The riders gather for another fine day of racing

Sunday, July 12, 1998 -- Kasson
Mountain State Road Classic
[Results]
[Overall Stage Race Results]
[More Pictures]

Sunday, July 12th, was another beautiful day for racing the roads of West Virginia at the Mountain State Road Classic, the second installment in the Barbour DeTour Stage Race (Stage 1 recap.) The days ride took the riders on a single 56 mile circuit which took the riders up several serious climbs.

Sprinting across the finish line

Unlike the first race on Saturday, all the riders got through the race without any crashes. An early break set the stage for an exciting stage of racing with early leaders trying to maintain their advantage.

The initial break saw three riders, Dan Latt and Brett Goodpastor, racing for Saturn of Pittsburgh, and R Muoio escape off the front of the main group of riders on the first major climb. The three riders were soon joined by Glenn Swan on the flat section following the climb, who managed to bridge the gap with a strong solo effort. Once Glenn joined the trio, the pace was picked up enough to drop Latt as he could no longer maintain the breakaway pace.

Getting aero for a fast finish

These three riders stayed together for roughly the next 20 miles until the final major climb which consisted of a 9% grade for almost 4 miles up Cheat Mountain. Early in the climb, Glenn Swan and R Muoio broke out ahead of Brett Goodpastor to make it a two rider race to the top. The pair stayed even as they topped the climb, but an incredible display of climbing by Kyle Dixon enabled him to catch the two lead riders at the top of the mountain.

The remaining 10 miles of racing saw the lead group of Swan, Muoio and Dixon maintain the break to the finish for a sprint to the line. The sprint saw Dixon surge to the tape ahead of Swan with Muoio rolling across just behind them for third.

Leonard Gilkerson, the race and two day tour Masters champion

Jeff Timinski, the winner of the first stage, led the rest of the field to the finish line taking fourth for the day. The finish was good enough to give Jeff the overall victory for the two day tour. Jeff Dixon's strong finish on this day was enough to move him into second overall for the series. Taking third in the day's race placed R Muoio in the identical third place spot for the overall.