TOUR OF FAIRBANKS ROAD STAGE RACE TOF Stage Race -- June 8-11, 2006 -- 5 stages The Tour of Fairbanks kicked off on the 8th of June with a 5.8 km Hill Climb and 5 Yukoners were there at the start. Looking to get in some early season "extra" competition three of Whitehorse's finest young riders, two slightly aged and leathered "masters" and "Coach" Bruce Henry travelled to Fairbanks to take in the 5 stage race that ran from the 8th of June through the 11th. Impressive performances were put in by the youth brigade as David Greer ended up third over all in the Men's Expert General Classification and Troy Henry and Jesse Reams each shone in at least one of the 5 races they took part in. In the Hill Climb (over 1000' of elevation gain in just over 5.8 km), David finished an impressive second, while Mike McCann and Troy Henry finished in a virtual dead heat to claim third and fourth - all in the Men's Expert Class. McCann claimed the number three spot quite possibly as a result of Henry allowing the "older" rider to go first. There had been some concerns that this event would not take place as a result of a raging forest fire just outside of Fairbanks. but the skies were clear and the air breathable! Results for the Hill Climb Expert Men 1. Novakovich, Matt 1 32 0:15:27 2. Greer, David 1 17 0:16:38 3. McCann, Michael 1 59 0:17:02 4. Henry, Troy 1 17 0:17:02 5. Saari, Matias 1 35 0:17:15 6. Reifenstuhl, Rocky 1 53 0:17:30 7. Brugliera,Tony 1 36 0:17:46 8. Reams, Jessie 1 17 0:17:52 9. Quayle, Manx 1 44 0:18:28 10. Oatley, Jeff 1 37 0:18:28 11. Harbison, Fred 1 35 0:19:26 12. Cox, Andrew 1 38 0:19:59 13. Streltsov, Sergey 1 36 0:22:02 Expert Women 1. Lewis, Melissa 2 35 0:18:31 2. Best, Heather 2 29 0:19:45 3.Jones, Kathryn 2 31 0:21:27 2. Koepf, Gail 2 55 0:22:31 Sport Men 1. Gregory, Paul 3 37 0:19:35 2. Petersen, John 3 50 0:19:56 3. Young, Brian 3 33 0:21:02 4. Hrinko, Bill 3 39 0:21:10 5. Clautice, Steve 3 57 0:21:36 6. Musser, Wayne 3 54 0:21:43 7. Curtis, Bill 3 54 0:22:56 9.42 8. Vinlove, Dirk 3 39 0:22:58 9. Knott, Christopher 3 36 0:23:07 10. Martinez, Christopher 3 28 0:23:39 11. Malloy, Craig 3 30 0:24:32 12. Jones, Van 3 41 0:25:23 13. Martin, Wayne 3 35 0:37:27 14. Harris, Dan 3 49 0:24:04 The next night saw the Expert Men tackle the Chena Pump Ridge Course by doing two laps and the Sport Men and Expert Women doing one. Under ideal conditions the course starts off immediately with a 4 km. climb. Despite all the attacks and counter attacks the race came down to a bunch sprint and David Greer grabbed the number four spot and Troy the number six. First year rider Jesse Reams who had been very active on the front for most of the race finished in between Troy and David. Bill Curtis in the Men's Sport division rode a strong race but with 7 km to go was involved in a major crash that saw 5 riders go down (one to the hospital). Despite a flat tire and a few scraps - the tire was repaired and Curtis