Hi Everyone!! Well, we had a beautiful early morning for the Airport Criterium today - we had to start a bit early today, but still had a good turnout for the event! 14 riders showed up to take part in this one - and to thank them, I offered up a bunch of Pain.....er......I mean......Primes!! Lots of Point Primes going out in this one. Thank you all for taking part - it was GREAT seeing you out there!! We'll be doing more weekend Criteriums in May and June. The points garnered from today's Airport Crit do count towards the Overall Standings in the 2009 Airport Criterium Series.

For some video of today's finishes, please visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chicovelo/

The "A" event saw a 2-person breakaway take off.....and they were able to hold off the field to the finish. Jeff Galland took the win over Mike Smith, with a hard-charging James Plummer coming in 3rd.

The "B" event saw the pack stay together the whole race - and in the end, it was Charlie Pelton just outsprinting Matt Itamura and Frank Marinello! It was an extremely close finish!(See video!)

Below are the Results from today's event - and just below that are the updated Current Overall Standings:


CATEGORY "A" RESULTS FOR THE MARCH 28TH CRITERIUM:
1. Jeff Galland (7 points + 11 Prime Points + 1 = 19 points)
2. Mike Smith (5 points + 9 Prime Points + 1 = 15 points)
3. James Plummer (4 points + 5 Prime Points + 1 = 10 points)
4. Mike Trowbridge (3 points + 2 Prime Points + 1 = 6 points)
5. Evan Carroll (2 points + 3 Prime Points + 1 = 6 points)
6. Kenny Price (1 point + 1 Prime Point + 1 = 3 points)
7. Geno Gruber 1 point
8. Kurt Haskins 1 point

CATEGORY "B" RESULTS FOR THE MARCH 28TH CRITERIUM:
1. Charlie Pelton (7 points + 2 Prime Points + 1 = 10 points)
2. Matt Itamura (5 points + 5 Prime Points + 1 = 11 points)
3. Frank Marinello (4 points + 5 Prime Points + 1 = 10 points)
4. Colin Moakley (3 points + 5 Prime Points + 1 = 9 points)
5. Shawn Hughes (2 points + 4 Prime Points + 1 = 7 points)
6. Dave Klein (1 point + 5 Prime Points + 1 = 7 points)


2009 AIRPORT CRITERIUM SERIES CURRENT OVERALL STANDINGS:

Category "A" OVERALL:

1. Jeff Galland 37 points
2. David Albrecht 30 points
3. Mike Smith 22 points
4. Mike Trowbridge 19 points
5. Mike Cordova 16 points
6. James Plummer 13 points
6. Michael Jasinski 13 points
8. Anthony Ferretti 9 points
9. Ryan Olson 7 points 10. Evan Carroll 6 points

10. Kevin Speacht 6 points
12. Roy Steves 5 points
13. Ben Bryant 4 points
13. Kyle Hartelt 4 points

15. Kenny Price 3 points
16. Geno Gruber 2 points
16. Tim Creswell 2 points
16. Janeen Thorpe 2 points
16. Jason Ziegenhirt 2 points
16. Charlie Dawson 2 points
16. Brad Foster 2 points
22. Kurt Haskins 1 point

23. Jesse Rushing 1 point

24. Mike Castaldo 1 point
25. Jeff Ochs 1 point
26. Tom Embree 1 point
27. Paul Sajben 1 point

CATEGORY "B" OVERALL:

1. Matt Itamura 28 points
2. Frank Marinello 20 points
3. Dain Melton 14 points
4. Denny McKenney 11 points
4. Michael Dufresne 11 points
6. Charlie Pelton 10 points
6. Shawn Hughes 10 points
8. Colin Moakley 9 points
8. David Klein 9 points
10. Margaret Jones 7 points = 1st Place in Women's Category!

10. David Weathers 7 points

12. Mike Crumm 6 points
12. Lisa Martens 6 points = 2nd Place in Women's Category!

12. Joe Schlesinger 6 points
15. BJ LaRossa 5 points

15. Jeff Ochs 5 points
17. Clay Johnson 4 points
17. Brian Strukan 4 points
19. Tracy Berman 3 points = 3rd Place in Women's Category!

