13 October 2002 - Felton, California

The 2002 Surf City CycloCross series opened with a bang Sunday with 365 competitors enjoying early fall sunshine in the redwoods north of Santa Cruz. Northern California’s premier series saw Ben Jacques-Maynes (Elite Men), Rachel Lloyd (Elite Women), and Mark Noble (Masters) score their first victories of the season on a very dry and dusty course at San Lorenzo Valley school grounds.

Jacques-Maynes and his Spokesmen/Santa Cruz teammate Justin Robinson were clearly the dominant team and rocketed to a 30 second lead on the first lap, pushing to almost 1 minute at the start of lap 2. Robinson flatted high in the redwoods during lap 3 and the subsequent delay and bike change took him out of the running. He spent the final 40 minutes chasing Jacques-Mayne and eventually holding off ageless wonder Larry Hibbard for 2nd place. In the opening race of the NorCal season at Prunedale October 6th, Robinson scored his first victory of the season over the Clif Bar team of Jackson Stewart, Andy J-M, and David Wyandt. Ben, who with his twin brother Andy dominated the US Intercollegiate championships in May, competed with Robinson for the US at St. Michelsgestel in 2000’s World Championships and have teamed up for the season aiming for the US National Championships at Napa Valley’s Domaine Chandon winery in December. Their 2002 Spokesmen uniforms pay tribute to another season goal - Monopoli, Italy - site of the next CycloCross World Championships. U-23 Matt Dubberly (Sierra Nevada) followed Hibbard 30 seconds later to finish 4th while SyCip’s John Funke earned his best-ever position in Northern California’s premier ‘Cross series in 5th. In the entire 59 rider starting field, “Mountain Larry” was the only rider who chose a mountain bike.

Rachel Lloyd (Team Spine/Santa Cruz) was very nervous in her first ‘Cross race of the season, unsure of her cardio fitness levels after campaigning most of 2002 on the NORBA downhill circuit. Her apprehensions disappeared on a fast 1st lap that saw Christine Vardaros (SallySpicer.com) emerge as her chief competitor. Vardaros, an alternate for last year’s World’s team who made the trip to Zolder, eventually finished 3rd to pro mountain biker Shari Kain (RLX Polo Sport) . Kain, a former National Champ from the pre-Dunlap era, just returned to competition this season after maternity leave and had a miserable start. In 10th place after lap 1, she made a strong charge to eventually catch and pass Vardaros on the penultimate lap to finish 2nd.

The Master’s field saw a tremendous battle between Camarillo’s Mark Noble and Todd Hoefer (Another Bike Shop) as they dueled until the last lap. Noble pulled away on the final run through the redwoods and then worked his way through lapped riders on the baseball fields to win the day’s closest race by 10 seconds over Hoefer, the 2001 30+ National Champion. Sacramento’s Rich Maile (Clif Bar/Bianchi) finished 3rd place after chasing the duo relentlessly.

Next course in the 4-race series will feature the Santa Cruz County fairgrounds with Northern Califonia’s most famous climb - a near vertical brute that’s tough when dry and near impossible when wet.