Race Report

Race Report by Brenton Hamilton

It turned out to be a beautiful day for the Angels Camp race. Wearing the TWW colors were myself, Peter Sterlacci and new recruit Ben "the wonderful" Green racing in the under 18 sport category.

After about a 2 1/2 hour drive from San Jose, we arrived at the course which is situated by a lake just outside the town of Angels Camp. You would be excused for thinking you arrived at Frogsville - nearly every street/park seemed to have a "frog" connection.

For the sport category, the race consisted of 3 seven mile loops, 99% rolling singletrack. P-Ster took off first in the 25-35 category. My group was next followed by Ben's junior sport category. The start is similar to Billy Cross and I was about mid pack entering the single track after the short paved hill climb. My strategy was to start at a medium pace and then try to slowly reel in the leaders. This seemed to work pretty well and on the first lap I overtook about 10 riders. Coming into the second lap the closely packed field had established their positions and I spent the whole lap in sixth place on the heals of #902. I passed 902 over the start/finish line entering lap 3 and I could hear him breathing down my neck for the rest of that lap. With about a mile to go, a junior sport rider caught and passed us. I was able to hang with him long enough to pass another rider (in a different category) and put a little space between me and 902. It was a great tussle. Finished 5 of 26 in 1:13 and change. First place finished in 1:11.

Unforntunately, Ben's race started with a pile up, and being the youngest (only 13), he ended up a little behind after the carneige had sorted itself out. He rode strong after that and was looking good into lap 3 right before his chain got mangled up in his crank and he was forced to walk home. He is a strong young rider that we are going to see a lot more of in the future. Look out for him riding his DH rig at the GGG.

BHam

Race Report by Peter Sterlacci

It was Brenton's B-day (ask him how old he is now) and we decided to celebrate with a race at Angels Camp. I told B-Ham that for his B-day he needed to get on the podium and he was sure close with his 5/26 finish. I was not as fortunate. I finished 12/15 in the Sport 26-34 category. I was just happy not to finish dead last given the fact that my training has been at a minimum the past few months. I actually had a great start and hit the singletrack in 6th position, but could not hold the pace and let people pass. I was feeling great by the middle of lap 2 and by lap 3 I was moving fast, but too little too late. Anyway, for the first race of 2003 it was a good day with great weather and a fun course.

Peter

Back to Main Page