For full coverage, schedules and information on the 2012 Cyclocross National Championships at Badger Prairie County Park in Madison, Wisconsin, visit our 2012 Cyclocross National Championships homepage.
Steve Tilford takes another masters cyclocross national championship – 2012 Cyclocross National Championships, 50-54. © Tim Westmore
by Chris Bagg
VERONA, WISCONSIN—Steve Tilford wasted very little time in winning his 7th Masters Cyclocross National Championship, taking the holeshot and establishing a seven second gap by the end of the first lap over silver medalist Kevin Hines. On a course Tilford described as “slick mud, not power mud,” the multiple-discipline national champion (and mountain bike world champion) steadily rode away from his rival Hines, eventually winning by almost half a minute.
“The Masters race begins to be more important,” Tilford said, “as the elite race becomes less important,” referring to his start position for the elite race on Saturday. “So when you can win a race rather than coming in 30th it’s always better.” Tilford “just tried to ride smooth” on the course which is becoming greasier as Nationals proceeds, as warmer than expected temperatures keep Madison thawed rather than frozen.”Once you get a cushion you don’t really need to make the cushion bigger, so I was trying to ride smooth and not make any big mistakes.”
Tilford’s gap with four laps to go was seven seconds, and then 12, and then 16 before Hines clawed back some ground with a lap-and-a-half to go. The rest of the field was minutes back from the two contenders. Tilford was conservative, running the course’s steep hill and the sand pit, whereas Hines was riding the climb. Tilford tipped Ryan Trebon as his favorite for Sunday’s elite race, and the two riders do share similar riding styles. “I think the time gaps will be huge on Sunday. It’s pretty hard to ride with someone else when everybody’s making micro-mistakes all the time.”
In second, Hines battled gamely, but just couldn’t close the gap once Tilford had established it. Riding for iconic Corner Cycle, Hines went down early on the tricky corner just before the barriers. He seemed to be taking the sandpit faster, but the power course simply favored the lanky rider from Topeka, Kansas. Tilford plans to travel to Louisville for next weekend’s UCI Masters World Championships, and said that he was “tuning up” in this competition today.
Interview with Kevin Hines:
[youtube O2EHqJ9po3c 580 380]
Keep up to date on all of the action at 2012 Cyclocross Nationals on Cyclocross Magazine’s 2012 Cyclocross National Championships homepage.
Full results below photo gallery
Masters 50-54 Cyclocross National Championships 2012
| PLACE | NAME | Hometown | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen TILFORD | Topeka, KS | |
| 2 | Kevin HINES (2 - Cat1) | East Wareham, MA | Corner Cycle Cycling Club |
| 3 | Wayne SIMON (3 - Cat1) | Lake Barrington, IL | PSIMET Racing/Enzo's-PSIMET |
| 4 | Tim HACKER (1 - Cat3) | Madison, WI | Planet Bike |
| 5 | Ron HUEBNER (4 - Cat1) | Waterford, VA | Evolution Cycling Club p/b Long & Foster |
| 6 | Danny WARNER (2 - Cat3) | Trout Valley, IL | Village-Verdigris Cycling/Verdigris-Village CX Team |
