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For Immediate Release

HIGH SPEEDS IN LOW COUNTRY

The second installment of the 2008 Speed Week Series arrived in Beaufort, South Carolina on Tuesday the 29th of April for the Beaufort Memorial Cycling Classic. Set in the heart of what's known as the "low country," hundreds of top elite and professional cyclists raced around what's known as the "Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands," and the state's second oldest city.

Coming only two days on the heels of a tough edition of the Athens Twilight Criterium, the riders tore through the streets of downtown Beaufort on a cool, breezy night while several thousand spectators looked on. The 75-lap men's race was run at a spectacularly hard pace, which very often strung out the field into one long line of competitors.

Early factors in the evening proved to be the men from the Kelly Benefit Strategies squad, along with Kyle Gritters of the severely under represented Health Net team and Colavita/Sutter Home's Davide Frattini all gave their best efforts to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. After some minor re-shuffling of the field, Kyle Wamsley (Colavita/Sutter Home), Diego Gravito (AeroCat/Latino Cycling Team), John Freddy Parra (Toshiba-Santo), David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit) Frattini, and Candelario were off the front with about 10 seconds on the pack. The group worked well together to maintain their lead and, despite efforts by riders like Dave Fuentes (Battley Harley Davidson), the gap remained.

That is, until a few heavy hitters began to make their presence known in the peloton. Direct from a week of solid riding at this year's Tour De Georgia, Canadians Eric Wolberg, Svein Tuft and Cameron Evans (all riding for the Symmetrics squad...) combined forces with Australia's Hilton Clarke (Toyota-United) to motor at the front of the chase group along with some eventual help from Under-23 National Criterium Champion Keith Norris (Toshiba-Santo). Taking long pulls at the front of the field, the leaders were eventually brought to heel with 15 laps to go. And to make matters more devastating to the pack, the field was eventually lapped by these strongmen who showed no signs of fatigue as the evening came down to the business end of the race. This set up a challenging situation where riders who were actually ahead of the game, now needed to fight through traffic for the key positions needed to ensure their victory.

With no teammates to assist him Hilton Clarke, the lone Toyota-United rider amongst the 44 finishers, pulled a great technical move from somewhere near seven wheels back to take the win.

The women's race, held earlier in the evening, was also marked by several assaults from a variety of hopefuls. Riders such as Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine), and Tiffany Cromwell (Colavita/Sutter Home) had a go at escaping the main field, but only the top-shelf trio of Benjamin's teammate Laura Van Gilder, 2008 Athens Twilight Champion Rebecca Larson, and National Criterium Champion Tina Pic (Colavita/Sutter Home) could manage a workable split.

The three chief rivals of the women's peloton battled amongst each other for more than half of the race while never gaining more than 15 seconds on the chasers who simply refused to give up hope of catching the escapees. Efforts were made by Holli Steelman (Juice Plus/NC Cycling), Shannon Koch (Metro VW Cycling), and Kele Murdin (Vanderkitten), but were ultimately unable to organize a successful campaign to shut the breakaway down.

The gap to the leaders continued to vacillate as the laps counted down and, on the last go round, all three made it clear that they were ready to duke out the finale. Van Gilder jumped her companions on the left side of the course while Pic jumped right for the win.

But Pic and Van Gilder will once again get an opportunity to revisit their rivalry when the series continues this evening at the Downtown Walterboro Criterium in Walterboro, South Carolina.

Beaufort Memorial Cycling Classic Results

Pro Men

1. Hilton Clarke (AUS), Toyota-United, 1:32:54.900
2. Kyle Wamsley (US), Colavita Sutter Home, +0.100
3. Keven Lacombe (Can) Kelly Benefit Strategies, +0.400
4. Sebastian Haedo (Arg), Colavita Sutter Home, +0.600
5. Jake Keough (US) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology +1.000
6. John Murphy (US), Health Net, +1.300
7. Keith Norris (US), TOSHIBA-Santo, +1.400
8. Alex Candelario (US), Kelly Benefit Strategies, +1.800
9. Kyle Gritters (US), Health Net, +2.100
10. Kenneth Hanson (US), California Giant, +1 2.200

Pro Women

1. Tina Pic (US), Colavita/Sutter Home, 1:11:41.6
2. Laura Van Gilder (US), Cheerwine Cycling, +0.600
3. Rebecca Larson (US), Aaron's, +2.300
4. Kelly Benjamin (US), Cheerwine, +4.500
5. Anna Lang (US), Aaron's, +4.800
6. Shontelle Gauthier (US), Colavita/Sutter Home, +4.900
7. Nichole Wangsgard (US), Colavita/Sutter Home, +5.000
8. Tiffany Cromwell (US), Colavita/Sutter Home, +5.300
9. Jennifer Wilson (US), Vanderkitten, +5.900
10. Jenny Trew (US), Vanderkitten, +6.100

About USA CRITS

USA CRITS National Criterium Series has been developed to feature a brand of cycling unique to the United States, the criterium. Criteriums are historically run on short laps through city streets. They offer spectators the opportunity to watch Olympians, world and national champions up-close as they ride at top speed. This has made the criterium format the most spectator-friendly form of cycling entertainment. Events on the USA CRITS series have the ideals that have made criterium racing an American legacy: Challenging courses that showcase arts and entertainment districts; a large and energized base of spectators; broad community support; and strong marketing opportunities for sponsors. For more information visit www.usacrits.com

Thanks to Dennis Johnson for the photos.