Surf City BASP race Crest Ranch

Putting on a CX race when there's a pandemic is an iffy business on a good day but if you were at the home race , the Surf City CX you would not know the juggling act needed to get something like this to happen. Many things had to fall into place-some fell easily and others required a lot of work but what was to be a normal grass-roots race blew up into perhaps the largest CX event in Nor-Cal this year. 

With somewhere between 850-900 racers over the weekend and many spectators , this was arguably the biggest and best attended CX race in Santa Cruz in a couple of decades at least. I'm trying hard to remember anything like it and I can only come up with the district championship of 1994 at UCSC. That race attracted not only the locals but a national champion or two- it was a really big race.

That said, at the race last weekend we had racers from as far north as Bend, Or. and east from the Sierra foothills and Tahoe- even some from the L.A area. It was a real vortex of cyclocross. Many teams were represented from all over the west but Voler/Easton/HRS/Rock Lobster presented by Kochlacs Wood really stole the day- not just with numbers but with many great rides from all age groups. It's a remarkable feat for the team to do so well at not only racing, but it the monumental task of putting on the race. Nearly everyone -including elite riders- pitched in and combined into a work force that handled creating a running the race for the entire weekend . Many showed up well before the event to help build the course-a big thanks goes out to all who put on boots and gloves and built a course on ground at the Crest Ranch that had never seen a bike race. 

Racing on Saturday started at 9:00 AM with the C and junior categories. Our sole entry into the open C race was Scottie Junker, returning to racing after a few years off-finishing in 27th. In the junior 10-14 boys Remy Schmidt continued his record of wins taking 1st. In the 15-18 boys  Mac Tomkins came in 5th for a podium. Korben Tomkins 8th, Sterling Woodson 9th. 

at 10:00 there were the B categories with the open B field being huge. First timer Isaac Estrada got 3rd, Enzo Sapojnikoff 8th, Chris Seymour 31st.

45-B  Eric Werner came in 15th with Michael Schaller having a mechanical DNF.

At 11:00 we had the masters A groups. 35 A was won by Fred Mills who came all the way from Bend, Oregon to partake in some Nor Cal cyclocross. Josh Becker came in 4th, John Vahlberg 18th and Carl Hekkert 19th.

In the 60+ Jim English had an impressive 3rd, Paul Sadoff 9th and Manny Affonso 11th.

At noon it was all about the women's races. The team has always had some of the strongest elite women in the west and Saturday proved that again. Caroline Dezendorf won in convincing style coming in solo. Campbell Steers rejoined the team and rode to 3rd. Hannah Dillard just off a west coast bike tour finished 4th. Maddie Ortenblad finished 6th.

In the women's B we had newcomer Mara Valcarcel in 3rd with Sam McHugh at 10th.

Our solo women's master's rider was Kathleen Bortolussi who finished 2nd in the 55+ race. 

Last races of the day were the men's A race, the A single speed and a new category - Tracklo-cross....the fixed gear  version of single speed CX. 

In the men's A race, junior rider Dan English came in 2nd , even leading the race in the beginning. Veteran Max Juedlson came in 4th with Noah Hayes in 5th - so just like the women A race we had three on the podium. In 10th newcomer Cole Williams, 12th was junior Nate Vahlberg , newcomer Austin King 13th, Eric Williams 14th, sponsor Joey Kochlacs 16th and Dean Poshard 23rd.

In the single speed A race Hans Van Housen came in an impressive 2nd with returning rider Emmet Tuttle in 3rd and Kyle Taylor in 5th- another three on the podium. Fred Mills had a mechanical and finished 12th. 

Our sole entry into tracklocross was Isaac Estrada who, even in his second race of the day rode to 3rd.

Sunday.

9:00 races .  In the junior 10-14 race Remy Schmidt took the win with Matt Werner in 3rd, Noah Hekkert 4th and Noam Gilat in 5th dominating the podium. Kai Yee finished in 11th. In the 15-18 age group Mac Tomkins came in 3rd, Korben Tomkins 5th, Jonah Pirnijad 6th and Sterline Woodson in 8th.

10:00 races.

Dylan Gong ran away with the win in the open Brace with Isaac Estrada in 4th and Enzo Sapojnikoff in 5th for another podium domination. Matt Miller came in 23rd, Austin Fowlkes 28th and Chris Seymour in 35th.

In the 45 B category Eric Werner came in 11th with Michael Schaller at 15th.

11:00 races

Fred Mills showed the Nor Cal riders some pacific northwest speed and won the 35 A race with Josh Becker coning in 6th in spite of some mechanical problems.

In the 45 A race Carl Hekkert finished 17th followed by John Vahlberg in 17th.

In the 60+ Jim English finshed 3rd, Paul Sadoff in 4th and Manny Affonso in 8th.

12:00 races

Caroline Dezendorf had a race long battle with another rider but won in a sprint in the women's A race with Campbell Steers in 3rd and Hannah Dillard in 4th. 

In the women's B race Sam McHugh finished 9th.

Kathleen Bortolussi scored a win in the women's 55+ race bettering what she had done the day before.

1:00 races.

In the men's A race, everyone improved from the day before with Dan English riding solo in front of the field for about half the race - finishing 2nd. Max Judelson rode to 3rd, Nate Vahlberg had a clean race to finish 6th , Austin King 12th, Cole Williams 14th, Joey Kochlacs 16th, Noah Hayes 17th with Dean Poshard DNF after a collision with other riders.

In the single speed A race Fred Mills won for the second time that day with Emmet Tuttle in 2nd, Hans Van Housen in 3rd - dominating the podium again. Kyle Taylor came in 6th with Gene Selcov in 11th.

Tracklocross . Isaac Estrada improved on his previous days performance with 2nd place, beating many experienced riders in his first season. He made the podium in all the races he entered both days. 

With only about 5-6 weeks left before the nationals it is looking like we will be bringing a very strong team to Chicago. There's more racing before then but planning has already started for the trip east.