Race Report - 2009 Gwinnet Bike Fest Georgi

This from Claudio about some fast bike racing in Georgia by ZMotion...

---

Tiago Depaula Took part of the 2009 Gwinnett Bike Fest Race in Georgia.

Stage 1 - July 22 Road Atlanta Circuit Rolling/Hilly 2.5 miles laps(50 miles)

This first race was to settle in and see who is who in the peloton. Tiago found himself racing against top Pro teams such as Type 1 Team, Rock Racing, Kenda Pro Team, FLY V Australia,etc...At the start he followed a lot of breaks trying to participate in as many as posible. Halfway into the race he was in a break with the major pro team represented and he began to work really hard to make it stick. The peloton was able to bring them back. As that happened there was a break of 11 and without any teamates Tiago was forced to sit and wait to see if the would bring them back. With one lap to go he attacked and was able to hold off the field to finish 12th between the break and the chasing peloton..

Stage 2 - July 23 Gwinnett Center Criterium Flat 1 mile(CRIT race,90min)

This was a 1 mile flat criterium that was fast from the start. Tiago was forced to race aggressively and continuesly attacking the peloton. A break of 7 formed with Tiago, A Kenda Pro rider and 2 others chasing the original break.Tiago was not able to follow all the moves and the fact that the local riders know him made it dificult to make the final break finishing in 9th place for the day.

Stage 3 - Road July 24 New Hope Road Road Race Rolling 8.5 miles per lap race (85miles)

This race proved to be a very hot and dificult race to participate in. There was a very steep hill and the riders were continuesly attacking.A break of 6 managed to get away from the peloton which did not have much organization to chase them down. The field was racing for 7th place with 2k to go Cesar Grajales(Rock Racing, (winner of tour the Georgia stage and beat Lance on the climb to Brasstown Bald),Benjamin Day Fly V australia(former national champion from Australia) ,Matt Winstead Pro team Kenda lead the charge up the hill.As soon as he felt them slow down he attecked and only one rider from the field was able to come around him at the line to finish second in the field sprint and 8th in the race.

Stage 4 - July 25 Satelitte Rd. Time Trial Time Trial Rolling 6 miles

The Time Trial was going to be a good way for Tiago to get some points back for the General Classification.
With his legs still feeling tired from the day before he knew he had to dig deep to compete against the riders from Rock Racing, Jelly belly, Fly V Australia, Kenda Pro, Team,Team Type 1,all UCI Pro Teams . With all the pro teams represented the time trial was of national level and Tiago was able to finish a strong 7th place.

Stage 5 - July 25 Norcross Criterium Flat 1 mile

Todays course was a flat 1 mile very technical Criterium. Riders with great ability and power off the corners were the ones that would exel in todays event.Tiago tried to position himself in the top front of the field because right from the start it would be Fly V australia trying to control the field and other teams trying to attack. The first 10 laps was single file racing and Tiago was waiting for the split to happen and it did. A group of ten riders was able to break away and Tiago was able to make the break and lap the field. Towards the end 2 pro riders were able to get a gap with Tiago sprinting in the field to get 5th in the field sprint and 8 in the day maintaining a top 10 in the gc.

Stage 6 - July 26 Progress Center Circuit Rolling 2.7 miles

With all the riders tired from the days before it was Fly V trying to control the race again. Tiago was trying to break away but since he was in the top 10th in the GC and a had chance to step on the podium he was chased every time. He followed all the dangerous moves but none stuck. At the end he managed to get in the lead out train from Fly V Australia and finish 9th in the day and 7th overall in the Gwinett Bike Fest 2009.

Race Report - VIVACE Criterium

This in from Claudio.. Congrats Winston!!!

---

Winston David Represented Zmotion Racing in Riverviw, FL Saturday July 18th, 2009. He attended the VIVACE Criterium Pro1-2 Race which was held in a technical .5 mile criterium course in a mall parking lot. The race was 60 minutes long and Winston attacked right from the start of the event and was able to lap the field solo. A few other riders later were able to do the same but Winston was able to stay near the front to avoid the numerous crashes of the event. With 2 laps to go Winston attacked going into the first corner and was able to maintain the gap to sprint solo to the line and not only win the event but also a New Colnago CX-1 frame.

Race Results - Superweek #2

Claudio is doing a great job of keeping us in the loop and the ZMotion guys are doing a great job REPRESENTING!!!

