Singlespeeders Rule Elite Men, Anderson Shines Bright Under the Lights at Sierra Point – Bay Area Super Prestige 2012

by Tim Westmore

BRISBANE, CALIFORNIA – On Saturday, after seeing World Champion-striped racers, enjoying Belgian brews and hearing Richard Fries’ famous, excited voice over the loudspeakers, you would be forgiven if you thought you were at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships. However, it was just the annual, non-sanctioned Bay Area Super Prestige night race at Sierra Point that managed to raise its profile as one of the country’s best night events.

At the Clif Bar Sierra Point Night Race, the third event of 2012 Bay Area Super Prestige cyclocross races, Elle Anderson (Ladies First) raced from the back of the field to win the race for Category A Women, in a competition replete with some of the best female cyclocross racers in Northern California. For Category A Men, Aaron Bradford (Bicycle Bluebook/HRS/Rock Lobster) also fought his way to the front. Bradford’s win was part of a Rock Lobster one-two in an event-filled exciting repeat of the 2011 Sierra Point BASP Elite Men’s race.

The women’s field could qualify as the dream race for this season. Many winners from the different Northern California cyclocross races were on hand: Emily Kachorek (TBB.CX), Ellen Sherrill (Bicycle Bluebook/HRS/Rock Lobster), Helene Drumm, Karen Brems (Team Rambuski Law) and Emily Thurston (Team Rambuski Law). Having recently returned to cyclocross racing, only Kelly Bonar, amongst the top seven finishers, has yet to score a win this season.

Despite a call-up that left Elle Anderson near the back at the start, the Ladies First racer was able to make up huge amounts of ground by the mid-point of the first lap. “It was a pretty good field,” remarked Anderson, “I took an outside line and moved up pretty quickly in the first lap. [I] got lucky because I sort of open up when I get to the front early.”

Midway through the race, the front of the field was controlled by Brems, Thurston and Anderson. Thurston apparently mis-read the course, perhaps following bad clues on the ground in the dark, and took a wrong turn into the course tape. From here, Anderson passed the World Masters Champion Brems and took charge of the race.

“I hung in there the first two laps, watching to see how things would play out,” continued Anderson, “Emily [Thurston] and Karen [Brems] were really pushing the pace, which was great. [They were] taking turns attacking but I never let a gap open up. Going into the third lap, I just decided to put in a surge right before the finish stretch. I put on the gas, kept [it] on for a lap and a half, and slowly crept away.”

Anderson took the comfortable win with Brems following with a solid second place finish. Kelly Bonar pipped Thurston in a sprint for third place, while Kachorek grabbed the fifth spot and Helene Drumm came home in sixth. Ellen Sherrill took seventh after starting from the back row.

“This has been a blast,” said Anderson, “I can definitely say that my favorite races are night races. This had such a great atmosphere. The course was really fun and technical and the crowds were amazing. The heckling was just superb.”

In the race for Category A Men, Ben Jaques-Maynes (Ritte Bear Development) and Scott Chapin (Bicycle Bluebook/HRS/Rock Lobster) lead the way during the early laps. The pace they set was ferocious and both riders were on single speed bikes.

Whether it was the night time flood lights or the bumpy uneven ground at the TRP Brake Zone leading to the boisterous Heckle Hill, several riders had difficulty negotiating those plank barriers. The smaller problems saw back wheels catching the barrier and flipping up into the air. The worst outcomes saw riders taste dirt.

In one lap, the race’s complexion changed as Chapin’s bike made contact with the barrier; he went down and his bike clashed with Ben Jaques-Maynes. Both racers suffered briefly but Bradford was able to take advantage and reach the front of the field, after a call-up leaving him well back at the start of the race.

“I was probably sitting tenth at the time after coming back from fortieth,” said Bradford, “Scott [Chapin] and Ben Jacques-Maynes must have collided at some point. Maybe Scott [Chapin] was bunny-hopping and Ben [Jacques-Maynes] was running. They must have contacted. It really broke up the organization of that lead group.”

“I hopped the barriers and put a surge in right then,” continued Bradford, “It caught some people off-guard. I went from tenth to first at that point and it made it a little easier to keep my groove. I saw Ben [Jacques-Maynes] got gapped. Scott [Chapin] hung on to my wheel when I put on my surge. When he surged, he moved ahead and then I sat on. The two of us did the team tactics thing and kept Jacques-Maynes out there in no-man’s land.”

Chapin and Bradford raced away from Ben Jacques-Maynes, who was a little under-geared for the course’s long, black-top straights. The remaining question was the final order at finish. Rounding the final turn onto the start-finish straightway, Bradford had the advantage. Chapin put in a push to pass Bradford but his team mate proved up to the task.

