Saturday, September 9th, 2017
Lauretta Hanson takes field sprint in aggressive race
The second night of racing was the West Reading Twilight Criterium. Equal prize purses for men and women at $10,000 each, beautiful weather, and tremendous community support brought out top professional fields for the inaugural event. The professional women kicked off the night with a lot of attacks on the technical five turn course. Mellow Mushroom had the largest team, and they did a lot of work to keep the race together for their veteran sprinter, Laura Van Gilder. With 4 to go, Emily Newsom of Fearless Femme Racing attacked and held a slight advantage until the $500 Gambler’s Prime by Penn National Gaming and Vie13 Kustom Apparel was called with two laps remaining. Rachel Langdon (ISCorp pb Progress) claimed the prime and continued to stay on the gas to see if she could take the win. With $3000 to the winner, none of the teams were about to let her get away. LA Sweat, Fearless Femme, Velo Classic p/b Stan’s NoTubes, and Mellow Mushroom all jockeyed for position, but it was Australian Lauretta Hanson (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling) freelancing her way to a flawlessly timed sprint ahead of another solo rider, Tina Pic (Poppa John’s). Amazingly, Langdon held on for third ahead of Van Gilder.
WOMEN’S RESULTS
- Lauretta Hanson (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling)
- Tina Pic (Poppa John’s Racing)
- Rachel Langdon (ISCorp pb Progress)
Complete Results at USA Cycling
Local favorite, Shane Kline, out foxes his breakaway to claim victory
The men’s pro race started blazingly fast. Holowesko Citadel p/b Hincapie Racing, Rally Pro Cycling, Texas Roadhouse Cycling, and Gateway Harley-Davidson Trek U25 continually attacked whether it was a prime lap or not. The action was intense on the back stretch where the slight incline out of the technical Turns 2 and 3 tested the legs of any breakaway attempt. With a $500 most consistent rider prize for the Radsport weekend, Stephen Hall (PA Lightning) marked Shane Kline (Rally Pro Cycling), but the attacks by all the teams tampered Hall’s ability to respond as the race wore on. With eight laps remaining, a breakaway of 6 riders included Kline but not Hall. Kline drove the pace to ensure his gap over Hall would stay. The men’s $500 Gambler’s Prime saw Joe Lewis sprint for the line, but the win was more valuable at $3000. Kline caught Lewis in Turn 1 and used his momentum to ride over the top of him. Lewis was not able to get on the wheel of Kline, nor were the rest of the breakaway even on the slight uphill back stretch. Rounding turn five the break was closing, but Kline’s sprint was powerful enough to secure the victory.
MEN’S RESULTS
- Shane Kline (Rally Pro Cycling)
- Joe Lewis (Holowesko Citadel pb Hincapie Racing)
- Jake Magee (Texas Roadhouse Cycling)
Complete Results at USA Cycling