---

Arlington Heights, IL -- July 14, 2009
Pro & Cat 1/2 Men

Zmotion Racing Pro1-2 team attended the Arlington Heights Criterium, Tuesday July 14th 2009. After a rest day yesterday Hector Pastorino, Juan Gaspari, and Calixto Bello were joined by our newest member Tiago Depaula. The Criterium was held in an 8 corner .7 mile course that was so easy that it made for an extremely hard race. Juan and Hector were able to get in a 10 man break with all the major pro teams being represented with Calixto and Tiago blocking and chasing breaks in the peloton. When they thought the break would stick the peloton brought it back allowing 4 riders to break away and stay away till the finish. Hector was able to finish 14th, Calixto 21th and Juan 39th in another race that was single file from the start to the finish.

Race Results - Superweek

Claudio gave me an update how the ZMotion Pro 1,2 guys are doing in Superweek in Illinois....

---

On Friday (July 10th), the Pro 1-2 team which consisted of Juan Gaspari, Hector Pastorino, and Calixto Bello, raced the first race of the superweek series in Beverly Hills Cycling Classic presented by Vee Pak/Beverly Bike & Ski. The race started at 5:45 PM, with top teams such as GARMIN SLIPSTREAM PRO-TOUR, Fly V Australia Pro Cycling, and Kenda Pro Cycling. The course was a 1 mile six corner crit course that started with attacks. Hector managed to get into a break that lapped the field, after lapping the field a few riders managed to get of the front and Hector remained in the peloton as the race finalized, He managed to outsprint the peloton for an 11th palce finish with Juan finishing 23rd.

Saturday (July 11th)
Pro 1-2 Juan Gaspari, Hector Pastorino, and Calixto Bello raced in Blue Island, Illinois. This race was on a 1 mile 4 corner criterium course, Juan and Hector managed to take several Primes throughout the race including the Gamblers prime of the event. On the last lap Jaun and Hector were perfectly placed for the sprint when on the second to last corner were cut off and forced them to scramble back towards the front of the peloton, Juan got boxed in on the last corner not allowing him to pass riders and Hector not willing to give up managed to finish 6th with Juan in 10th and Calixto finishing in the peloton.

Junior (north Carolina Update)
We also have a new Junior, Cirilo Bencosme(16 years old) current Florida Point leader junior 15-16, that joined Zmotion recently and on his first race representing the Zmotion Racing raced in North Carolina, The Piedmont Triad Omnium , After falling due to 2 riders crashing in front of him, he chased many breakaways, until 2 riders managed to get a gap. The 2 riders were about 100 meters in front of the peloton and Cirilo was waiting for the riders to get caught. The riders managed to stay away with Cirilo outsprinting the field and taking the final podium spot to put Zmotion in the 3rd place step in North Carolina.

Race Report - Clermont Circuit Race

Todays race course was a curvey 2+ mile circuit race that was the site for a showdown between Zmotion and Florida Velo in the 45+. FV had three guys in GC potential but we had Steve G who was leading the GC.

The race was marked by a series of attacks but the entire team worked flawlessly together to cover them. Raife and Mark were on dedicated chase duty and the entire team was constantly up front so that Steve could ride as a protected rider. The 55+ raced with us also so Billy was also able to lend a hand.



The race came down to the desired field sprint with Chuck Lisa launching himself onto the podium with second place. Steve came in soon after surounded by z-guys to win the overall GC.


Billy also rode a perfect race to get sixth on the stage and 3rd overall in GC.



Julio had help today in 35+ with Chris and Joe helping out. Julio covered Vance several times but missed the decisive break. Chris covered the break and did everything he could to shut it down. With three laps to go, Julio launched a solo chase and was able to recover some of the time lost but his 6th place still put him in second overall in the GC. Up in the break Chris launched a great sprint and was second by just 1/10 of a second.



Lisa Frink really outdid herself this weekend by getting 3rd in her race and 2nd overall in GC. Way to go.



In the Pro 1,2's instead of doing the circuit race that everyone else did, they did a BRUTAL 80 mile loop. Normally most road races go multiple times around a 10-15 mile loop, but this was a FPS first having a single loop. They did it at the hottest part of the day and everyone was suffering but even with the constant rolling hills they finished in under 3 and 1/2 hours. The race itself was really exciting. Calixto attacked right after the first KOM and had two riders chase him down. After Calixto was caught, they joined forces and managed to get a respectable gap on the field. Calixto was able to drop the two riders and was able to get a gap of 6 minutes on the field riding solo. He was on his own for over 60 miles. In the meantime Hector,Juan, Victor, and Flaco covered the attacks while Mariano and Winston kept coming back to the Team car to get food and drinks for the team. They did numerous trips back making sure that everyone was well hydrated. After a heroic effort, Calixto was caught with only 10 miles to go. After several attacks from the remaining riders the peloton was reduced to about 12 riders with Zmotion having 3 riders in the group. At that point two riders attacked and were able to get a gap on the reduced peleton when Juan went after them and started closing the gap. A solo rider was able to reach Juan and they tried working together to catch the two leaders. Both riders in the lead finished solo with Juan outsprinting the rider that had bridged up for 3rd place, Hector fininshed in 6th outsprinting the field. With Victor finishing in 12th and Flaco in 19th.