completed the circuit. Chena Pump Ridge Circuit Expert Men - 2 laps 1. Novakovich, Matt 1 32 1:10:56 2. Reifenstuhl, Rocky 1 53 1:10:57 3. Brugliera,Tony 1 36 1:10:57 4. Greer, David 1 17 1:10:57 5. Reams, Jessie 1 17 1:10:59 6. Henry, Troy 1 17 1:10:59 7. Quayle, Manx 1 44 1:11:00 8. Oatley, Jeff 1 37 1:11:01 9. McCann, Michael 1 59 1:11:05 10. Harbison, Fred 1 35 1:11:05 11. Breitenberger, Eric 1 45 1:11:06 12. Cox, Andrew 1 38 1:18:31 13. Streltsov, Sergey 1 36 1:21:28 Expert Women - 1 lap 1. Lewis, Melissa 2 35 0:36:08 2. Petersen, John 3 50 0:36:48 3. Best, Heather 2 29 0:36:49 4. Jones, Kathryn 2 31 0:40:30 5. Ahern, Julie 2 27 0:54:29 Sport Men - 1 lap 1.Wilkinson, Ian 3 16 0:36:48 2. Gregory, Paul 3 37 0:36:49 3. Hrinko, Bill 3 39 0:37:41 4. Clautice, Steve 3 57 0:37:42 5. Wilde, Pete 3 45 0:37:42 6. Musser, Wayne 3 54 0:38:00 7. Jones, Van 3 41 0:46:16 8. Wilkinson, Bob 3 50 0:47:22 9. Remington, Jacob 3 14 0:48:13 10. Viavant, Toby 3 16 0:48:13 11. Knott, Christopher 3 36 0:54:23 12. Walmsley, Tom 3 16 0:54:23 13. Curtis, Bill 3 54 0:54:28 14. Malloy, Craig 3 30 0:55:34 15. French, David 3 28 0:55:58 The next morning was a fast paced Criterium on the Uiversity Campus in which Greer moved up a spot and finsihed third, Reams fifth and Henry 8th. At this point Greer was sitting in second place in the General Classification. Criterium Expert Men 1. Brugliera,Tony 1 2. Novakovich, Matt 1 3. Greer, David 1 4. Reifenstuhl, Rocky 1 5. Reams, Jessie 1 6. Harbison, Fred 1 7. Oatley, Jeff 1 8. Henry, Troy 1 9. Streltsov, Sergey 1 10. Cox, Andrew 1 11. Quayle, Manx 1 Expert Women 1. Lewis, Melissa 2 2. Koepf, Gail 2 3. Best, Heather 2 4. Jones, Kathryn 2 Sport Men 1. Knott, Christopher 3 2. Harris, Dan 3 3. Young, Brian 3 4. Wilde, Pete 3 5. Malloy, Craig 3 6. Wilkinson, Ian 3 7. Wilkinson, Bob 3 8. Curtis, Bill 3 11. Clautice, Steve 3 The evening saw a 23.5 km time trial in which age, strength, experience and equipment played a factor. The younger Yukon riders using their road bikes with aerobars where no match for the older folks with full-on time trial machines and years of experience pushing the limit. Though Greer was 7th, Henry 10th and Reams 11th they were over 3 minutes back of the winner and in an event were it is accumulated time (the less the better) that determines the winner these were valuable minutes they could ill afford to have added to their overall time. The best placed Yukon rider in the time trial was Mike McCann who averaged 43 km/hr to finish 4th, 1 second out of third. Bill Curtis put in a solid performance to finish 8th in the Sport men's category. ITT - 23.5 km Expert Men 1. Novakovich, Matt 1 32 0:31:29 2. Breitenberger, Eric 1 45 0:31:39 3. Brugliera,Tony 1 36 0:32:41 4. McCann, Michael 1 59 0:32:43 5. Reifenstuhl, Rocky 1 53 0:34:28 6. Harbison, Fred 1 35 0:34:37 7. Greer, David 1 17 0:34:42 8. Oatley, Jeff 1 37 0:35:02 9. Quayle, Manx 1 44 0:35:17 10. Henry, Troy 1 