WWVC's Nicholas Taylor wears Cat 3 Cup Pants headed into Series Finale at Stoney Creek

Whole Wheel Velo Club's Nicholas Taylor got his measurements exactly right at the Tour of Page County. A win in the Road Race and 3rd in the inaugural (and painful) Luray Criterium vaulted him into the individual lead in the GamJams Cat 3 Cup p/b Mountain Khakis. Greg Wittwer (GamJams / Pre-Reg.com) was unable to match Taylor's final surge in the road race and watched his series sprint away up the final climb. But Wittwer battled back on Sunday, lapping the field in the Luray Criterium on his way to a dramatic solo victory. The net points swing for the weekend was 9 points: Taylor rose from a 1-point defecit to now hold a tenuous 8-point lead over Wittwer. (See Update below.)

Nobody like surprises in bike racing ("I just buried myself in a preme for a lousy water bottle?") and it is with regrets that we deliver this one: The Rockville Twilight Criterium is no longer the final race in the GamJams Cat 3 Cup. We missed an important State Highway Permit deadline, making the original 9/11 date impossible. GamJams still intends to promote the Rockville Criterium in the fall, but because it is not 100% certain we must remove it from the Cat 3 Cup schedule. Apologies to all, and please accept GamJams' offer of a free apple cider donut at the rescheduled Rockville Criterium. (News coming soon.)

This makes this weekend's Stoney Creek Time Trial the final event in the 2010 GamJams Cat 3 Cup. There are points to be had, and with the individual and team standings still tight, there are points needed as well. In the team competition, GamJams / Pre-Reg.com has seen its lead erode. The squad now leads WWVC by only 12 points, with CycleLife / Raw Talent Ranch in third. And within striking distance of the top 3 are Arrow Bicycle / Route 1 Velo, Squadra Coppi, Haymarket / Homevisit, Fat Frogs Racing and NCVC. Any of these squads could move into a podium position at Stoney Creek.

New Prizes in the Individual and Team Competition

We lose a race, but we're adding some prizes. Here's what is on offer for the podiums:

Individual Competition:

1st place: $500
2nd place: Kazane Alloy Wheelset
3rd place: GamJams Titanium QR skewer set

Team Competition:

1st place: $1000
2nd place: $250
3rd place: 10 pairs of GamJams socks

Register yourself and your 'mates for Stoney Creek and get yourself some of that.

UPDATE:

In a scoring error, Nicholas Taylor (WWVC) was awarded 6 points for his 5th place finish at the RGS Title Reston Town Center Grand Prix. However, at that race Taylor was still a Cat 4, which made him ineligible to score individual or team points. The error was just called to GamJams' attention, well past the 5-day protest period allotted in the Official Scoring and Rules. Upon learning about the scoring error, and despite holding onto a tenuous lead going into the final event, Whole Wheel Velo Club's Taylor graciously conceded the points. "Please go ahead and remove the 6.  I like what you are doing with the cat 3 cup and I wouldn't want to win it like that." Chapeau, Mr. Taylor. Chapeau.

The individual and team standings below have been updated to reflect the adjustment.

Individual Cat 3 Cup Standings

Place     Name    Team    Individual Total
1    Nicholas Taylor    Whole Wheel Velo Club    48
2    Greg Wittwer    GamJams/Pre-Reg p/b Cutaway Clothing 46
3    Brigham Lumm    Arrow Bicycle    27
4    Sigberto Garcia     NCVC/UnitedHealth Group    26
5    Ben Reynolds    CycleLife / Raw Talent Ranch    23
6    Andrew Bridges    Haymarket Bicycles    21
7    Jason Hall    Squadra Coppi    20
8    Dennis Bodewitz    District Velocity Racing    19
9    Matthew Latyszonek      Fat Frogs Racing    19
10    Jonathan Phan    Team Carytown Bicycle Company    17

