Babcock, Williams don Cross Crusade crowns
Sean Babcock (Team S&M) and Molly Cameron (Portland Bicycle Studio) battled into the final stretch of the final race for the Cross Crusade crown Sunday, with Babcock squeezing out the day’s win and the overall victory.
Hudz-Subaru continued its dominance of the women’s A race, with Emily Van Meter finishing ahead of teammate Wendy Williams, winner of the overall series for the second year in a row.
The relatively flat course in Estacada, Oregon, had sections of sloppy mud, but the gravel yard where the event took place ensured a well-packed layer beneath much of the two-mile circuit. Riders traversed short power climbs and steep descents but faced little sustained climbing.
The men’s A race came down to an untimely tangle during the day’s final remount after the leaders flew over a run-up and into a short 180-degree turn to the finish.
The fast course meant a large group stuck together at the front of the race for several laps until Kona-FSA rider Erik Tonkin’s pace-setting started peeling riders from the group. Tonkin has made no secret that he’s been working to get the series win for his protégé Babcock, and his full-throttle style soon shed everyone but Cameron, who started the day with a one-point series lead, and series runner-up Babcock.
“Erik was setting the pace and keeping us away from the rest of the people,” Cameron said. “So I was pretty content to sit and wait.”
As the lead trio shuffled back and forth and built a sizable advantage, Tonkin, whose finish would have no effect on the overall battle, put in one last-gasp effort to bust free on the final lap for a solo win. But it wasn’t to be as Cameron and Babcock charged up from behind and then passed the World Cup veteran.
Once free of the field and Tonkin, the two series leaders pressed the issue with attacks. Babcock eventually gained a slight advantage going into the last, steep, rocky run-up before the finish, but the young rider made a crucial mistake that opened the door for Cameron.
“I made the mistake of getting off my bike and starting to run too early,” Babcock said. “Molly rode up into the hill.”
Cameron’s momentum-saving move looked like it could provide the winning difference as the pair approached the finish. But fate had other plans.
“I felt pretty confident that I was going to go past him,” Cameron said. “But when he got back on his bike, my bike got tangled with his when I put it down. That was it. I hit the deck hard and he was gone.”
Also gone was Cameron’s slim series lead, leaving Cameron to settle for third on the day after Tonkin went past at the finish and second overall.
“Ah, you know, bumping is racing,” a clearly disappointed Cameron said after the race. “It was a really good battle, though. I’m glad we put on a good spectacle for everybody; right down to the wire.”
Babcock meanwhile, was getting used to the idea of being the 2009 Cross Crusade series winner.
“That was the goal and it worked out,” he said. “But it was a lot of work. Molly’s been pretty tough to compete against.”
Hudz-Subaru rules women’s roost
In the women’s A race, the Hudz-Subaru duo of Emily Van Meter and Wendy Williams continued their domination of Crusade races. The teammates have notched three wins apiece during the eight-race series.
Van Meter added her third win Sunday after shuffling back and forth for the lead early with Williams, Alice Pennington (Veloforma) and Megan Faris (River City Bicycles).
Williams got off to a slow start but fought back to the front as early leader Pennington and Faris slowly faded off the pace. Then Williams and Van Meter found themselves in familiar territory — racing against each other while the rest of the field, led by Pennington, chased behind.
“I was fast for the first couple laps,” Pennington said. “(Van Meter and Williams) are just fitter.”
Pennington, the only other women’s A Crusade winner this year besides the Hudz-Subaru pair and Portland pro Sue Butler (Monavie-Cannondale), took risks trying to bring the leaders back and eventually crashed hard on a pavement section. Still, she hung onto her third position as the leaders battled, swapping leads while the laps added up.
“This was the toughest one,” Van Meter said. “With all four of us together for so long. Usually it’s Wendy going off the front.”
Williams gave it a few goes, but in the end it was Van Meter who gained the final advantage and crossed the finish line first. William’s second-place finish, her third of the series, was enough to seal the overall series win.
“I think she let me go a bit,” Van Meter said of her teammate. “Keeps it even.”
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