Omaha Cyclocross Weekend Day #1

The first day of OCW is in the books. The weather was excellent, with the right touch of cold (temps hovered in the low 50s), and the course was in great shape. The 3/4 race was fast, with Matt Farnham (Kaos) dominating the field. Matt took off half way through the first lap, never to be seen again. Randy Crist (Velo Veloce) finished second, and Ryan Legg (Lincoln Industries) finished third. The Masters race had a similar feel, with Dan Hansen (unattached) taking off and blitzing the field. Rich Pearson (Kaos) rode and excellent race to finish second, and Pete Duryea (Velo Veloce) couldn't quite reel Rich in and had to settle for third. The open womens race was won by Janna Vavra (Team Fire), who looked very smooth on her single speed. Cat 4 was a tight race, with Ted Lechnowsky (Velo Veloce) dueling with Mike Miles (Kaos), and Ted pulling away at the end for a 10 second win. Junior men was won by Jacob Gottberg (Bike Way), and cat 4 women by Barbora Hanusuoa.

The cat 1/2/3 mens was an exciting race, with small gaps between places 1-5. Troy Krause (Lincoln Industries) led out the opening lap, with Nate Woodman (Monkey Wrench) in 2nd. Nate took the lead on the second lap in the 60 minutes race and held it all the way through. The battle for 2,3 and 4 was fought by Matt Farnham, Jesse Peterson (Monkey Wrench) and Troy Krause, with Troy in 2nd during the early part of the race, Jesse taking over for a few laps, and Matt, doing his second race of the day, finally putting in a surge that brought him as close as 10 seconds to Nate. By the time the last lap rolled around, Nate had a 20 second gap over Matt, with Jesse 15 seconds behind Matt, and Troy another 10 seconds back. Matt Tillinghast in 5th rounded out the mens podium.