New York, NY

Freedom Criterium - Sterling, NJ (July 24th)

Sakonnet's Louis Perez capped a beautiful weekend with back-to-back
victories. On a much tighter and technical course than the day before Perez
showed his field sprinting skills and smart tactical sense by staying cool
throughout much of the event. On the last lap of an ensuing field sprint Perez
was sitting fourth wheel with two corners to go. With the line in sight there was
no stopping Perez as he took his second 1st Place of the weekend.

 

Summer Road Race - Newark, NJ (July 23rd)

Sakonnet's Louis Perez took the event by storm, first by attacking early and
creating a break of four men. Then by dropping each of his companions one
by one. Away solo Perez maintained his rhythm until two chasers joined him.
The now reformed break of three continued forward and at one point lapped
the Masters men field. Perez put in a textbook surge on the final lap and was
unmatched by his co-conspirators easily taking 1st Place by 10 seconds.

 

Mt. Nebo Road Race - Mt. Nebo, PA (July 23rd)

Sakonnet's John Swain and Chris Kuhl took part in this Mid-Atlantic Classic,
which is known for it's tough hilly course. Over the opening laps there was an
SKNT rider in each of the breakaways. However nothing stuck until former
CRCA board member Eugene Burrow (G.S Mengoni) put in a hard move that
saw him ride clear. Kuhl seeing an opportunity was quick to pursue with 4
others on his wheel. This became the move of the day; with Kuhl gone Swain
did everything he could back in the field to protect his teammates lead. On the
final lap Kuhl put in a hard attack that split the break and left two riders behind.
Another hard attack by Kuhl saw him riding solo with 3km to go to the line.
It looked like a sure SKNT win yet two riders organized behind Kuhl just in
time to overtake him with the finish line in sight. Kuhl road to a fantastic 3rd
Place and Swain closed the deal by earning a hard fought 8th Place. It's
always best to race from the front!

 

Bloomsburg Criterium - Bloomsburg, PA (July 23rd)

Sakonnet's assistant director Stephan Badger put the smack down in front
of his wife and in-laws in a rare appearance outside of New England. Riding
as a 6'5 secret stealth bomber in his SKNT uniform Badger missed the early
break of 5 men. No matter as he would not be denied, first he launched a
counter attack that formed a second break and then with four laps to go he
left his company to solo in for 6th Place.

 

CRCA Team Cup Points Race - New York, NY (July 23rd)

As the team has grown and has set it's sights on higher goals it has become
difficult to field teams at Team Cup events yet there is some pride involved and
at this mornings event three SKNT riders lined up captained by D.S Basil
Moutsopoulos, National Team member Andy Guptil and U23 Criterium Nationals
top ten finisher Lee Rosenthal. In typical CRCA fashion it was a fast hard race
that featured a points sprint at the end of each lap (except for the first one). It
was only in the final sprint of the day that SKNT placed a rider and it was Rosenthal
who was riding with a broken front spoke who placed second and ended up taking
6th Place in the event.

 

Union Vail Road Race -Poughkeepsie, NY (July 17th)

Sakonnet riders Lee Rosenthal and Andy Guptil traveled to this event just north of NYC.
According to the boys they both covered a few moves the first two laps of the race yet
nothing stuck. Later in the race a break of 6 got away with 1.5 laps to go, neither SKNT
rider was in the break. Lee felt good, so Andy went to the front to bring back break
before the finishing climb. Virtually solo Andy brought back the break 1 mile before the
base of the climb, Andy then pulled off and sat up. What was left of the field started the
climb together and with ½ a mile to go Lee took a flyer that was going to win the race
or burn himself before the line. He got very close and was just passed at the line;
Lee finished a great 5th Place. It's always best to race from the front!

 

CRCA Club Race - New York, NY (July 2nd)

On this morning Sakonnet's Joao Corriea, Basil Moutsopoulos and Bob/Bruce
Weyman lined up to take part in a local Club race. As usual it was no easy affair.
Moutsopoulos started the fireworks by attacking after the descent of Harlem Hill
on the first lap. When the move was brought back several counter attacks were
launched, most of which were covered by Weyman. But as luck would have it the
one uncovered move began to move away.

It's usually unlikely that most sub-teams would be happy with a break but it was
one of those days were almost every team had a man in the move. With over a
minute on the field it seemed the day would be lost but the field lead by SKNT
with the assistance of the NEXT and METRO sub-teams began to claw back the
break. Corriea's would bury himself, then Moutsopoulos, then Weyman and then
Correia again and so on!

With less than ½ a lap to go the break was just 15 seconds away and one last effort
by Moutsopoulos brought it back together at the base of Harlem Hill (the finish today
was at the top of the first Sister which is located on 96th St on the Westside of the
park). Correia was the pilot fish for Weyman and in the sprint despite the huge chase
effort Bob/Bruce finish an awesome 5th Place to riders who had sat the whole day long.