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Johnson, Nash take muddy USGP wins in Portland
Trebon, Bessette claim overall titles
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At the final race of the Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross series, held Sunday near Portland, Oregon, race organizers finally got the muddy conditions ’cross is known for. The series final, the Scion Stumptown Cup, held on the grounds of the Hillsboro Stadium, provided the wet, slippery conditions mechanics dread and photographers embrace.
"If every day is a fair-weather day, these guys can’t go to Belgium and expect to be ready to race," said series director Bruce Fina. "To be honest with you, if I could race any single day of the series, I would race on this day, because of the epic scale of it. The winner today will be a hard man."
The sloppy, unpredictable conditions didn’t stop Portland’s hard-core ’cross fans from coming out in droves. The racecourse featured a wood-burning hot tub atop the course’s sloppy run-up and a full marching band.
But the mud did derail the series’ most dominant elite riders, Ryan Trebon (Kona) and Katie Compton (Spike-Primus Mootry), who both faltered and finished fifth, out of contention for the win. Instead, two riders without wins thus far in the series, Tim Johnson (Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com) and Katerina Nash (Luna), took victories, with Trebon and women’s runner-up Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com) taking overall series titles.
Though Nash’s win came in just her first season of ’cross racing, the day belonged to Johnson, the 2000 national champion, who had finished second to Trebon three times in five USGP races this year. Johnson took off from the gun and stayed off the front of the race from start to finish.
"It was so hard listening to people come up to me and say, ‘Yeah, man, you’re my pick,’" said Johnson, who is known for his bike-handling ability in poor conditions. "Everyone said it to me all morning, and I didn’t want to believe it because I didn’t want to jinx myself. It’s not so much that I think I can win, it’s that I don’t get bummed out that the conditions are like this. Some people really get affected by it, but for me, I know I’m okay in it, so it’s no big deal."
From the gun it was Barry Wicks (Kona), Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly), Trebon, Johnson and Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) off the front, with Todd Wells (GT) and Andy Jacques-Maynes (Cal Giant Strawberries-Specialized) in pursuit. Wicks attacked on the first lap and took a lead, but a series of flat tires sent him to the pits.
"I had a good start and felt like I was riding the mud well, but I kept getting flat tires and they were far from the pit," Wicks said. "So I’d lose a minute and a half, get another bike and get another flat. I kept going from third or fourth to eighth or so. Whatever, it’s probably my fault for trying to run too low a pressure, but it’s disappointing because I felt like I had a good start and I was going good."
At the front of the race, Johnson and Trebon slipped away from the group, trading pulls while Powers and Kabush chased the leading pair together. And while the 6-foot-5-inch Trebon may have had the power advantage on the course’s short paved straight-aways, the 5-foot-9-inch Johnson had better maneuverability in the numerous twists and turns.
"I was just riding behind Tim and then I started having bike-driving problems," Trebon said. "I raced for about half the race. Then I was just like, ‘All right, it’s kind of muddy and crappy.’ It’s hard to stay focused when it’s like that. I couldn’t see the big holes [underneath puddles], and it gets frustrating and I started to let it get to me. I was just sort of pedaling around towards the end."
Kabush rode a valiant race, starting slow but working his way through the field and coming within 10 seconds of Johnson on the last lap before he came to a stop in a giant puddle and was forced to run his bike into the finish.
"Those guys started really hard at the start, and I was just trying to keep it smooth and loose and use my power where it made the most benefit," Kabush said. "I may have saved myself a little bit too much. I got within 10 seconds before my brake pad went under my rim. I thought my freehub had locked up. Luckily it wasn’t that much slower running than it was riding into the finish."
A hard-charging Powers took third, with Wells fourth. Trebon finished fifth, but with his four series wins he had the series championship mathematically locked up entering the day. It was the first time in the six-race USGP series that a Kona rider did not appear on the podium.
In women’s racing, the previously undefeated Katie Compton made the front group with Bessette, Nash, Georgia Gould (Luna) and Wendy Simms (Kona), but the two-time defending national champion was first to drop from the leaders after she stuffed her wheel into an underwater hole and lost contact. Midway through the race Compton was passed by Melissa Thomas (Maxxis), but came back in the final 400 meters to take fifth.
