2010 C.O.U.G.A.R. Criterium - Joliet

Boy, they don't call Chicago the windy city for nothing that's for sure! It was a howler from the north east and it put those early season legs to the test down in Joliet today. You either had it today, or you didn't. There was no hiding in the pack! But other than that it was a beautiful day and a well executed race by the South Chicago Wheelmen, USAC officials, and the owners of the Autobahn Country Club.

The early bird races had some familiar names again, so let's get that out of the way. Good 'ol Patryk Limanowicz (XXX) got win number 4 this morning, beating Eric Christ (Bicycle Heaven) and Justin Somerville (Bicycle Heaven) in the Men's Cat. 5 race. Katie Isermann (Iron Cycles) took the Women's 3/4, Sam Bianchi (XXX) won the Jr 10 - 14, and the South Chicago Wheelman swept the Jr 15-18 podium with Ryan O'Boyle, Trevor Rolette, and Michael Keller going 1-2-3. Master's 40+ was won by Michael Seguin (XXX), 50+ was swept by Team Mack - Mark McGeen, John Fleckstein, and Gary Doering, and Master's 30+ was won by - good 'ol Patryk Limanowicz (XXX). Aren't you Cat 5's glad he's not 20 years old and going to haunt you your entire career? LOL!

The Women's Open race had a small field, but it showed lots of agression. Leah Sanda (Flatlandia) and Stacy Appelwick (BTN) [I can never spell that team's name correctly - ED] rode off the front and pretty much splintered the group. Sanda took the sprint for the win over Appelwick.

The Men's Cat. 3 was a barn burner with lots of action right down to the end. Burnham Racing's Jason Knauff managed almost a 30 second lead early on and made it look like it was going to be permanent.

Until, that is, Chazz Martin took a blistering stab off the front of the main group and woke them up. That
opened the door to more aggression and eventually Knauff was caught and there was a lead group of nine. The nine worked well together, but late in the game Knauff took another dig. This time he just didn't have the legs to make it stick, and it came down to a sprint for the lead group.

On the finish line, it was Karl Schult (Capital Bicyle) taking the victory who rolled by Joel Friedman (Bicycle Heaven) with only a few meters to go. Thomas Brinney (XXX) came across for 3rd.

The Men's Catagory 4 race was dominated by this man - Jonathan Toftoy (Synergy) who, quite frankly, simply rode away from everybody else! It appeared that the strongest winds of the day were during this race because the trees were really swaying and you could hear the wind just howling. Toftoy got out of the saddle into the headwind every lap and kept the wheels moving. He was clearly the fastest rider on the course at the time, amassing a gap of just over 2 minutes by the end of the race. The field sprint was won by speedy Matt Haiduk (Bicycle Heaven) with Jason Sutherland (SCW) coming in third.

Pro 1/2/3. These guys know only one way to race a bike and that's full throttle. Halfway through the first lap and guys were already 'throwing it down' into the wind. ABD's Ryan Freund was very animated throughout the entire race. Partly due to his constant pressure at the front, a group of five separated themselves from the peloton with three more bridging up soon after. Those eight riders then worked well together pulling a 40 second gap over the hard working field.

With three laps to it was now time to decide who of the eight would be today's King, and the attacks came hard. Andrew Lister (Dogfish) jammed off the front with Ryan Freund (ABD) in hot pursuit. Lister kept the power on high, high enough to cross the line first with Dave Moyer (XXX) hot on his tail for second, Pat Fosse (Bicycle Heaven) came in third.

The faces on ALL the riders showed that it was a very hard day to race but all seemed to agree that this was a great venue to race on.