“I knew Ben [Jacques-Maynes] was going to ride his one speed, that’s the only bike he has,” said Bradford, “Scott [Chapin] and I have been enjoying our one speeds. We came into it just thinking, ‘let’s ride the singlespeeds, ride as hard as we can, and see if we can shake it up and get to the front.’ We did exactly that. It’s all that training on the one speed in the Santa Cruz hills.”

2012 Bay Area Super Prestige Sierra Point Photo Gallery:

2012 Bay Area Super Prestige Sierra Point Cyclocross Results:

Sierra Point 2012 Elite Men's Results

Place	First Name	Last Name	Team
1	Aaron	Bradford	BicycleBlueBook/HRS/RockLobster
2	scott	chapin	BicycleBluebook/HRS/Rocklobster
3	Ben	Jacques-Maynes	Ritte/Beard Envelopment
4	Michael	Hosey	Marin Factory Team
5	Keith	Hillier	Team Rambuski Law
6
7	Julian	Villafane	Buy-cell.com
8	Justin	Abbott	Devil Mountain Cyclery
9	Michael	Zanetti	NorCal Bike Monkey
10	Philip	Mooney	Team Mike's Bikes
11	Kyle	Murphy	MASH SF
12
13	Cameron	Falconer	Fresh Air/Hunter Cycles
14	Rainier	Schaefer	MASH SF
15	Eric	Colton	Cynergy Cycles / Specialized
16
17	Mitch	Trux	Sterling Sports Group
18	Adam	Switters	Team Mike's Bikes
19	Andrew	Goessling	Team Mike's Bikes CX
20	Andrew	Juiliano	Bicycle Blue Book/HRS/ROCK LOBSTER
21	Justin	Robinson	California Giant/Specialized
22	Joshua	Wright	Geekhouse
23	Jason	Benford	Fresh Air-Hunter Cycles
24	Matt	Young	Roaring Mouse Cycles
25	Dustin	White	SuperPro Racing
26	Brandon	Dillard
27	Aaron	Odell	Bicycle Blue Book/HRS/ Rocklobster
28	Nicholaus	Slone	Delore Grotta
29
30	Anastasio	Flores Jr	Cal Giant Strawberries
31	Tim	Knudsen	Divine Electric
32	jordan	anderson	owens healthcare
33	AJ	Kennedy	CalNorte/Cycleution
34	Ryan	Johnson	Team Mike's Bikes
35	Roman	Kiwn	Mike's Bikes
36	Jonathan	Krier	Sterling Sports Group
37	Aaron	Bradford	BicycleBlueBook/HRS/RockLobster
38	Dillen	Maurer	Montrose Bike Shop
39	Alton	Dunnigan	Fremont Bank Cycling Team
40	Stephen	Dey	Team Mike's Bikes
41	Aaron	Nathan	SuperPro Racing
42	Steven	Tortorelli	MASH SF
43	Ben	Dodge	Bicycle Blue Book/HRS/Rocklobster
44	Ian	Stowe	Bear Development Team
45	Nathaniel	Eybil	Kenda SHR
46	Daniel	Stuart	Lost Coast Brewery
47	Russell	Forthuber	Taleo Racing
48	Paul	Guerra	Webcor/Alto Velo
49	Stephen	Czapiga	Hunter Freewheel
50	Lee	Slone	Ichigo-Au Lait-Slonie

Sierra Point 2012 Elite Women's Results

Place	Firstname	Lastname	Team
1	Elle	Anderson	LadiesFirst Racing
2	Karen	Brems	Team Rambuski Law
3	Kerry	Bonar	Luna Ambassador
4	Emily	Thurston	Team Rambuski Law
5	Emily	Kuchorek	TBB.CX
6	Helene	Drumm
7	Ellen	Sherrill	Bicycle Bluebook/HRS Rocklobster
8	Kristin	Drumm	Cycles Fanatic
9	Katie Jay	Melena	Bicycle Blue Book/HRS/Rock Lobster
10	Sarah	Jordan	Bicycle Bluebook/HRS Rocklobster
11	Elicia	Hildebrand	Team Rambuski Law
12	Megan	Melack
13	Jennifer	Jordan	Mellow Motors
14	Michelle	Morrill	Team Roaring Mouse
15	Carolina	Gomez-Villafane	buy-cell
16	Leah	Plack	Fresh Air/Hunter
17	Romany	McNamara	Missing Link
18	Carol	Boland
19	Mary-Ellen	Ash	Bicycle Blue Book/HRS/Rock Lobster
20	JENNIFER	REITHER	Verge
21	Natasha	Perry	Bicycle Blue Book HRS Rock Lobster
22	Stace	Cooper	TBBCX/Ghetto
23	Natalia	Gardiol	Chica Sexy/Pedal Revolution
24	Liza	Rachetto	Sterling Sports
25	Kelly	Chang	SyCip
26	Erin	Lindheim	Team Affinity/Sycomp Racing
27	Maura	Kinsella	Team #Stylewatts
28	Marissa	Axell	Team Roaring Mouse
29	Caroline	Dezendorf	West Coast Women's Cycling