"I just didn’t have the legs today. I was tired," Compton said. "I tried powering through sections, and I just didn’t have it. It was as simple as that. Sometimes you have those days when you can’t get out of your own way, and today was one of them. I did what I could, but the girls were riding faster than I was and stronger than I was. Once I started getting dropped, there was nothing I could do to not get dropped."
At the front of the field, Bessette drove the pace, sharing pace-making duty with Nash, who, like Gould, spends her summers racing cross-country for Luna. Midway through the race Bessette and Nash opened a gap over Gould and Simms, and in the final lap it appeared the two were headed for a two-up sprint. But with a half lap to go, Bessette stuffed her wheel into the same hole that had claimed Compton earlier, and Nash accelerated away for the win.
"Lyne was riding really strong and I just stayed on her wheel," Nash said. "I was hoping something might happen, and then she bobbled where Katie went down. You can’t see it, it’s just in the mud. But it was time to go, this is my chance. I know I’ve made those kinds of mistakes many times, and for once it was the other way around."
Nash said she’s enjoyed her season racing ’cross, but wasn’t sure whether she would be back next year. "My main focus for the next two years will be the Olympics," she said. "After that, maybe I’ll focus more on ’cross one of these years. This year I’ve just been trying to go out and have fun in the off-season, and it’s worked out for me."
Bessette held a six-point advantage over Georgia Gould (Luna) entering the day; finishing second to Gould’s third was good enough to defend her USGP title. Asked if losing a shot at the victory in the final half-lap was heartbreaking, Bessette answered: "Yes and no, because I did what I was supposed to do. I made a mistake and it was my fault, and Katerina was a good driver in the mud. She did almost a perfect race today, so she deserved to win. I should have kept the line I’d been taking, the outside, but for some reason I took the inside. Sometimes you don’t think for two seconds, and I couldn’t make it back after that."
Bessette said she enjoyed this year’s USGP series, where she won one race and finished second four times, much more than last year, when she won five of six races.
"This year was more of a challenge," she said. "The Luna women stepped up, and Katie was able to race, because it made it more exciting for everyone, the spectators, the women racing, and we actually raced. Okay, Katie was off the front a couple of times, but not all the races. Georgia won one, I won one, Katerina won one and Katie won three. I think it was way more fun. You build a lot of confidence when you win all the time, and it’s not good. If any of us want to do well at world’s, we need to have these kind of challenges."
In the under-23 race, Morgan Schmitt (Hagens-Berman LLP Cycling) won, with runner-up Jamey Driscoll (FiordiFrutta) collecting the series crown. Bjorn Selander (Alan Factory Cyclocross Team) was third. Danny Summerhill (TIAA-CREF-Clif Bar) won both the finale and the overall in the juniors, ahead of Sean Worsech (Rad Racing) and Jim Lennon (TIAA-CREF-Clif Bar).
Scion Stumptown Cup
Lakewood, OR. Nov. 19
Men
1. Tim Johnson, Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com
2. Geoff Kabush, Maxxis
3. Jeremy Powers, Jelly Belly
4. Todd Wells, GT
5. Ryan Trebon, Kona (USGP champ)
Women
1. Katerina Nash, Luna
2. Lyne Bessette, Cyclocrossworld.com (USGP champ)
3. Georgia Gould, Luna
4. Wendy Simms, Kona
5. Katie Compton, Spike-Primus Mootry
Under-23
1. Morgan Schmitt, Hagens-Berman LLP Cycling
2. Jamey Driscoll, FiordiFrutta (USGP champ)
3. Bjorn Selander, Alan Factory Cyclocross Team
4. Chance Noble, California Giant Strawberries/Specialized
5. Jesse Anthony, Team Clif Bar
Juniors
1. Danny Summerhill, TIAA-CREF-Clif Bar (USGP champ)
2. Sean Worsech, Rad Racing
3. Jim Lennon, TIAA-CREF-Clif Bar
4. Ethan Gilmour, K2 Bike-Okemo-Coyote Hill
5. Jerome Townsend, Alan