Race Report - Clermont Crit and TT

It was hot but not as hot as Zmotion was in racing. The crit course was a little over a mile in an unfinished development that had an uphill finish to the line.

The time trial course was a brutal 7 mile pain fest that tackled sugarloaf mountain at the halfway point. The weekend also had the stage race format with Sundays circuit race being the final piece.

The smoking started early with Billy in the 55+ getting a podium spot with a solid third place finish. He topped it off with a good TT to keep near the top of GC.

The 45+ team rode really well as a team and was involved in every breakaway attempt but as usual the 45+ ended in a field sprint with Chuck in 6th, Tim in 7th and Raife in 9th. But in the TT Steve G put the 45+ team on the V map with our first team victory of the season. Steve enters tomorrow's race with a sixteen second lead and other teams beware Zmotion will shut you down tomorrow for our man Steve.



The 35+ had only Julio representing Zmotion, but hey, that was all we needed. The Ball Watch guys launched attack after attack but Julio was alert. Since there were time sprint bonuses available, Julio jumped for 2nd place seconds and ended up off the front until Vance James and one other bridged up. With the Ball Watch guys blocking and the three of them working together smoothly they were gone. The final sprint was all Julio as he takes yet another Victory. What is worth mentioning is that the caught the main pack on the final sprint. In the TT, riding his road bike he widens the GC gap by winning a second time. Unbelievable!

In the Pro 1,2 field the cat 3's swelled their ranks for a very large field. There was a break of two guys that stuck but the ever Hector consistent was second in the field sprint for fourth overall. Victor continues to impress with a seventh place overall. Joe finished with the main field to take 5th place in the Cat 3's. In the the TT Victor continues to shine with the top Zmotion placing.

Race Report - Tradewinds - June 16th

I can tell you that Tradewinds wasn't this fast or strategic last year. The bar has definitely been raised and tonight was no exception. The evening started with lots of rain and we were not even sure if we would start due to the lightning, but 6:15 and we were off.

Tonight was a special race since this was the last race in the first "series" for Tradewinds and Grant sat in 1st, Vinny was 2nd and Joe Vietro was in 3rd. An early break stayed away and a few people managed to bridge up to swell the group to 10 people. Joe slipped into this break while Grant was focusing on Vinny. Despite several super hard pulls by Grant, the break-away stuck with Raife, Karl, Chuck and Joe representing. Coming into the final laps, two riders were off the front and Chuck drilled it to pull them back. In the final sprint Chuck came in 2nd with Joe close on his wheel for 3rd which was enough to launch him into 2nd overall in the series with Vinny still on the podium with 3rd. Captain Jeff rode his typical amazing race to sneak away with less than two laps to go to come in next and Vinny ended up winning the field sprint.

Once again, ZMotion rocked!!!

Race Report - Ocala Stage Race

This weekend was an interesting format with two road races and a time trial. Not only were there individual races places available, the time from all three races were added up and the top three from each category got trophys.

Zmotion was out in force and made their presence felt as always. The Masters race combined the 35 and 45 fields which made for some challenging racing. What also added to the efforts were temperatures nearing 100 degrees.

In the combined Masters race on Saturday there were lots of attacks on the rolling terrain, but it was a decisive move by Captain Jeff that finally stuck. Jeff was joined by Julio and Karl and three others. Chris did his typical great job of blocking to help establish the break and they were gone finishing almost 4 minutes up on the field! We could have used Raife's presence in the 45+ but he missed the start but Shaun still managed to come in 6th.



In the time trial, Chris looked impressive on a full TT bike and rode into an impressive second place. Jeff strapped some bars onto his road bike and amazed everyone with third overall. One of the most memorable parts was that Vinny got beaten by everyone including some of the girls.



Sunday's road race in the Master's became a much more strategic race since we had three riders all with GC (general category) potential. The race itself consisted of attack after attack that never stuck. Anytime one of the GC favorites made a move it was covered like bees on honey. There was also some fresh legs that didn't race yesterday to keep it interesting. As it came down to the last mile, Julio tried a last minute attack. After Julio was swallowed up the the final turn was sketchy but Vinny launched his attack to win the 35+ with Shaun coming in 3rd in 45+. Jeff hung on for 8th in 35+ to place 3rd overall in the stage race and snag a trophy. Mark would have helped in the finish but with one lap to go he managed an impressive crash on an easy turn.



