March 14/05 3:55 am - Kabush Wins Two in Texas, Birthday

Posted by Editoress on 03/14/05
 

Outback Blowout Waco, TX
Courtesy Team Maxxis

What a difference a week can make! Team Maxxis rolled north to Waco Texas for the Highland Outback Blowout UCI E1 event. After all the mud and rain in Tapatio, sun and warmth were welcome and appreciated ˆ good racing weather and good sun to work on our tans.

Although a smaller attended event, Saturday's E1 race was brutally difficult and highly competitive. The Maxxis duo of Geoff Kabush and Mathieu Toulouse were joined on the starting line by Trent Lowe and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher), Andreas Hestler and Martin Lazarski (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects), Jason Sager (San Jose) and the entire U-23 US National Team to make for exciting racing. From the starting whistle Kabush rolled to the front along with the Subaru-Gary Fisherites and Sager. Toulouse held his own in no-mans land yo-yoing back and forth across the gap. With four laps of an unrelenting 6.2-mile course and over 1020 feet of climbing per lap, the athletes looked to pace themselves and to keep plenty of energy in reserve for the finale. Through the singletrack climbs and into the "bobsled" descents, Kabush and the leaders increased their gap, working together efficiently and holding off all chasers. After three blistering laps, the lead group had dwindled to two ˆ Kabush and JHK with Lowe just about 30 seconds off the pace and Toulouse overtaking Sager for the fourth position. Kabush turned a quick thirty-second final lap to take a solo victory, celebrating with an unusual "sprinkler" winner's salute. Trent Lowe overtook his teammate for the silver, JHK in the bronze position, Mat Toulouse in fourth and Sager hauling in the final podium spot.

An unexpected opportunity to race on the following Sunday was offered to the riders. The TMBRA Series Points Race featured a similar course with even more climbing but fewer laps. Once again, Kabush, Toulouse/b>, JHK and Sager took to the line as many of their fellow competitors chose so sit out the day. Once again, Kabush and crew launched off the line and drove the pace up the climbs and down the sketchy descents. With three laps on tap, the hometown hero Sager eventually drove his way to the front with Kabush and JHK on his wheel and Toulouse dangling 15 seconds back. Two-thirds of the way through the race, things were status quo with Kabush monitoring the front and conserving energy wherever he could. Somewhere in the latter end of the event, Sager popped off the front as Kabush and JHK throttled up their speed. Along the finishing straight, Kabush held a 50-meter advantage as JHK tried in vain to overtake the lanky Canadian. At the line Kabush gave his "basketball free throw" victory salute making the weekend a clean sweep of two for two. JHK sprinted to the silver medal with Sager in third and Toulouse in fourth.

Saturday UCI E1 Results
1. Geoff Kabush ˆ Team Maxxis
2. Trent Lowe ˆ Subaru-Gary Fisher
3. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski ˆ Subaru-Gary Fisher
4. Mathieu Toulouse ˆ Team Maxxis
5. Jason Sager ˆ San Jose

Sunday Outback Blowout Results
1. Geoff Kabush ˆ Team Maxxis
2. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski ˆ Subaru-Gary Fisher
3. Jason Sager ˆ San Jose
4. Mathieu Toulouse - Team Maxxis
5. Takahiro Ogasawara ˆ Subaru-Gary Fisher


Happy Birthday to........ Charles Dionne, celebrating today.