NJCC Concludes at New Augusta Venue

By Buck Walters

The inaugural New Jersey Cross Cup Series concluded on Saturday, December 2, 2006 with the Hall of Fame Cyclocross at Skylands Park in Augusta. The baseball stadium has been the scene of many road races on its half-mile rectangular perimeter road. The road course provided a long, flat opening straight, directly into a wind that at times gusted over 30 miles per hour, for the park's first cross event.

U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame Curator Vince Menci, promoter of countless cross races over the years, was on hand start each field and watch the excitement, as regional racers fought for their final placings in New Jersey's lively points series. All net proceeds of the race, sponsored by Action Outfitters Bike and Boards in nearby Milford, Pennsylvania, will be donated to the Hall of Fame.

The elite men rode tactically for the first part of their race, logging a first lap time over a minute slower than the opening lap of the C race. Gradually, a group of five formed, with Aaron Oakes (Iron Horse New England) at the front, and Todd Cassan (NYC Velo), Eric Schlauch (Team Somerset), Peter Rubijono (Harris Cyclery (Inglehart Frames) and Andrew Crooks (NYC Velo) tucked in tightly behind. By the end of the second lap, the group said good-bye to Oakes, and on the third lap, Andrew Crooks fell off the pace.

In addition to a half kilometer of blacktop on the perimeter road, the course alternated over hard packed gravel and dirt, concrete across the stadium's mezzanine, and the cinder warning track along the entire length of the outfield fence, all flat and fast. But the crowning feature of the 3.3 kilometer course was a half-mile section of twisting and turning undulations over a large grassy hill of glacial moraine, behind the stadium, that locals have nicknamed " K2." With three short, steep climbs, including an up and down "power point," K2 remained firm and rideable throughout the day, in spite of the heavy rain dumped by passing thunderstorms the night before.

"We pulled a brush hog over that part of the course for most of the day on Thursday," said race promoter Clayton Harper. "We also mowed it by hand, and raked it." The extra work paid off, as the sunny skies and gusty winds quickly dried the ground.

Harper, owner of Action Outfitters, grew up on a local farm but is at home both on both the tractor and the bike, having competed at the national level in downhill mountain bike racing.

On the fourth lap, Cassan and Schlauch dropped Rubijono, and finally, with three laps to go, Cassan pulled away for the eventual win, opening a 45 second gap by the time he crossed the line.

With no rest for the weary, Cassan and Schlauch were back at the line for the start of the Masters 35+, run concurrently with the Men's B event. This time, the pair was joined by fresh-legged local Kurt derricks (Victory Cycling Club) of Hackettstown. Cassan and Dericks quickly gapped Schlauch, and stayed together for the rest of the race. They entered the finishing straight side by side, and derricks took the sprint by a wheel length.

In other action, hometown 17 year old Andrew Logiudice (Skylands Cycling) of Augusta followed teammate Vin Mancuso into the wind for the first lap of the C race, with Westwood's Matt Murphy close behind. Mancuso soon fell off the pace and the relentless Logiudice, recently crowned NJ State Champ, eventually dropped Murphy to solo in for the victory. The B race saw Ed Meyer, ( Dartmouth College) of Hanover, New Hampshire take an early lead over Frank Zgoda (Strictly Bicycles/Sotheby's) and hold on for the win. Martin Jones (Team Somerset) continued to be unbeatable in the local 45+ class, beating second place finisher Kevin Kielty (Skylands Cycling) by over a minute.