20. Christopher Cook 2 points
20. Jeff Davis 2 points

20. Mark Hendry 2 points

20. Caryn Jones 2 points

24. Christa Ritchey 1 point = 4th Place in Women's Category!
25. Gary Fowler 1 point
26. John Wiesinger 1 point
27. Kristen Schonauer 1 point = 4th Place in Women's Category!
28. Tom Murphy 1 point
29. Greg Melton 1 point

30. Paul Begbie 1 point


AIRPORT CRITERIUM SERIES INFORMATION:

After the great turn-out at last year's Tuesday Night Chico Airport Criterium Series, we're going to be doing them again for 2009......but starting up a bit earlier this year. For those curious, the definition of "Criterium" is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criterium

This Series starts up next Tuesday, March 10th and will go through September 15th, 2009......just before our Chico Downtown Criterium on September 20th! Registration normally starts at 5:40pm - with the event starting at 6:00pm.

How does it work???

Okay, here are a few notes for this year's Airport "Crit" Series:

1. We will be using more than 1 course for the Crits this year......including throwing in some lefty-turn Crits to get a feel for those - and some Weekend Criteriums as well. For the time being, we'll be using our standard Tuesday Night righty-turn course starting/finishing at Convair Avenue - http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Chico-Airport-Tuesday-Night-Crit-Course

2. ALL riders must sign in this year - There will be a small table on the sidewalk at the Start/Finish location on Convair Avenue - just sign in at the table and you are good to go! Sign-ins start at 5:40pm - the racing action starts at 6:00pm. We usually end the event by 7pm, at the latest - many times earlier than that - to get home before it gets too dark outside. RAIN AND WET PAVEMENT WILL ALWAYS CANCEL THE CRITERIUMS! In addition, last year we had some tremendous smoke from the Humboldt Fire in this area......which, in turn, would also cancel the Criteriums due to hazardous air quality.

3. The Category "B" races normally go for 45 minutes PLUS 3 laps.........while the Category "A" races go for 55 minutes PLUS 3 laps. There can be anywhere from 1 to 15+ Primes in the Airport Criteriums......just depends on the mood of the Dictator.....er......I mean, Director. ;)

4. Helmets are MANDATORY! So, please....please.....wear your helmet! Please!!

5. All are welcome - you don't have to do the Series - just come on out and give this Criterium training/riding a shot! It's amazing what kind of workout you can get in during a 45 to 60 minute practice event.

6. Points are used to calculate the Overall Standings in the Series. The point breakdown is as follows: 7-5-4-3-2-1, with an additional 1 point being given to each participant at each event. So, 7 points goes to the winner, 5 points goes to 2nd place, 4 points goes to 3rd place and so on.........in addition to 1 more point just for doing the event. The rider with the MOST points at the end of the Series wins the Overall Title - and the Chico Airport Series Championship Trophy, plus whatever goodies we can give you. Also, Prime points will be given out during each of the Crits - these are just lap prizes......but in this case, the prizes are points. We will also be having some product Primes out there this year! If you are a Men's Category 5 racer, or a Women's Category 4 racer, talk to me at the events about your upgrade points for these events.

7. Last year, we had just two categories during the races - Category A and Category B. However, the Series itself has even more Categories, including:

Category "A" Men
Women's Category
Women's Masters 40+ Category
Category "B" Men
Men's Masters 40+ Category
Men's Masters 50+ Category

These are the Categories which all qualify for a Series Championship Trophy. If nobody - or very few folks are in one category, we may eliminate it and add an additional category where the numbers allow it. As usual, sandbaggers are strongly discouraged ( A Sandbagger would be a Category "A" rider entering a Category "B" event).

8. Although donations to put on these events are always very appreciated and accepted, this Series is FREE - so come on out and take advantage of some, or all, of these Criteriums in 2009!

9. Finally, remember - these Criterium events are essentially for practice and exercise - we have fun out there and get a great little workout in, and we get to work on some quality cycling skills. But, overall, they're no big whoop....no World Championship/Olympic medals or million dollar contracts on the line. So, with that in mind, just treat 'em as such - a good training event to try some new things, gain some good fitness.....and maybe even get into a "real" sanctioned Criterium at some point in time. Or not. Just have fun with it!! We'll have trophies and hopefully some prizes for the Series winners - and definitely loads of fun....and pain and suffering. ;) But remember - it's all in good fun!

Hope to see you out there!!

Rodney............
Team Chico & R.A.C.E. - Rodney's Agonizing Cycling Events
Chico, CA
www.ChicoBike.com