7/12-16/2007 USA U23 and Elite National Championships Seven Springs, PA

The towns in and around Seven Springs Pennsylvania were host to the U.S. National Championship festival for the second year in a row. With a new time trial course, a new criterium course and a shortened road race the two weeks of racing were going to be exciting. The team was comprised of two groups; the U23 riders (David Guttenplan, Guy East, Phil Gaimon) and the Elite riders (Johnny Hayes, Chris Kuhl, Robbie Giannini), for the Elite Road Race the whole team participated.

U23 Road Race

12th Place: Guy East

The highlights of the week began on the first day when the new slimmed down Guy East cracked the top twenty in the very hilly U23 Road Race. The event started off with a bang and a group of 9 unheralded riders escaped the field. There were no Slipstream riders in the break and only 1 VMG rider represented. Those two teams had a combined count of 22 riders in the race and our boys played the waiting game thinking the break most certainly would come back. Surprisingly the horsepower was not there and the break that was now down to 4 men was still dangling off the front with 5 miles to go. Guy and Phil were comfortably in the first group chasing the break and Phil threw down a vicious attack in a bid to make the solo bridge. Phil was brought back with 1 mile to go and it was an uphill field sprint to the line where Guy finished 7th for 12th overall.

U23 and Elite Time Trials (NRC)

9th Place: Guy East (U23)
14th Place: Phil Gaimon (U23)
19th Place: Johnny Hayes (Elite)
22nd Place: Chris Kuhl (Elite)

The next day was both the U23 and Elite Time Trials. The new course was very much liked after last years curvy blind corner loop, the only problem was that because the race was on an interstate there was no warm up on the course and all riders took their starts blind. Guy had fantastic legs and held the lead in the U23 for most of the day and only in the last half hour was he bumped from the podium finishing in 9th Place. Phil also had a fantastic ride and sat in the top 10 until the very end finally finishing in 12th Place. In the Elite Race both Chris Kuhl (22nd) and Johnny Hayes (19th) cracked the top 25 and earned NRC points for their efforts.

U23 Criterium

11th Place: David Guttenplan
13th Place: Guy East

The U23 Criterium was the teams last shot for a podium in the U23 and the boys went for it. Phil went right from the gun and road in just about every attack that made it off the front on the day. The field was not in the mood for letting a break go away and in the end the race was settled in a field sprint. Guy and David worked together and fell just short of top tens by finishing in 13th and 11th respectively.

Elite Road Race (NRC)

12th Place: Phil Gaimon
22nd Place: Johnny Hayes

The last event of the week was the Elite Road Race and with the deepest team of the weekend hopes where high. It was the first day of very hot weather and the sun took its toll on the field. Phil showed his mettle after 4 races in 5 days and finished in 12th Place while Johnny showed his consistency in the hills for 22nd Place. Both riders received NRC points for their finishes.

7/10 South Mountain Hill Top ITT South Mountain, PA

1st Place: Chris Kuhl

Team captain Chris Kuhl honed his time trialing form before Nationals by taking the win at this difficult time trial with a hill top finish. Chris clocked a time of 0:19:12 for the 7mile effort besting the second place finisher by over one minute.

7/10 U23 Canadian Road National Championships St. Georges, P.Q., Canada

8th Place: Gavi Epstein

Gavi Epstein continued to impress north of the boarder at today’s U23 Road Race in St. Georges. Riding a solo race with no teammates Gavi had to be carefully with expending his energy and so a short list of dangerous men was made before the race began. All was going to plan on the hilly road course as the early break of the day was being reeled in by the Symmetrics team and the end game moves where beginning to form. A monkey wrench was then thrown at Gavi as his front wheel went flat right before the post break counter attacks. After a slow change by neutral support Gavi began a furious chase that lasted close to a half hour before he reached the tail end of the first group just before the finishing climb. Gavi kept his momentum and charged his way thru the field and finished a fantastic 8th Place behind the winner Christian Myer (Symmetrics) who had escaped the field in the finishing miles.

7/7 U23 Canadian Criterium National Championships St. Georges, P.Q., Canada

10th Place: Gavi Epstein

Canadian born and New Jersey raised Gavi Epstein traveled north to eastern Quebec for the Canadian National Championships. The first event on the slate was the combined Criterium which featured a U23 and Elite rider field. Gavi’s aggressive racing saw him make the break of the day which looked to be clear of the field but in the closing 3 laps a furious chase brought the race back together. Gavi was able to keep good enough position at the front of the field after the break was caught to sprint to a 10th Place in the event.

7/7 Lou Maltease Classic New York City, NY

5th Place: Sakonnet Technology U25

The 2008 Team debuted this morning in Central Park the home racing grounds of the CRCA. The Central Park loop is deceivingly difficult and like a fine wine it takes many seasons to learn how to appreciate the trickiness of the course. The beginning laps saw aggressive racing from the team with team rider Johnny Hayes being the most aggressive of all. Hayes featured in many breaks but none of the moves stuck until two laps to go when there was a split of nearly 15 men left the field as it crested the start finish line on Cat’s Paw Hill. Sensing the race was going up the road Guy East made a sensational solo bridge to the split latching on with one lap to go. The event is a team scored race and in the finale East crossed the line in 5th Place and Hayes finished in 17th Place for a combined 75 points for 5th Place in the race.