Wagner and Saling Grab Titles, Curley, Norton and Axthelm Return to Add Another

Paul Curley steals the first title of the 2009 National Championships. © Janet Hill

Paul Curley (GearWorks/Spinarts) of Taunton, Mass. returned to the National Championships after a few years hiatus, and returned to the same position he’s used to – at the front. Curley held off defend champion Gary Thacker (Chipotle/Titus) of Boulder, CO to take the Masters 55+ title. The title is Paul Curley’s 24th, give or take a few, as the winner has racked up so many he’s lost count.

Check out Curley’s race recap video below:

In the 60+ race, another multi-time National Champion made his return to the races, with Redline’s Dan Norton taking what he thinks might be his 13th title, but he doesn’t care to count. Norton led wire-to-wire, executing on his plan to get the holeshot and hammer for half a lap before surveying the damage. When he looked back, he had a gap over defending champion Phil Bannister and decided to keep it going, stretching it out to 1:19 at the finish. In the process, he beat two former National Champions in Bannister and Webcor’s John Elgart.

“I went hard to get the holeshot,” Notron told Cyclocross Magazine. “Then I rode a half-lap really hard to assess the damage. I had a gap, so I just gassed it. At the halfway point of the race, when I found out that I had a good gap, I started riding the corners conservatively and then gassing the straightaways. The corners are really tricky – it’s a technical course.”

“Everyone was running the little, icy off-camber. One of the kids from my team rode it and gave me the scouting report to hug the tape to the left all the way, then a straight shot all the way up,” revealed Norton. “I just flew through it.”

The 65+ Masters race, James Wagner (Cycle Therapy) opened a big gap early, making his way into the 60+ field and came home solo to take the title.

In the 70+ race, Joe Sailing (Team Somerset) used a fast start to gap two past National Champions including defending champ Ron Riley (Santa Cruz) and 2007 winner Walt Axthelm (DCCX). Sailing stretched out his lead to 25 seconds over Erik Nordenson, who took second. Herbert Bates (Nault’s Cyclery) took third in the 70+ division.

Axthelm, now graduated to the 75+ division, took home the gold medal in front of Ron Riley (Team Santa Cruz).

Full Results: