The Michigan state capital was the site of the racing activities this weekend. Racers were treated to .6 mile course around the Capital building that featured glass smooth pavement and many cheering fans sitting on the impeccable groomed lawn. Temperature was 97 degrees F, sun was brilliant and winds were blowing from the West.

This race took off and immediately settled into a long, thin line that had the racers sitting nose to tail in hopes of holding the draft and not getting shelled off the back. The pace was 25-33 mph for the first 20 minutes of this event, then attacks began! Finally the field softened. A break began to go up the road and gain some time, that is when David Mullins came to the front of the field and began to drive it. Mullins made a serious dent in the time gap that the break had accrued. The break finally came within a reasonable distance for Blair Dudley to leap from the field and across the gap. After Dudley made the connection, is was clear the winner would come from this selection. With the heat still rising and the pace still high, the field was beginning to fragment, realizing their day was over. Through attrition and eventually the chief official's decision, the 70 racer field was now whittled down to approximately 18 racers to finish this scorcher. About eight laps from the end a rider from the pro team Priority Health took a flier off the front gunning for a solo victory. As the remaining combatants chased, the gap did not come down and two laps before the end it was evident that the group would sprint for 2nd place. Blair Dudley found himself sitting third wheel entering the last corner of the slight up hill and into the wind finish. Dudley unleashed the wattage to the cranks, executing a textbook bike throw at the line to capture 2nd place in a photo finish field sprint. Congratulations to Blair on a hard fought 3rd place podium finish.

Pro Cat 1 / 2 event:
Blair Dudley - 3rd place & prime winner

Next: Malliot Jaune Road Race - July 29th

The Michael R. Rabe Memorial Stage Race was held at Waterford Hills Raceway under sunny skies, hot temperatures and gusty winds. Weekend highlights include: Jason Stephenson's super domestique riding during the criterium and again during the road race. This guy was covering everything! Bruce Rivera's criterium win after Stephenson had covered about 30 attacks during the race. Another golden moment came when both Rivera and Stephenson made the winning selection during the road race. The pair rode the four man break nearly to perfection.....Stephenson attacked the group forcing the others to chase and giving Rivera a tow. As Stephenson was caught, Rivera launch an attack all the way to the line. Rivera just got nipped at the line, just missing his second win of the event. Good job Jason and Bruce.

Paul Rivera also had a productive weekend by claiming a hard fought, 4th overall in the Masters 35+ event. Way to go Paul.

It was another exciting weekend of racing with Team Essex Brass leaving a mark on the competition.

Team Essex Brass trivia:   Who was the overall champion at the 2005 Michael R. Rabe Memorial Stage Race?         BRUCE (2 in a row) RIVERA

Pro 1 / 2 event:
        Bruce Rivera - 5th place - Prologue
                        1st place - Criterium
                        2nd place - Road Race
                        1st place - Overall Classification

        Jason Stevenson - 11th place - Prologue
                                6th place - Criterium
                                4th place - Road Race
                                4th place - Overall Classification

Masters Men 35+ event:
        Paul Rivera - 4th place - Prologue
                          4th place - Criterium
                          5th place - Road Race
                          4th place - Overall Classification

The annual three day Superior Bike Fest was held in Marquette. Located in Michigan's upper peninsula, the Superior Bike Fest dishes out some hills on the 80 mile road course, a nice technical, downtown criterium and several mountain bike events utilizing acres of forest. Team Essex Brass was represented well by Jason Stephenson who made the long journey. Good work J !

Pro 1 / 2 Criterium
        Jason Stephenson - 6th place

Pro 1 / 2 Road Race
        Jason Stephenson - 1st place (age group)
                                  4th place (overall)

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June 25th - Dearborn Heights, MI
The Michigan State Championship Time Trial was held over the weekend and racers were treated to excellent weather conditions. Sunny skies, 75 degree temperature and low winds (although any wind feels defeating when you are suffering though a time trial).

Racers sported aero equipment and wore aero clothing in efforts to cheat the wind and save precious seconds as they tackled the difficult 40km rolling and twisting course through Hines Park. Team Essex Brass posted solid results with the highlight going to Dr. Lisa Meils who grabbed a podium finish and a silver medal. Lisa was nearly three minutes faster than her time posted time from last year's state championship.

Masters Men 40-44 event:
        Paul Winocur - 6th place - 1:00:00
        Paul Rivera - 8th place - 1:01:38
       
Masters Women 40-44 event:
        Lisa Meils - 2nd place (Silver Medallist) - 1:08:51

Under sunny skies and 95 degree F temperatures, Allen Park was the site for the 5th event on the Michigan Challenge Points Series calendar. The smooth, wide, 1km circuit provided high speeds and exciting racing for the fans lining the course. Here is how the action unfolded....................

Pro Cat 1 / 2 event:
The event began with team member Jason Stephenson hitting the gas from the start placing himself in a solo break up the road. Stephenson efforts were thwarted when the rival teams chased him down. As more attacking, counter-attacking and chasing efforts were dished out, the 75 rider field began to thin. Clearly only the strongest were going to survive this war. Bruce Rivera and Blair Dudley had positioned themselves in the decisive move eventually lapping the field. As the race came to the end there were two who slipped off the front. Bruce Rivera dug deep, launching himself of the front of the group to win the bunch sprint.

        Bruce Rivera - 3rd place
        Blair Dudley - 14th place      

Masters Men 35+ event:
Blair Dudley was using this event as a warm up and he wasted no time, placing himself in two man break from the starting whistle. The high powered field pushed hard to eventually pull Dudley and the other escapee back. About midway into the event, Paul Rivera attacked the field and shifted to time trial mode as he powered his way around the course. As Rivera came back to the field another attack went. Jeff Gray bridged and rode through the two attackers eventually getting caught by a determined field. With just minutes left in the event, Paul Winocur made a huge effort to bridge to a small group up the road. This looked to be the perfect move until the seven man group become uncooperative dooming any chance to stay away. It all came back together, but Blair Dudley charged away from the field sprint to grab the squad's top finish.

        Blair Dudley - 4th place
        Jeff Gray - field
        Paul Rivera - field
        Paul Winocur - field
        Jamie Smith - field
        Ed Reid - field

Masters Men 45+ event:
This field came to race........lots of attacks and plenty of team tactics played out in this event. The field worked hard to bring back an established break that lasted several laps. This played into the hands of the Essex Brass squad as they were not represented. The field came back together late in the race. As the remaining two laps got wild the field managed to stay together. Jamie Smith found himself in about 12th position entering the last corner. As the field began the drag race to the finish line, Smith went turbo just missing a victory by the most narrow of margins.

        Jamie Smith - 2nd place
        Chuck Powell - 12th place
        Ed Reid - 18th place   

Women Cat 1 / 2 / 3 event:
The heat did not deter these women, as they hammered the pedals trying to weed out the weak. The majority of the field stayed together. Thus another event concluding with a field sprint. Lisa Meils rode to a top ten finish in the elite Women's event of the day adding a few more points to her total in the Championship Points Series.

        Lisa Meils - 9th place

The 3rd event on the Michigan Challenge Points Series calendar was The Tour of Kensington Valley. Hosted in rolling hills of Kensington MetroPark. This early season event has become a major proving ground for Midwestern racers. The event was attended by over 400 racers all hoping to sport their best climbing legs.

Pro Cat 1 / 2 event:
This was a hotly contested event with a field comprised of Pro riders and Michigan's best. 75 racers took to the course blasting down hills at 45mph and then thinning the field as much as possible on the next climb. Blair Dudley was part of a break that went up the road for a while, but was pulled back by a strong effort by the field. Eventually some of the strongest escaped the field. With two smaller groups up the road, the team would be sprinting for the 10th postion. As the field wound it up on the last two climbs, racers were popping left and right. Shooting off the front was Bruce Rivera, Jason Stephenson and Blair Dudley who all finished with in one second.

        Bruce Rivera - 12th place
        Jason Stephenson - 16th place
        Blair Dudley - 19th place
        David Mullins - 66th place

Masters Men 35+ event:
Scott McLarty placed himself in the first break of the day. It looked like the perfect combination with six different teams represented. Jeff Gray sat on the front of the peloton keeping things in check. As the gap grew, the field eventually began to shoot around Gray and begun reeling back the McLarty group. About 30 miles into the race Paul Winocur rode off the front of the field. Winocur settled into his rhythm and continued to solo up the road. Unfortunately the Pro 1 / 2 field caught the event on a climb and mixing of fields eventually brought Winocur back. Two climbs before the finish, the attacks became fierce and the field began to fragment. Paul Rivera and Paul Winocur led the charge to the uphill finish. Winocur sprinted to 3rd place and secured the final step of the podium.

        Paul Winocur - 3rd place
        Paul Rivera - 12th place
        Jeff Gray - 23rd place
        Scott McLarty - 24th place

Masters Men 45+ event:
2005 Michigan Points Series winner Bill Gilboe was a marked man and covered like a blanket throughout the event. On the positive side it offered a bit of freedom to the other squad members to step it up and race for themselves. That's just what Jamie Smith did as the field approached the finish, Smith charged to a convincing 7th place finish.

        Jamie Smith - 7th place
        Bill Gilboe - 15th place

Masters Men 55+ event:
The eternal Ed Reid clinched his second podium finish of the season. The still coming into form Reid used his tactical knowledge to give himself the edge over his rivals. Great job Ed. Look out when Ed finally deems himself fit!

        Ed Reid - 3rd place    

Women Cat 1 / 2 / 3 event:
This has turned into one of the most exciting categories in Michigan racing over the past couple years. With her recent upgrade to the elite category, Dr. Lisa Meils was feeling good and ready to test her form. The field was content to approach the final climb together before the fireworks began. As the raced heated up, Dr. Lisa dug deep and rode across the line in 10th position. Very well done.

        Lisa Meils - 10th place