Congratulations Marc!
BIKEREG.COM MABRACROSS DECLARES ITS CHAMPIONS
Wittwer, Shogren and Gwadz win Elite Crowns
Press Contact Information: BikeReg.com MABRAcross Cyclocross Series
Ken Getchell, Media Director: kenmacpr@yahoo.com; 610-397-1950
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 19, 2007, 2007; Conshohocken, PA, USA: The BikeReg.com MABRAcross series celebrated its most successful season ever in 2007, with average attendance at each event growing by over 20% for the fourth consecutive year. Excitement is already building for 2008 as at least two new races, DCCX and Rockburn Cross, are expected to join the series next year.
Of course, cyclocross is all about riders, and the most successful riders were the new Elite Champions: Greg Wittwer, Betsy Shogren and Marc Gwadz. Shogren and Gwadz won three races apiece to dominate the Elite Women and the new Elite Masters classes, respectively. Meanwhile, Greg Wittwer took the opposite approach and used consistency to squeak out the season title from Wes Schempf in the last race.
It was a season of transition for the MABRA men as, for the first time, world-class professional talent started lining up next to the regional stars. Former Italian National Team member and newly-crowned Verge MAC Champion Davide Frattini (Colavita/Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) opened the season with a win at the season-opening Charm City Cyclocross. Wes Schempf (C3-Sollay.com), the 2006 Verge MAC Champion and BikeReg.com MABRAcross runner-up out-dueled mountain bike superstar Jeremiah Bishop (Trek/VW) for victory at the Ed Sander Memorial, while Bishop scored the victory at the Tacchino Cicliocross in November. But local talent Wittwer (FORT Factory Team) snookered all the outsiders by quietly scoring points in nearly every race. His third place finish on Thanksgiving weekend clinched the BikeReg.com MABRAcross jersey with just three points to spare.
While Wittwer won with quiet consistency, his FORT Factory teammate Betsy Shogren dominated the Elite Womens series standings to win her second BikeReg.com
MABRAcross championship. The three-time Verge MAC champion had previously dabbled in MABRA races. But the rapidly growing profile of the series, and its proximity to her home in West Virginia, made the championship an enticing target. The BikeReg.com MABRAcross championship capped-off an excellent year for Shogren, who also scored a perfect score en-route to victory in the pro/elite division of the heavily-attended West Virginia Mountain Bike Series and set a new course record while winning the Wilderness 101 ultra endurance mountain bike race.
Like Shogren, Marc Gwadz (DCMTB/City Bikes/Metro Gutter) scored three victories to win the new Elite Masters crown. Like many series in the East, the huge number of Masters participants was threatening to overwhelm courses and organizers. But unlike other series, MABRA elected to have their Elite Masters race for a full 60 minutes in conjunction with the Elite Men. Gwadz was a busy man this Autumn as, in addition to winning the series, he was also the promoter of the first year DCCX race on the grounds of the Armed Services Retirement Home. The DCCX was the first sanctioned cyclocross race ever held within the limits of Washington DC and Gwadz aspires to have his event join the BikeReg.com MABRAcross Series in 2008.
Other riders to win BikeReg.com MABRAcross Championship Jerseys were:
Randy Root, of ABRT/Latitude in the Cat. 1/2/3 Masters 45+ division
Nunzio Dibiasi of Yellow Breeches Racing in the Masters 55+ division
Eric Linder of Hunt Valley Bicycles/Marathon Roofing in the Mens Cat. 3/4 division
Sam OKeefe of C3-Sollay.com in the MABRA Junior (U18) division
OKeefe also led a contingent of no fewer than seven BikeReg.com MABRAcross regulars who stood on the podium at this past weekends U.S. National Cyclocross Championships. Joining OKeefe (4th in the 13-14 age division) as National Championship podium finishers were:
Rob Lea, 2nd 65-69 age division
Wes Schempf, 3rd 30-35 age division
Mark Kutney 2nd 50-54 age division
Fred Wittwer, 1st 55-59 age division
Alicia Styer, 3rd 10-12 age division
Gunnar Shogren, 3rd 45-49 age division
Full standings for all classes in the 2007 BikeReg.com MABRAcross Series can be found in the cyclocross section of www.mabra.org. The Mid Atlantic Bicycle Racing Association would like to thank BikeReg.com for the continued support and streamlined registration for the ever-growing rider base in the MABRA region.
Capital Cross
This was the final race of the season for most of the team. DCMTB / CityBikes had a good turnout at the race. Marc Gwadz coming off his Marbra champinionship win where he was 1st for the Mabra series 35+ and 1st in the DC/Maryland in his age group. Marc was racing masters, but with the MAC confrence being UCI most of the masters that usual race elite raced in the regular Elite masters catagory. Marc still had a solid race, but one of his mabra rivals got the best of him again. From Marc,“I was in a 3 person group with berni shiao- we were able first to distance ourselves from a large chasing group (Chris scott, Roger Masse, Randle Root, etc), then on the last lap I made a push to drop the others as we hit the berm before the dam. Mike Birner fell off the pace but Berni Shiao counter-attacked got a couple second gap on me with 1/4 th lap to go and held it the line.” Chris Clarke was racing the Masters B race with Mark Drajem. Mark and Chris both road some smooth races and were competitive out on the circuit. Chris felt his legs were a little sluggish and he summed it with,“It’s hard to believe I could get so old without realizing I was so slow.” Ilanna Knopf was able to withstand the cold and finish Top 10 in the women’s B field. In the Mens C race there was the DCMTB / CityBikes Trio of Loren Mcwethy, Kent Baake, and Darren Biggs they had all registered the day of so had to start at the back in about 60th position. There were three different stories brewing there, Kent riding the mt. bike with cross tires doing his first CX race, Loren the young buck coming into form and riding his new $$$ cross bike, and Darren deciding to race at the last minute on pure skill, not his form. Kent was the only racer in the C field to go over the log on the run up. Doing that got the crowd fired up, so he went for broke and tried to bunny hop the barriers which wasn’t as successful but got the crowd fired up none the less and he achieved his goal of having a good time. Darren got a fast start and Loren was able to bridge to him and the DCMTB / CityBikes Duo was able to drop two pursuing riders. In the finishing straight Loren was about 200yds in front of Darren, and Darren was able to catch Loren at the line. Some might say Darren punked him, but Darren believes he gave Loren a lesson on always finishing strong even when you think you got the gap 
For More details on Darrens race and Pics check his blog
Elite Masters
13 Marc Gwadz
B-Masters
12 Chris Clarke
32 Mark Drajem
B-Women
10 Ilanna Knopf
C-Men
7 Darren Biggs
8 Loren Mcwethy
14 Kent Baake