11    Joshua Flexman    CycleLife / Raw Talent Ranch    15
12    William Scanlon    Nature's Path/3 Sports    15
13    Mike Fawell    HPC    15
14    Kyle Knott      Atlantic Velo p/b Walt Racing    15
15    Joseph Dombrowski      Haymarket Bicycles    15
16    Jorge Marccenaro    Artemis    15
17    Andres DeMarchena    Fat Frogs Racing    14
18    Jose Nunez    Arrow Bicycle    13
19    Lawrence Byvik      GamJams/Pre-Reg p/b Cutaway Clothing 13
20    Eric Boone    Lateral Stress Velo    12
21    Paul Webb      Mars Hill College/Asheville Bicycle Racing Club 12
22    Chris Rosen    Atlantic Velo p/b Walt Racing    12
23    Ryan Hardy    C3-Twenty20 Cycles    9
24    Thomas Blonkowski    Squadra Coppi    9
25    Michael Flanagan    Battley Harley-Davidson    9
26    Mark Kutney    Van Dessel Cycles    9
27    James Schaefer    Rostello b/p Fiorucci/Cycor    9
28    Mike May    GamJams/Pre-Reg p/b Cutaway Clothing    8
29    Jordan Cross    Squadra Coppi    8
30    Daniel Villaflor-Drumwright (HH)    Haymarket Bicycles    8
31    Peter Warner    Whole Wheel Velo Club    7
32    William Morris    CycleLife / Raw Talent Ranch    6
33    Raymond Plewacki    Evolution Cycling Club p/b Long & Foster 6
34    Michael Cohen    Lateral Stress Velo    6
35    Kyle Murphy    GamJams/Pre-Reg p/b Cutaway Clothing 6
36    Francois Fabiato    HPC    6
37    Robb Hampton    Bayside Velo/Bike Doctor    5
38    Paul Wilson    AABC    5
39    Michael Myers    Nature's Path/3 Sports    5
40    Jacob King    Unattached    5
41    Greg Johnston    BikeWorks Racing    5
42    Dan Netzer    Celerity Cycling    5
43    William Gilmer    TriPower    4
44    Steve Soltes    colavita racing    4
45    Ray Manyoky    Clean Currents p/b Don Beyer Volvo    4
46    Joshua Goyet    Virginia Beach Wheelmen    4
47    Jeffrey Craddock      Greenbrier Pawn Racing    4
48    Bruno Neto    Bayside Velo/Bike Doctor    4
49    Anthony Abate    District Velocity Racing    4
50    Kevin Horvath    Virginia Beach Wheelmen    3
51    David Garrison      Rostello p/b Fiorucci/Cycor    3
52    David Brooks    NCVC/UnitedHealth Group    3
53    Todd Bickling    Bayside Velo/Bike Doctor    2
54    Robert Netsch      GS OUTERBANKS    2
55    Ian Spivack    DCMTB    2
56    Edward McNelis    Nature's Path/3 Sports    2
57    Robert Pullin    Unattached    1
58    Mitch Ferro    Evolution Cycling Club p/b Long & Foster    1
59    Lucas Harville      Fat Frogs Racing    1
60    Jameson Ribbens    C3-Twenty20 Cycles    1
61    Gregory Grosicki    College of William and Mary    1
62    Charles Biro    Unattached    1

Team Cat 3 Cup Standings

Place     Team    Team Total
1    GamJams/Pre-Reg p/b Cutaway Clothing    73
2    Whole Wheel Velo Club    55
3    CycleLife / Raw Talent Ranch    44
4    Arrow Bicycle    40
5    Squadra Coppi    37
6    Haymarket Bicycles    37
7    Fat Frog's Racing    34
8    NCVC/UnitedHealth Group    29
9    Atlantic Velo p/b Walt Racing    27
10    District Velocity Racing    23
11    Nature's Path/3 Sports    22
12    HPC    21
13    Lateral Stress Velo    18
14    Team Carytown Bicycle Company    17
15    Artemis    15
16    Rostello b/p Fiorucci/Cycor    12
17    Mars Hill College/Asheville Bicycle Racing Club    12
18    Bayside Velo/Bike Doctor    11
19    C3-Twenty20 Cycles    10
20    Van Dessel Cycles    9
21    Battley Harley-Davidson    9
22    Virginia Beach Wheelmen    7
23    Evolution Cycling Club p/b Long & Foster    7
24    Celerity Cycling    5
25    BikeWorks Racing    5
26    AABC    5
27    TriPower    4
28    Greenbrier Pawn Racing    4
29    colavita racing    4
30    Clean Currents p/b Don Beyer Volvo    4
31    DCMTB    2
32    GS OUTERBANKS    1
33    College of William and Mary    1

Comments

[Reid]

Enjoy some Luray Crit videos!

http://vimeo.com/14034047

[Tom]

Convenient the only one to benefit from bending the rules to protest beyond their own protest period will be a GamJams rider.

[Peter Warner]

Yep, Nicholas is a winner on the road and in life! He's had an amazing run this year.

[Mike May]

@Tom, I would have done exactly the same thing if it affected any other racer and team in the competition. The only difference. Is that I probably would have not as hesitated as long as I did since the change benefits the GamJams team. And in point of fact, it was Nicholas not GamJams who bent the rules. He's the one who elected to remove the points mistakenly attributed to him when he was a cat 4, even though the protest period had expired. If he had said, "nah, I'll keep them," he'd still have them. Honestly, I can't see see how anybody would have a problem with that. Did you pull for the Cinzano guys in Breaking Away?

As the guy who spent a couple hundred hours and a few thousand dollars of my own money building the cat 3 cup to generate some goodwill and positive exposures for its sponsors, I assure you that anything that creates the appearance of impropriety is decidedly inconvenient.

[Terry Anderson]

I say we don't have prizes. I say we get to know our team at the start line. I say we roll around at 12mph and then sprint on the last lap. Then I say we all wonder why we get dropped in all the 1/2 races after our upgrades. After that I say we blame it on Harley....because they took all the good guys.

I like what you're doing Mike. The Cat3 cup rewards team tactics and strong riding. Those things make Cat3 racing more fun and rewarding. If folks think that double checking results to insure you did everything correctly is a bad thing.....

[Pete Custer]

in the end, it looks like the Cat 3 Cup served to generate a lot of late season drama! WWVC and GJ sent a crew of people down to southern VA to duke it out! Good on everyone for racing hard, supporting the sport (and the promoters), and having fun!