Sierra Point 2012 Singlespeed A Results

Place	First Name	Last Name	Team
1	Chas	Christiansen	MASH SF
2	0	0
3	Matt	McNamara	Sterling Cross p/b Fusion I/O
4	Dan	Sovereign	Kinetic Cycles
5	Krishna	Dole	SuperPro
6	Ryan	Johnson	Team Mike's Bikes
7	Tim	Cannard	Buy-cell.com
8	mike	morgan	Buy-cell.com/Ibis
9	Henry P.	Scholtz	Team Mike's Bikes
10	Erik	Zimmer	Fortner Gardens/Mavic
11	Isaias	Job	Team Roaring Mouse
12	Kevin	Thorp	Wrench Science
13	Patrick	Kitto	Sterling Cross p/b Fusion I/O
14	Uri	Friedman	Team Chica Sexy
15	Kailin	Waterman	1067 Post
16	Thomas	Hoeffel	Missing Link/3rd Rail
17	Ruben	Villarreal	Fortner Gardens/Lagunitas
18	Evan	Adams	DFL
19	Mark	Christian	Northside
20	Sean	Coffey	Bicycle Blue Book/HRS/Rock Lobster
21	Dylan	McReynolds	Classbook.com / North American Velo
22	Paule	Bates	Team Roaring Mouse
23	garrett	Chow	MASH SF
24	Tom	Ryan	Missing Link/3rd Rail
25	Scott	Kildall	SuperPro Racing
26	0	0
27	tom	taylor	Team Roaring Mouse
28	Alfred	Cauthen	Chica Sexy
29	Cameron	Falconer	Fresh Air/Hunter Cycles
30	Cisco	Moran	Team Roaring Mouse
31	Dillen	Maurer	Montrose Bike Shop
32	Mike	Morganfeld	Team Roaring Mouse
33	Patrick	Kitto	Sterling Cross p/b Fusion I/O
34	Evan	Sarna	Missing Link/3rd Rail
35	Derek	Yarra	MASH SF

Sierra Point 2012 Master Men 35+ Results

Place	First Name	Last Name	Team
1	Murray	Swanson	Peninsula Velo
2	Brian	Finnerty	California Giant/Specialized
3	Gannon	Myall	california berry farms/specialized
4	Brock	Dickie	Buy-Cell.com/IBIS
5	Don	Myrah	Buy-Cell.com/IBIS
6
7	Rich	Maile	Team Mike's Bikes
8	Todd	Haefer	Cal Giant/Specialized
9	Daniel	McNally	Freewheel Hunter
10	John	Mundelius	Cal Giant/Specialized
11	James	Badia	Webcor / Alto Velo
12
13	Philip	Hynes	IronData - Thirsty Bear
14	Justin	Robinson	California Giant/Specialized
15	Basil	Moutsopoulos	Hup United
16
17	jeremiah	kille	Caletti cycles
18	William	Kemper	Quadzilla Racing
19	Craig	Chaney	Bell Real Estate Cycling
20	Aron	Bonar	Sycip
21	Eric	Russell	Clif Bar
22	Rob	Saybolt	Hunter Freewheel
23	Brian	Vernor
24	forrest	johnson	sycip
25	Christopher	Elbo	Missing Link/3rd Rail
26	Chris	Matthews
27	Uri	Friedman	Team Chica Sexy
28	Travis	Ma	Peninsula Velo Racing
29
30	Adrian	Lobito	Knife Crew
31	Ode	Bernstein	Missing Link/3rd Rail
32	Ken	Dick	Wrench Science
33	Grant	Cutler
34	Heath	Maddox	vive la tarte + Cykel
35	matt	rolandson
36	Chris	McNally
37	Angus	Nesbitt	Hup United
38	Sergio	Iniguez	Cyclemasters
39	Nathan	Garrett	Sycip / Deathstar
40	Bo	Barry	Soulcraft
41	Michael	McCabe	Evergreen Racing
42	Jason	Harrod	420wear
43	Chad	Rosser	SJBC
44	Shaun	O'Bryan	Chica Sexy