and second in race, Neff rolled in for 3rd, shaking off Piontek by only 13 seconds.

Spectators of the women’s race saw an impressive climb by Sarah Agena (Hidden Bay/ Cider Boys) as she tried to repeat history and win the sprint prime for a second year in a row. After clinching her $100 prize, she was quickly passed by Lindsey Kriete (Benelux Racing). Kriete has not appeared at a WORS race since 2013, which left fans wondering who the mystery rider was. It’s not everyday a woman can come out and lead a pack of some of the fastest women in Wisconsin. But Kriete is not new to WORS racing as she has many wins under her belt.

Not far behind her was Lisa Krayer (Adventure 212/Specialized) working closely with her competitor and friend, Lori Sable (Pedal Moraine). It is not uncommon for racers to become close friends in the WORS community, in fact, all three women decided to do their post race interview together as they congratulated each other on their race. Kriete had an especially emotional reason she raced as she dedicated her victory to the loss of her dog, Izzy. Kriete said that she has not raced much but wanted to come out to pay tribute to her lost friend.

The 2014 WORS season comes to a close October 12th with the Sheboygan Bicycle Company MTB Challenge in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The traditional closer for WORS is a favorite of many racers. It can be relaxed for racers that have their final positions locked in or a mad scramble for points for racers that don’t. The course has many spectator friendly features that are easily accessible by foot. Included are a creek crossing, a downhill log jump and the infamous "Equalizer" a hill so steep and narrow that racers who are able to climb it without putting a foot down earn a crisp $5 bill at the top.

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