by Dr. Craig Callan and Champion System MAC staff
The Champion System MAC Series moved up the New Jersey Turnpike to the town of Jamesburg for HPCX and the second round of MAC’s UCI New Jersey double-header weekend. 451 riders took the start this year, a 28% increase over last year’s entry.
The mens race was an exciting one as Switzerland’s Champion System MAC Points Leader Valentin Scherz (CYFAC/Champion System/Revolution Wheelworks) and Italy’s Luca Damiani (Kenda/Geargrinder) broke out to an early lead, chased by a six man chase group that eventually swelled to eight members. As the gap grew in the early leads, it became clear that there were two races on the track: the race for first and the race for third. On lap three Damiani attacked and quickly distanced Scherz. It seemed as though the first two spots were sewn up when, with one-and-a-half laps to go, Damiani rolled a tire. Realizing that Damiani had no pit bike, Scherz, in a very classy move, yelled to his crew to give his to Damiani. But the Italian couldn’t clip into the pedals on Scherz’s pit bike and was caught by the chase group. Scherz rode solo to victory, while Adam Myerson (Cycle Smart) won the exciting four-man sprint up the steep finish hill.
In the Women’s race, C3-Athletes Serving Athletes again lived up to the team’s Halloween-edition Star Wars Storm Trooper skin suits by sweeping the podium for the second straight day. From the start, the three teammates, current UCI #1 ranked Laura van Gilder, Arley Kemmerer and yesterday’s winner Dee Dee Winfield, broke away with only Kristin Gavin of Team Cystic Fibrosis able to challenge. Gavin would be sent off the back of the lead group on the second lap and spend the rest of the race in a tight battle with Carolyn Popovic (PAValleys.com). A lap later, Kemmerer was out of the lead group. Winfield and Van Gilder would trade attacks the rest of the race, with Van Gilder winning in a sprint. Gavin would hold of Popovic by just one second for fourth.
The Champion System MAC returns to action next Saturday for the First State Velo Sport Xross in Fair Hill Natural Resource Area, located in Elkton, Maryland, just just across the state line from Newark, Delaware and the University of Delaware.
Elite Men Results
| Place | U23 | Time | First Name | Last Name | Team |
| 1 | 1:01:57 | Valentin | SCHERZ | Cyfac-Champion System P/B Revolution Wheelworks | |
| 2 | 0:00:25 | Adam | MYERSON | Cycle-Smart | |
| 3 | 0:00:25 | Craig | RICHEY | CyclocrossRacing.com p/b Blue | |
| 4 | 1 | 0:00:25 | Jerome | TOWNSEND | BikeReg.com / Joe’s Garage / Scott |
| 5 | 0:00:32 | Adam | MCGRATH | Thule/Van Dessel Cyclocross | |
| 6 | 0:00:50 | Ryan | KNAPP | BikeReg.com | |
| 7 | 0:01:09 | Luca | DAMIANI | Kenda p/b Geargrinder | |
| 8 | 2 | 0:01:19 | Nicholas | KEOUGH | Champion Systems p/b Keough Cyclocross |
| 9 | 0:01:25 | Christian | FAVATA | Favata’s Tablerock Tours and Bikes | |
| 10 | 0:02:03 | Andrew | WULFKUHLE | C3-Athletes Serving Athletes | |
| 11 | 0:02:26 | Weston | SCHEMPF | C3-Athletes Serving Athletes | |
| 12 | 0:02:50 | Jonny | SUNDT | Kenda Pro Cycling | |
| 13 | 3 | 0:02:56 | Steve | FISHER | Rad Racing NW / Hagens Berman LLP |
| 14 | 0:03:07 | Gavriel | EPSTEIN | CRCA/Foundation | |
| 15 | 0:04:04 | Guillaume | NELESSEN | Van Dessel Factory Team | |
| 16 | 0:04:08 | Michael | JENKS | Highland Park Hermes p/b Kim’s Bike Shop | |
| 17 | 0:04:14 | John | BURNS | Bikeman.com | |
| 18 | 0:05:05 | Mark | BROADWATER | C3-Athletes Serving Athletes | |
| 19 | 0:05:35 | Matt | SPOHN | Cyfac-Champion System Racing Team p/b Revolution Wheelworks | |
| 20 | 0:05:58 | Lisban | QUINTERO | CRCA/Foundation | |
| 21 | 0:06:28 | Jesse | KEOUGH | Champion Systems p/b Keough Cyclocross | |
| 22 | 0:06:41 | Andrew | CROOKS | NYC Velo | |
| 23 | 0:07:55 | Christopher | CONSORTO | Louis Garneau | |
| 24 | 4 | 2 lap | Patrick | BRADLEY | Rutgers University | Raleigh | Kim’s Bike Shop |
| 25 | 5 | 2 lap | Peter | HAGERTY | Rochester Institute of Technology |
| 26 | 2 lap | David | SOMMERVILLE | Cyfac-Champion System P/B Revolution Wheelworks |
Elite Women Results
| Place | m35+ | Bib | Time | First Name | Last Name |
| 1 | 1 | 0:38:30 | Laura | VAN GILDER | C3 Athletes Serving Athletes |
| 2 | 2 | 0:00:00 | Deidre | WINFIELD | C3 – Athletes Serving Athletes |
| 3 | 0:00:34 | Arley | KEMMERER | C3 – Athletes Serving Athletes | |
| 4 | 0:00:59 | Kristin | GAVIN | Team Cystic Fibrosis | |
| 5 | 0:01:30 | Carolyn | POPOVIC | PAValleys.com | |
| 6 | 0:01:35 | Patty | BUERKLE | Haymarket / SEAVS | |
| 7 | 0:01:39 | Nicole | THIEMANN | Team CF | |
| 8 | 0:01:55 | Emily | THURSTON | Missing Link/ 3rd Rail | |
| 9 | 3 | 0:03:07 | Jennifer | MAXWELL | Van Dessel Factory Team p/b Sterke Meiden |
| 10 | 4 | 0:03:37 | Katrina | DOWIDCHUK | Team TBB/Deep Blue |
| 11 | 0:03:47 | Kristine | CHURCH | Human Zoom/ Pabst Blue Ribbon | |
| 12 | 5 | 0:03:52 | Erica | YOZELL | PAValleys.com |
| 13 | 0:04:22 | Andrea | LUEBBE | Human Zoom / Pabst Blue Ribbon | |
| 14 | 6 | 0:04:39 | Lauri | WEBBER | Secret Henrys Team |
| 15 | 7 | 0:05:08 | Stacey | BARBOSSA | Montclair Cyclists |
| 16 | 0:05:21 | Amy | CUTLER | Team EPS/CSS p/b Brielle Cyclery | |
| 17 | 8 | 0:06:48 | Kathrin | SCHUMACHER | Guy’s Racing |
| 18 | 1 lap | Nina | *SANTIAGO | Watchung Wheelmen |
