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Empire
Series Race 3, June 23-2002
Grant's
Tomb, New York, Harlem-
The
Course: Empire Speed's third race of the 2002
series was held on a smooth 1K loop with a steady sloping
uphill grade on half the loop and a fast downhill run and left
hand turn at the bottom of the loop. Before the race we heard a lot of
comments that this hill wasn't so bad; "you should see
A2A". Some even denied that it qualified as a
hill. When you have world class competition and you have
to climb it 15 or 20 times you will find out that it is in fact
a hill. If you fell back a little on the uphill you had to
sprint the downhill to catch the pack going 30+ mph. The
Pro-Masters 15K Race: After the under-12 race and
the advanced races, the Pro-Masters division began near noon on
the sunny and humid day. Doug Fessenden advised us that we
had a fast course and to not try to win it on the first downhill
turn. Dan Matchett decided, however, that the first time
up the hill was a good time for a breakaway and caught many of
us off-guard, except eventual winner Dennis Humphrey who wasn't
just going to let him go with EC Beast allies Jeff Foster and
Kevin Larson still in the pack. Humphrey will punish you
on the hilly courses and if you let him get away he'll finish
the race with the gap you give him. Dan Matchett had to
drop from the 2 man breakaway around lap 6 or 7 and Humphrey
built his gap further for the final 8 or 9 laps finishing 1st
against a top pack.
The Pro-Elite 20K Race: Empire Speed had at
least 12 skaters in this race with no other team having more
than one! Check out the pics
and see for yourself. From the start Empire threw
breakaways at the pack, many of which were reeled in by eventual
winner Stephen
Carter. Capital's Racing's Jose Escobar loves the hills and finished in the thick of the final
sprint in 5th place. Watch out for Jose in the Central
Park Marathon on August 11th.
Click
on the photos above to launch a slide show or pictures of
the series 3 race. For full results visit Empire
Speed.
Capital
Racing sponsor equipment used in this race included the Mogema
M55tr frame, Rudy Project Ekynox
glasses, K2 Mod X Pro
boots,
Hyper Hyperformance+G and Bank Robber wheels and Zero Drag
Ultimate bearings. Click any logo above for more
information or visit our sponsor page
or our store.
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