October 2/16 18:53 pm - KMC Cross Fest: Day 1

Posted by Editoress on 10/2/16
 

Compton and Hyde Dominate Day 1 of KMC Cross Fest
Day one of racing at KMC Cross Fest was defined by muddy, Belgian-like conditions. With steep off-cambers and slick conditions the course made for challenging and exciting racing at the new race venue of Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. Katie Compton motored away to win the Elite Women’s race beating out U23 winner Ellen Noble who took second. Stephen Hyde took the victory in the Men’s race over Jamie Driscoll and Kerry Warner.

Women
After racing the Madison of Cyclo-cross Friday night under the lights, Compton came into the day with a good sense of the course and made her move early on in the race. “On the second lap I had a bit of a gap after the sand drop and so i just tried to keep the pressure on and go hard and make Ellen chase. It worked out well, the course is awesome, I really enjoy racing at a race car track. I think it all came together. I’m feeling fit and feeling better as the season progresses,” stated Compton.

Second place Ellen Noble claimed the U23 win. Noble commented on her ride “I really tried to ride my own pace but stay pretty close to Katie’s wheel but eventually she got away from me.” Holding on for the podium Noble stayed ahead of a charging Rebecca Fahringer. “I tried to keep the pressure on and go absolutely as hard as I can and understand that mistakes happen. This season has just been a lot of learning very quickly but I’m super happy with second and being on another UCI podium.”

Ruby West (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld.com) was top Canadian finishing tenth at  3:52 back
 
Elite Men
Stephen Hyde continued his successes tonight with a commanding win over Jamie Driscoll and Kerry Warner. After the race Hyde spoke about his ride and his teammates. “It feels good, I’m having fun racing this year, I’m really happy with my teammates riding well. I felt good.” After riding together with teammate Curtis White for some time, Hyde eventually slipped away. “At one point I was just going at a little faster than Curtis wanted to go and I wanted to get a really good practice in on this course in the slick.”

Second place Driscoll  rode a steady pace throughout the race. “I had a good consistent race and didn’t fade and was able to move through people that did and hold that gap until the end.” On the new Thompson Speedway course Driscoll painted the scene as a race of extremes. “It was really cool to have that high consequence Euro-style features in the race tonight, that was cool and very rare for the U.S.”

Jeremy Martin (Focus CX Team Canada) was top Canadian in fourteenth at 2:03 back.

The Elite Juniors took to the course in cold and dark conditions. The winner came from the last row of the starting grid, Denzel Stephenson and was the only rider to bunny hop the barriers each lap of the race.  Gunnar Holmgren (Garneau Easton) finished second just  7 seconds back.

Day 1 results