April 5th Chico Airport Criterium Results.................

Hi Y'all!! We had a 2nd event today with this awesome weather - the Sunday Afternoon Chico Airport Criterium! 21 riders came out to take part in this event, and we had some really nice riding out there. I would like to thank Steve Vickery at the Madison Bear Garden for donating BEAR BUCKS as Primes today - for every 1 Prime Point that was won, 1 Bear Buck was also given away! And, as you can see from the results below, we gave away quite a few Primes today! Looks like some folks are gonna have a free beer, soda and/or dinner tonight at the BEAR!! Thank you Steve and Madison Bear Garden for donating to the event!!

AND - thank you all for coming out to this one!! And thanks to all the spectators too!!

Okay, below you will find the Category Results from this afternoon's Criterium - followed by the Updated Overall Standings in the 2009 Chico Airport Criterium Series. We have one MAJOR change in the Overall Standings - Women now have their own Category, with their own points.....for obvious reasons - lots more women showing up to the Crits!!! THAT is GREAT to see!!! We'll be offering up WOMEN'S-ONLY Primes in future races as well, so keep coming back!

And, again, thank you ALL for coming out to these events!!

CATEGORY "A":
1. David Albrecht (7 points + 10 Prime Points + 1 = 18 points)
2. Mike Smith (5 points + 12 Prime Points + 1 = 18 points)
3. Mike Trowbridge (4 points + 1 Prime Point + 1 = 6 points)
4. Greg Melton (3 points + 1 Prime Point + 1 = 5 points)
5. Dave Berman (2 points + 4 Prime Points + 1 = 7 points)
Pack Finish:
Jesse Rushing (2 Prime Points + 1 = 3 points)
Margaret Jones 1 point
Steve Vickery 1 point

CATEGORY "B" - Men:
1. Frank Marinello (7 points + 2 Prime Points + 1 = 10 points)
2. Shawn Hughes (5 points + 3 Prime Points + 1 = 9 points)
3. Mike Crumm (4 points + 5 Prime Points + 1 = 10 points)
4. Joe Schlesinger (3 points + 6 Prime Points + 1 = 10 points)
6. Ray Bransky (2 points + 1 = 3 points)
7. Samuel Bransky 1 point
8. David Klein (10 Prime Points + 1 = 11 points)
Pack Finish:
Johnny Jones 1 point

WOMEN'S CATEGORY:
1. Tracy Berman (7 points + 1 Prime Point + 1 = 9 points)
2. Jenn Gruber (5 points + 2 Prime Points + 1 = 8 points)
3. Christa Ritchey (4 points + 1 Prime Point + 1 = 6 points)
4. Caryn Jones (2 points + 1 = 3 points)
Pack Finish:
Amy Dawson 1 point

2009 AIRPORT CRITERIUM SERIES CURRENT OVERALL STANDINGS:

Category "A" OVERALL:
1. David Albrecht 60 points
2. Mike Smith 40 points
3. Jeff Galland 37 points
4. Mike Trowbridge 29 points
5. Michael Jasinski 20 points
6. Mike Cordova 19 points
7. James Plummer 13 points
8. Alex Blease 12 points
9. Tim Creswell 10 points
9. Kevin Speacht 10 points
11. Anthony Ferretti 9 points
12. Dave Berman 7 points
12. Kyle Hartelt 7 points
12. Ryan Olson 7 points
15. Evan Carroll 6 points
16. Greg Melton 5 points
16. Roy Steves 5 points
18. Jesse Rushing 4 points
18. Ben Bryant 4 points
20. Jason Ziegenhirt 3 points
20. Charlie Dawson 3 points
20. Greg Golet 3 points
20. Jeff Ochs 3 points
20. Kenny Price 3 points
25. Margaret Jones 2 points (1st Place Woman in Category "A")
25. Geno Gruber 2 points
25. Janeen Thorpe 2 points
25. Brad Foster 2 points
29. Steve Vickery 1 point
30. Dain Melton 1 point
31. Dan Reymann 1 point
32. Kurt Haskins 1 point
33. Mike Castaldo 1 point
34. Tom Embree 1 point
35. Paul Sajben 1 point

CATEGORY "B" OVERALL:
1. Frank Marinello 30 points
2. Matt Itamura 28 points
3. Shawn Hughes 24 points
3. Mike Crumm 24 points
5. David Klein 21 points
5. Michael Dufresne 21 points
7. Joe Schlesinger 16 points
8. Charlie Pelton 14 points
8. Dain Melton 14 points
10. Colin Moakley 11 points
10. Denny McKenney 11 points
12. Tom Embree 7 points
12. David Weathers 7 points
14. BJ LaRossa 5 points
14. Jeff Ochs 5 points
16. Clay Johnson 4 points
16. Brian Strukan 4 points
18. Ray Bransky 3 points
18. Jeff Davis 3 points
20. Adam Tischler 2 points
20. Christopher Cook 2 points
20. Mark Hendry 2 points
23. Samuel Bransky 1 point
24. Johnny Jones 1 point
25. Walt Schafer 1 point
26. Rob Glatthaar 1 point
27. Gary Fowler 1 point
28. John Wiesinger 1 point
29. Tom Murphy 1 point
30. Greg Melton 1 point
31. Paul Begbie 1 point

WOMEN'S CATEGORY:
1. Tracy Berman 12 points
2. Lisa Martens 11 points
3. Jenn Gruber 9 points
4. Christa Ritchey 7 points
4. Margaret Jones 7 points
6. Caryn Jones 5 points
7. Amy Dawson 1 point
8. Teresa Kludt 1 point
9. Kristen Schonauer 1 point
10. Shirley Huffman 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 50-60 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!

7. Last year, we had just two categories during the races - Category A and Category B. However, the Series itself has even more Trophy 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 Awful Cycling Events
Chico, CA
www.ChicoBike.com