March 2008 Archives
March 2, Albany, Georgia
Regions Bank Bike Race Weekend
Tim Regan powered his way onto the podium in the 3-stage Regions Bank Bike Race Weekend in Albany, GA, with team mate Scott Kuppersmith close behind in 5th place. It was the last stage road race where the Herring Gas duo of Regan and Kuppersmith pulled away from the strong field of 80 pro and amateur riders. Their 12 rider breakaway in this final stage grew to over 8 minutes, but was pulled back to only 4 minutes at the line. "Scott buried himself today for us to get the win," stated an elated Regan. "Two riders got away from us. Two riders that had been sitting on the break and doing no work at all. Scott pulled them back in the final miles so I could try to take the sprint," Regan continued. The line was about 10 meters too close as the two escapees stayed away with Regan out-sprinting the rest of his group to take 3rd place in the road race. Kuppersmith held on to the break, finishing 12th in the stage, but gaining over 4 minutes moved him up to 5th in the general classification and Regan into 3rd. Further back in the field, Woody Boudreaux held on for another impressive ride at 19th place. Frank Moak however suffered a horrible crash where one of Atlanta's strong Under 23 riders found himself in critical condition. "It was too disturbing for me to keep racing. I thought I was watching some kid die right there on the road," Moak explained. As of this posting, Herring Gas is unable to determine the identity and condition of the injured rider, but we wish him the very best.
The race started off with a short 3 kilometer, very technical 12 turn individual time trial. All 4 Herring riders finished in the top half of the field, with Regan taking 10th place and Kuppersmith 17th. Later in the evening, the 60-minute downtown criterium started with all of the same corners as the time trial. This stage finished fairly uneventful with a field sprint, giving the entire 80 man field the same time.
The next day in the road race and final stage, yellow jersey wearer John Murphy of Healthnet attacked across the yellow line and was relegated to the back of the field. This agitated the field and the break formed shortly after this infringement. Murphy, not wanting to be left out of the press, attacked again across the yellow line with at least 1 other pro rider in tow. Officials were not amused and both riders were ejected from the race.
Up front Kuppersmith was giving Regan the last of his water bottles, yet Kuppersmith continued to pull and do the lion's share of work in the successful breakaway. Scott's work in stage 3 greatly contributed to the success of the team for the overall GC. Congrats to another successful weekend for the entire Herring Team.
March 2, Lago Vista, TX,
LaPrimavera Road Races at Lago Vista, TX
Bunch Takes the Bunch.
Bryan Bunch of Herring Gas blasted away on the steep uphill finish in the 35+ road race in the beautiful resort area Lago Vista on Sunday. Bunch rolled away with a large breakaway of 15 riders early on in the race. The group worked well together until the final lap when riders started prepping themselves for the difficult and fast uphill finish. This uphill comes right after a very fast 45 MPH decent. You lose all momentum going up the hill and you're constantly shifting gears all the way to the finish. "It's not too easy winning a race in Texas with no teammates," said Bryan Bunch. Looking at the pictures, it looked easy. Congratulations to Bryan on his first victory of 2008!
