Gould Storms to Win at Frigid Whitmore’s Supercross Cup – Full Report & Photos

by Jacob Sisson, Photos by Michael Franken

Georgia Gould (LUNA) cruised to another dominant win Saturday at day 1 of the Whitmore’s Landscaping Supercross Cup, handily beating Cyclocrossworld.com’s Lynne Bessette who came forcefully out of retirement to take second ahead of Natasha Elliot (EMD Serono – Stevens). NACT Leader Amy Dombroski (Velo Bella – Kona) narrowly maintained her lead, finishing in 8th place. She’ll have to mix it up with Gould tomorrow if she hopes to hold on to the NACT title. Rumor has it that the NACT trophy is one of the best ones ever presented, so the fight for its ownership should be a good one.

The race’s first protagonist emerged not long after the women took to the course. The frigid temperatures – not too far north of 20 degrees – and the whipping winds – 20 mph being a conservative estimate – meant the long flat sections allowed for little rest, and the cold allowed for little feeling in the extremities. Still, Natasha Elliot decided to try to go wire to wire and took off from the gun. Her escape was well advised as well, as the favorite for victory this weekend, Georgia Gould, was not present in the front group for the better part of the first lap. Behind her, Maureen Bruno Roy (MM Racing p/b Seven Cycles) and Sue Butler (Monaviecannondale.com) were in charge of the chasing, and were holding Elliot to a couple of seconds at most.

Soon enough, however, Gould was back in the fold, and along, with Deidre Winfield (Velo Bella – Kona), swelled the first chase group to four riders. Not long after Gould rejoined the chase group, she was of in pursuit of Elliot. Gould was not able to shed her chase group mates, but she her acceleration nullified Elliot’s escape. Four had now become five and a new race had begun. Lyne Bessette, who was making up for the absence of Tim Johnson in the Men’s race, was not far behind the action and was looking smooth and comfortable.

Exiting the wooded singletrack section shortly after the front group had been established, Maureen Bruno Roy found one of the worse sections of course and hit the ground hard. Bruno Roy had been third wheel in the group and her crash had disrupted the lines of Butler and Winfield as well. This incident allowed Elliot and Gould to escape the chasers, as well as allowed Bessette to get back into the fold. Bruno Roy’s bike had also taken a hit as a result of the crash and she was forced into the pits for a new one. She would not be able to get back into the race for the front and would finish the day in seventh.

Gould and Elliot were charging ahead, with the chasers being led by Bessette. Gould soon had enough of her Canadian counterpart and dropped the hammer hard. Her lead over Elliot was constantly on the rise, as Elliot was fading back to Bessette. Bessette had dropped Butler, and Winfield had fallen off the back a little while back, so it was now Elliot and Bessette at the head of the race. They would go back and forth attacking each other but would never make up any ground on Gould who had more or less sewn up the victory with two laps to go.

Gould would cruise to victory in commanding fashion. Behind her, Bessette would eventually drop Elliot and take home second, not bad for her first race in almost a year. Sue Butler would finish off a solid ride, in unfamiliar conditions, and bring home fourth, ahead of Laura Van Gilder, who would manage to catch and pass Deidre Winfield. Behind her, Maureen Bruno Roy would recover a little bit of steam to get past Amy Dombroski for seventh, with Dombroski in eighth. Dombroski’s lead over Gould in the NACT standings is now down to 16 points. To take home the victory, Dombroski will have to beat Gould to the line or lose the title.

You can read a play-by-play archive of our live coverage here.

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