March 22nd, 2014, East Garrison, Monterey

 

Once again, Kirby Santa Cruz finished in 2nd place!

 

At the event's first scheduled race, our JV girls, set a winning tone for the day.   Geneva had a sprint finish crossing the line in third position just a second behind second place and Alice was right behind for a fourth place position.  Watching Alice and Geneva warm up, line up and then race, it is clear that these girls have MTB race experience. They went out, raced hard and brought home two medals (not to mention significant team points),  way to go girls!  I can't wait to see the guys wearing rainbow colored "lucky" race socks!

 

Our freshman boys continue to gain experience in the world of bicycle racing.  Adam came in 16th position, less than 2 minutes from a top 10 finish and this is only Adam's 3rd race. Kesh came in 19th having to ride a loaner bike due to a mechanical breakdown on his race bike.

 

Chester started his race very well, maintaining a third place position through the first 1.5 laps, but then experienced various mechanical issues which seriously hampered his placing, although he still managed to finish in the top 10 coming in 9th place.  We all have high confidence that Chester will be on the podium very soon.

 

Aubrey and Ramsey both had very solid races with Aubrey coming in right behind Ramsey at 23rd and 24th place.  Both of these JV riders continue to maintain a very steady, smooth race pace and we look forward to their next three races.

 

If we hadn't had the team or any individual riders on the podium yesterday, if it had been cold, wet and miserable, if our riders got flats during their races, it would have all been just fine as long as we were able to see the race that Jordan Derecho rode yesterday.  Jordan, a senior who had never been on a NorCal podium, finished with a 5th place medal!  To say this was a memorable event, is a huge understatement.  Jordan's JV category is certainly comprised of one of the toughest groups of racers in the league and this year, Jordan has been steadily marching toward the podium during the first three races.  His hard work, focus and six years of racing experience is paying off.  This was such a great win for Jordan, what an outstanding accomplishment!

 

Kyle who participates in the day's main event, the five lap, 25 mile Varsity race, came in with an awesome 9th place finish!  As we saw on the first lap, all the way through to the end, Kyle was really on his game and looked strong throughout.  It's always exciting to watch the intensity of the Varsity racers, knowing how much training, experience and dedication goes into being able to race this category.   Kyle is building momentum (he happened to take a Cat 5 first place finish during the annual 51 mile Ward's Road Race in Sonora last weekend) and it will be very exciting to watch him race the next three races.

 

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