17 0:35:44 11. Reams, Jessie 1 17 0:36:26 12. Coleman, Will 1 18 0:37:54 13. Cox, Andrew 1 38 0:38:20 14. Streltsov, Sergey 1 36 0:39:02 Expert Women 1. Lewis, Melissa 2 35 0:38:21 2. Jones, Kathryn 2 31 0:40:13 3. Best, Heather 2 29 0:40:22 Sport Men 1. Wilde, Pete 3 45 0:38:08 2. Harris, Dan 3 49 0:38:19 3. Young, Brian 3 33 0:38:49 4. Gregory, Paul 3 37 0:38:58 5. Hrinko, Bill 3 39 0:39:25 6. Wilkinson, Ian 3 16 0:39:29 7. Clautice, Steve 3 57 0:39:50 8. Curtis, Bill 3 54 0:40:06 9. Wilkinson, Bob 3 50 0:41:17 10. Knott, Christopher 3 36 0:41:57 11. Redinius, Todd 3 41 0:42:23 12. Malloy, Craig 3 30 0:42:36 13. French, David 3 28 0:43:08 The last day saw the 100km road race for Expert Men and 70 km for Sport Men. The race was mostly run with all the General Classification riders who were position for a podium spot watching each other. At one point Greer and Henry attempted to get away but after several kilometers their efforts fell to not as they were reeled in by the peloton. With 10 km to go the field was still together. At this point a dropped chain resulted in McCann withdrawing. The race came down to a last hard uphill 2km grind with Greer finishing second, Reams third and Henry 6th. In the Sport Men Bill Curtis finished 6th. Road Race Expert Men - 100+ km 1. Novakovich, Matt 1 32 3:06:54 2. Greer, David 1 17 3:06:54 3. Reams, Jessie 1 17 3:07:14 4. Oatley, Jeff 1 37 3:07:15 5. Reifenstuhl, Rocky 1 53 3:07:16 6. Henry, Troy 1 17 3:07:16 7. Brugliera,Tony 1 36 3:07:39 8. Harbison, Fred 1 35 3:08:25 9. Saari, Matias 1 35 3:08:35 10. Quayle, Manx 1 44 3:13:46 11. Flaharty, Tyson 1 20 3:14:19 12. Cox, Andrew 1 38 3:19:06 13. Streltsov, Sergey 1 36 3:41:44 Expert Women - 70 km 1. Best, Heather 2 29 2:22:53 2. Jones, Kathryn 2 31 2:38:59 3. Ahern, Julie 2 27 2:50:11 Sport Men - 70 km 1. Walmsley, Tom 3 16 2:22:06 2. Young, Brian 3 33 2:22:26 3. Leary, Ken 3 48 2:22:27 4. Leonard, David 3 51 2:23:19 5. Musser, Wayne 3 54 2:25:14 6. Curtis, Bill 3 54 2:26:31 7. Clautice, Steve 3 57 2:28:37 8. Malloy, Craig 3 30 2:36:21 9. Wilkinson, Bob 3 50 2:46:04 10. Hoefler, Werner 3 15 3:01:52 The final classification saw Greer third, Reams 6th and Henry 7th. Bill Curtis finished second in the Sport Men. Final Classification Expert Men 1. Novakovich, Matt 1 32 5:55:07 2. Brugliera,Tony 1 36 5:58:24 3. Greer, David 1 17 5:59:35 4. Reifenstuhl, Rocky 1 53 6:00:35 5. Oatley, Jeff 1 37 6:02:44 6. Reams, Jessie 1 17 6:02:56 7. Henry, Troy 1 17 6:02:59 8. Harbison, Fred 1 35 6:04:31 9. Quayle, Manx 1 44 6:10:29 10. Cox, Andrew 1 38 6:27:54 11. Streltsov, Sergey 1 36 6:56:14 Expert Women 1. Best, Heather 2 29 4:35:36 2. Jones, Kathryn 2 31 4:58:22 Sport Men 1. Clautice, Steve 3 57 4:45:58 2. Curtis, Bill 3 54 5:02:14 3. Malloy, Craig 3 30 5:15:14 After some food and a wipe down it was back in the vehicles and a 1000 km drive back to Whitehorse and preparation for the Kluance to Chilkat Bike Relay the next weekend.