Wednesday, April 19, 2000 -- Pittsburgh, PA
2000 ACA Summer Criterium Series
Story by Don Parks with photos and contributions by Dave McKain

[Details] [Coverage] [Overall Results] [Pic Set 1]

Eying up the competition at another evening on the oval

The Allegheny Cycling Association rolled out another evening of racing for the second week in their 2000 Criterium Series on Wednesday, April 19th. The 55 degree temperatures, while still on the cool side, were a big improvement over the previous week's chilly air.

The C Race (Cat 4-5) riders got things started on the Pittsburgh 1/2 Mile Oval at the usual 6:00pm start time with a group 30 riders. After just a couple laps of the 15 lap (7.5 mile) event, the field broke into two groups. For the most part, the two groups held together with the lead group eventually lapping the second group.

Concentrating on speed

The final sprint for the finish had Charles Chulack (Pittsburgh Cycling Club) taking his second win in as many weeks at 17:19. Second place went to Dave Kramer (Nail City), third to C. Thomas, with the most aggressive rider award going to Michael Walewski.

The Class B (USCF 3-4) event fielded 21 starters in a 20 lap (10 Mile) race. With various attacks short-lived, the whole race came down to a final field sprint at the finish. Making the most of the sprint was race winner Ryan Mele (Volpattis) recording a time of 23:28. Finding the line second for the second week in a row was Robert Riffle (East Suburban Sports Medicine) with Fred Baldassare (Team Freddie Fu) grabbing third. Most aggressive rider honors went to Jody Lobert (Pittsburgh Masters Velo).

Taking to the oval last were the Class A (USCF 1-2-3) riders with a nice contingent of 36 racers ready to battle over 35 laps (17.5) miles. It took 10 laps of racing before the trio of Scott Zwizanski (WVU), Gunnar Shogren (Guiness), and Mike Friedman (Pittsburgh Cycling Club) made a clean break. The three riders hammered out a bigger and bigger margin and with around 10 laps to go found themselves lapping back into the main pack.

The A Race rolls into the night

As the race came down to the final lap, Zwizanski made his move in an attempt to repeat his previous week's solo break that earned him a victory. It seemed he couldn't get away as easy this time and sat up in the final turn as Friedman's teammates started setting up their man for the final sprint.

The Pittsburgh Cycling Club did their work as Friedman took the win in 38:01 averaging 27.6 MPH. Shogren followed in second with Zwizanski settling for third. Friedman's efforts also earned him the most aggressive rider award.

Among the rest of the riders it was a little payback for Joe Papp (Pittsburgh Cycling Club) as he sprinted to the line ahead of Rob Acciavatti (WVU) for fourth place. The previous week it was Acciavatti who grabbed second place ahead of Papp at the finish.

We're looking forward to a summer filled with more great racing at the Oval and hope you'll come out and join everyone for an evening of spinning. With or without our cameras on the scene, you can be sure those ACA folks will be putting on a fine show.