| 7 | Gregory GOBLIRSCH (3 - Cat3) | River Falls, WI | Loon State Cyclists |
| 8 | Phillip KENEALY (1 - Cat2) | Bedford, NH | University of New Hampshire |
| 9 | Stephen SONGER (2 - Cat2) | Overland Park, KS | 360 Racing |
| 10 | John THOMPSON (5 - Cat1) | Shoreview, MN | St Paul Bicycle Racing Club/Bianchi/Grand Performance |
| 11 | Russell THORSTROM (6 - Cat1) | Boise, ID | Intermountain Cycling Organization |
| 12 | John MOSHER (3 - Cat2) | Boxborough, MA | Wheelworks Racing |
| 13 | John BLISS (4 - Cat3) | Boulder, CO | Team Kappius |
| 14 | Alan BLANCHARD (7 - Cat1) | Montvale, NJ | Century Road Club Association/Blue Ribbon-Translations.com |
| 15 | Mark MCGEEN (4 - Cat2) | Waukesha, WI | Team Mack Racing Assoc. LTD |
| 16 | Bill REED (5 - Cat2) | Eagle, ID | Lost River Cycling Club/St. Lukes Sports Medicine |
| 17 | David LUCZYNSKI (5 - Cat3) | Elgin, IL | 0 |
| 18 | William KUSTER (6 - Cat3) | Anoka, MN | Loon State Cyclists |
| 19 | Tim JAMES (7 - Cat3) | Lafayette, CO | CROSS PROPZ RACING |
| 20 | Edwin RAMBUSKI (8 - Cat1) | San Luis Obispo, CA | Team Rambuski Law /Team Rambuski Law |
| 21 | Kenneth SMITH (9 - Cat1) | Mansfield, TX | Oklahoma City Velo Club |
| 22 | Mathew BAROLI (6 - Cat2) | Troy, MI | Wolverine Sports Club |
| 23 | Allan THOM (8 - Cat3) | Clarendon Hills, IL | Half Acre Cycling |
| 24 | Tedd JACOBSON (9 - Cat3) | Pewaukee, WI | 0 |
| 25 | Gregory ANDERSON (10 - Cat3) | South Elgin, IL | Spin Doctor Cyclewerks Cycling Club/Spin Doctor Cyclewerks |
| 26 | Paul NYBERG (7 - Cat2) | Canton, CT | TWZ Masters Cycling Team/Horst Engineering Masters Cycling Team |
| 27 | Larry KAUFMAN (11 - Cat3) | Princeton, NJ | Van Dessel Factory Team |
| 28 | Lennard ZINN (8 - Cat2) | Boulder, CO | Boulder Cycle Sport |
| 29 | Randal WARREN (9 - Cat2) | Chicago, IL | xXx Racing |
| 30 | Tony TRATTENERO (12 - Cat3) | Simi Valley, CA | The TEAM /The TEAM - SoCalCross |
| 31 | Kirk RHINEHART (13 - Cat3) | Santa Fe, NM | KHSNM.com/Thenationalsproject.com |
| 32 | Daryl RAINS (10 - Cat2) | Winston Salem, NC | Mock Orange Bikes |
| 33 | Bill OKEEFE (14 - Cat3) | Baltimore, MD | Charm City Cycling LLC |
| 34 | William STEVENS (11 - Cat2) | Bolton, MA | Mid State Cycling Club/Gear Works/Spin Arts Cyclery |
| 35 | William KOEHLER (15 - Cat3) | Cedarburg, WI | BVC/Nomad Cycling |
| 36 | Tim LEROY (12 - Cat2) | Waukesha, WI | Team Mack Racing Assoc. LTD |
| 37 | Michael METEYER (13 - Cat2) | Madison, WI | Trek Midwest Team |
| 38 | Richard TOLER (16 - Cat3) | Dayton, OH | Team Dayton Bicycling/MERRILL LYNCH CYCLING |
| 39 | Martin SOETAERT (17 - Cat3) | Austin, TX | Team Brain and Spine Cycling |
| 40 | Kenny SIPES (18 - Cat3) | Flaherty, KY | Scheller's Racing Team |
| 41 | Dwayne LETTERMAN (19 - Cat3) | Elizabethton, TN | Tri Cities Road Club/MSG Cyclocross |
| 42 | Gregory CLAUSEN (20 - Cat3) | Lake Geneva, WI | 0 |
| 43 | Jeff SYMPSON (21 - Cat3) | Rockford, IL | Big Ring Flyers |
| 44 | Chris CLAUSEN (22 - Cat3) | St Louis, MO | Pfoodman Racing |
| 45 | William ANDERSON (14 - Cat2) | Lawrence, KS | 360 Racing |
| 46 | Colonel REYNOLDS (23 - Cat3) | Bend, OR | 0 |