On the women's front, both Shannon and Lisa rocked the stage. In the road race Lisa took a podium spot with 3rd with Shannon coming 6th after getting boxed in. In only her second ever time trial, Shannon really shone as she took a strong second place to move into GC potential.



The stage came down to Sunday's road race where Shannon came in 4th with Lisa right on her heels for 5th. Shannon's overall time put her in second but her main rival took sprint and KOM bonus seconds to give her the third place trophy.



In the Pro 1,2 field Zmotion continues to shine. Saturday's brutal 60 mile race saw a successful breakaway with not one but two Zmotion riders in the form of Calixto and Mariano. Calixto cramped as the finish line approached with the result of Mariano and Calixto coming in 4th and 5th respectively. In the time trial Calixto strapped on Jeff's bars and powered to 6th (somebody get that guy a TT bike) to launch him into GC potential. Sunday's road race ended in a field sprint with rocket man Hector coming in 3rd. Calixto finished in the field to get a 3rd place GC trophy. Also deserving of congrats is Victor with an 8th place in GC. We are also hoping that Winston is ok as he was taken to the hospital with a possible broken collar bone.

ZMotion FPS Team Results

Wow, Jeff pointed out that the Team Classification Results are now posted for the 2009 Florida Points Series and ZMotion is winning left and right. It is hard to believe that this is the first year for the team. It takes many teams years to gel together like we have and produce these kinds of results.

• Pro 1,2 - Leading the Series


• Masters 35+ - Leading the Series


• Masters 45+ - Leading the Series


• Women's Cat 4 - Leading the Series


• Men's Cat 4 - Third overall


• Men's Cat 5 - Leading the Series

Race Report - Stuart Racing Weekend

Another great weekend of racing for ZMotion happened just North of us in Stuart. Saturday's venue was a 3.2 mile circuit race in a never completed housing development while Sundays race was the annual Downtown Stuart Criterium course (0.9 miles) that we have every year. For some the weather was perfect, but later racers got drenched when the heavens opened and rained cats and dogs.

What is interesting about the sport of Bicycle Racing is that every race is unpredictable. If you are doing a race like running, you can typically identify the five fastest runners and pick the winner from that select group. Not so in a Florida Points Criterium. So it follows that some weeks one of the ZMotion categories will do great and some not so great and it was finally time for the Master's 45+ team to shine.

The Master's 45+ team still hasn't had the elusive "V", but with a 2nd, 4th and 8th on Saturday's race, they came pretty darn close. Here's how it played out.. The 3.2 mile circuit tempted the racer's to try numerous break attempts, but with a strong headwind on the back side, plus great visibility it initially looked like all attempts would fail. Then out of nowhere, our "sleeper" racer Ron Ray sneaked away with 3 other guys and they were GONE. When it came down to the final sprint there was a crash that both prevented the "V" but also took out the 4th place spot. Then our 45+ sprinter Shaun launched it to win the field sprint for 4th with Raife close on his heels for 8th.

On Sunday's race, the 45+ field was HUGE with 57 riders and it was fast from the go. Super strongman Steve Griffith tried numerous break away attempts, and he and Ron Ray even had a late race breakaway that looked like it had potential but was fated to be caught. So it came down to the final lap and the field was all together, sprinter Shaun was feeling good and in position until with just 3 turns to go he had a flat (yes, he was robbed). Mark managed to get into position to pull off a 5th place for the team.



In the 35+ category, the Saturday race was a case of breaks and chases with ZMotion doing a lot of the bringing back of breaks. Grant Potter put pedal to the medal and managed to ride away for the V, but hey, it's Grant Potter. The Sunday Race for 35+ yielded some nail-biting excitement as breakaway specialist Julio was in a very good 4 man break. Chris Hoch and Jody were constantly seen at the front taking up blocking duties. Julio was finally caught by the field on the final stretch of the final lap (ugh) but still managed to come in 9th with Jeff in 12th. Vinny launched himself right onto the podium with an excellent 3rd place.

The Juniors continue to distinguish themselves with Ruben winning the Crit on Sunday and 2nd on Saturday. Jay got 2nd both days. These guys are our future and the future looks bright (but guys fix your team info to show ZMotion!!!!).

We didn't get any Intel on how the P12 faired on Saturday, but on-site race reporter Jeff shared this about Sunday's P12 race...

On Sunday there were several failed breaks with Victor in one that looked good, and then he rolled a tire. Another break of 7 went away gaining over 30 seconds and included Winston & Hector. The Santos boys put there heads down and slowly reeled ‘em in with a few laps to go. Grant lit it up out of the final corner and no one could come around him so he took the “V” impressively. zMotion packed it in tightly soon after with Hector in 3rd, Juan in 4th, and Calixto in 6th.