Caravan Race Series #5 - September 07 , 2002
Perfect weather brought out a good number of new skaters from teams including Empire Speed, UTV, Rolling Warriors, Fast Forward, Team Caravan and others.

The Men's Race: Capital Racing's Jose Escobar continues getting stronger towards the end of the season. In today's race he set the pace solo breaking away after about 5 laps of the 14 lap course and finishing with a huge gap over the main pack. Capital Racing's Juan Gomez helped hold back the pack and took second place with Empire's Francisco Ramirez in third.

The Caravan Series 10K course is 14 laps with 6 turns per lap. Jose was using the new Mogema M55-84 that takes 5 84mm wheels (and K2 Mod X boots/Hyper T. E. 84mm wheels/Zero Drag bearings). Usually it is said that these frames are best suited and give an advantage in straight line marathons like Duluth. Today Jose showed these "rules" don't necessarily apply since he beat a pack of strong indoor skaters on a course heavy on crossovers and pace transitions.

Frame choice is going to be an individual choice according to the size of the skater, the type of race and the skater's style and technique. Some people think you are going to need two or three frames. There are many exciting developments in frames these days including the Hi/Lo style with 2 84mm wheels under the heels and 3 80mm's up front; there are the new 5 x 82mm and 5 x 84mm frames; and there is even a 12.8" frame taking 4 84mm's. Capital Racing has been testing all these styles of frames. See us at a race for more details.

The Women's Race: The women's race also saw alot of new faces in the pack today. No one would attack for the first half of the race so Capital Racing's Ashley Camper decided it was time to make her move. Ashley made a break at the top of the hill and one skater came with her. Ashley led most of the laps of the breakaway, including the bell lap and she still took the finish on the final sprint.

Men's Intermediate Race: Capital Racing's David Rao took second with CR's Joey Manasseh in third.

Note: This report will be completed and pictures added soon, check back for updates..