Cyclocross: NACT Whitmore's Super Cross Day 1 UCI C2
Johnson seals the deal as North American Cyclocross Trophy Series leader. Dombroski mixes it up with Emmett, Gould and Van Gilder to come out on top.

North American Cyclocross Trophy
Day 1 Southampton. New York

Tim Johnson wanted to make sure there were no questions about his NACT lead and the Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com rider’s win Saturday in Southampton left no doubt in his competitor’s minds. Meanwhile, Amy Dombroski (Schlamm p/b Clement & Primus Mootry) made her bid for the NACT podium with a strong win over competitive women’s field including NACT series’ leader Natasha Elliott.

With warm temperatures and rain on Friday, weather wasn’t a heavy factor and racers could focus on their competition and not the conditions.

Dombroski took control of the race early on, charging off the front and gaining a slight gap over a chase that included Kelli Emmett (Giant), Georgia Gould (Luna) and Elliott (Garneau Club Chaussure Ogilvy). It was the Giant rider who gave Dombroski the biggest run for her money, bridging up to Dombroski who finally shed her before the finish.

Gould also dispatched the chase group to finish ahead of Laura Van Gilder (C3 Athletes Serving Athletes) while Elliott faded to sixth behind Mary McConneloug (Kenda-Seven-NoTubes) but with a comfortable series’ lead will retain the leader’s jersey.

 Update:
Racing continues in the Hamptons Sunday with UCI and MAC points still on the line and additional paying places in the NACT season awards still to be decided.

In the Women’s race Mary McConneloug (Kenda Tires/Seven Cyles/Stans No Tubes) took the holeshot, but Amy Dombroski (Schlamm presented by Clement & Primus Mootry) would be the day’s main protagonist. Within 5 minutes of the start, Dombroski had a three second lead over McConneloug and Kelli Emmett (Giant Factory Team), with a further gap back to a chase group containing defending Georgia Gould (Luna Chix), Laura Van Gilder (C3/Athletes Serving Athletes), Mo Bruno-Roy (M&M Racing p/by Seven Cycles) and NACT points leader Elliot. McConneloug would lose contact, while Emmett bridged across to the leader. It would be a back-and-forth battle for the win until the end.

The fast course led to tight and tactical racing. Even though rain on Friday left portions of the course slightly slippery, it was a super-highway compared to the muddy conditions that has been the norm on the East Coast this for most of this season. While the chase riders would split and regroup throughout the race, Emmett and Dombroski battled for the lead with Dombroski looking like the rider with the most horsepower.

Sure enough, on the last climb on the last lap, Dombroski attacked to finally drop Emmett to take the win. Gould soloed in for third place while Van Gilder outsprinted McConneloug and Elliot. Elliot’s 18 points for her sixth place was just enough to claim the $1,500 NACT season bonus. Van Gilder, meanwhile, is now tied on points with Bruno-Roy for the MAC Championship.

Elite Women’s Results (Top Five)
1. Amy Dombroski (Schlamm p/b Clement & Primus Mootry)
2. Kelli Emmett (Giant)
3. Georgia Gould (Luna)
4. Laura Van Gilder (C3 Athletes Serving Athletes)
5. Mary McConneloug (Kenda-Seven-NoTubes)

While Dumbrowski showed off taking the win, the elite men prepared for battle. The usual monopoly of green and black had some more competition than usual with both Kona’s Ryan Trebon and Giant’s Adam Craig capable of breaking the vice-like grip that Johnson, Driscoll and Powers have had on the series, and almost immediately those five plus a few others formed the select lead of the race.

Ryan Trebon (Kona) took the early lead after passing current MAC points leader Valentin Scherz (Pro Cycles-Scott-Newwork). Halfway into the first lap, a lead group of Trebon, Scherz, Chris Jones (Champion Systems), Josh Dillon (Richard Sachs/RGMWatches/Radix), the Carl Decker and Adam Craig of Giant, and Cannondale/CyclocrossWorld.com’s three musketeers (Tim Johnson, Jeremy Powers and Jamey Driscoll) had separated from the rest of the field. Trebon would spend the majority of the next twenty minutes driving the pace in an effort to break-up the Giant and Cannondale cartels. Craig and Decker would be relegated to the chase group while Trebon tried to manage the minority side of a three-on-one break.

The pivotal moment of the race almost halfway through the hour when Trebon briefly dropped his chain on the major hill, losing contact. The Cannondale trio didn’t need an invitation and dropped their collective hammers. First Powers, then Johnson led the attack, with Driscoll digging deep in third.

Trebon looked briefly as though he was going to reel in the leaders, but as Johnson upped the pace even more, the gap between the Kona rider and the three leaders started to increase. With ten minutes left, Trebon fell and his chance for victory was gone...

Johnson, Powers and Driscoll raced home in that order to sweep the podium. Johnson, who came into the weekend needing only fifty points to clinch the NACT championship, scored all that plus an extra 10 to make it a double loss for Trebon, who will now have to relinquish the Title Belt he won last year.

While Johnson took first, Powers second and Driscoll third, while Trebon salvaged a bad ride with fourth and Chris Jones stayed ahead for Craig for fifth.

Elite Men (Top Five)
1. Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com)
2. Jeremy Powers (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com)
3. Jamey Driscoll (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com)
4. Ryan Trebon (Kona)
5. Chris Jones (Champion-Systems)

For Sunday’s race, look for redemption rides from both Trebon and Elliott who would like nothing more than to get back atop the podium. Another strong showing from both Dombroski and Jones could move them onto the North American Cyclocross Trophy  podium and - more importantly - into the money.

Full results when they are available.
North American Cyclocross Trophy Series
NACT Twitter

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