2024 Rusch Park Day 2 “A” Race Recap
Race 6 of the Sacramento Cyclocross Series was a mirrored second day course at Rusch Community Park in Citrus Heights, with just a few tweaks to the obstacles in racers way. What was a course that featured downhills into corners and straights, now had racers wanting to carry every bit of momentum into and through each turn. This made for an exciting course that felt extremely fast between the tape, and left few places to recover.
The Men’s field saw the return of yesterday’s winner Michael Machado (Coureur Monterey Bay) and third place Michael Dietrich, with the addition of two wild-cards from the singlespeed crew Cole Kersey and Noah Goldrup who would surely shake things up with a different strategy. From the gun, Dietrich, despite a second row start, led after the first corner and muscled his way to an impressive lead just partially through the first lap. Machado responded but Dietrich’s pace was unmatched through the first half of the lap. The two single speeders, Kersey and Goldrup, mashed their way into third and fourth spot into lap two with Bradley Wiggs (Voler Factory Racing) closely chasing.
Machado would make contact again with Dietrich at the start of lap three, taking the lead by the end of the lap and the two would become inseparable. Machado would try to pull away in the finesse areas but this course always followed with a power section which suited Dietrich well.
In the race for the final podium spot, Cole Kersey and Bradley Wiggs would drop Noah Goldrup, and stay together until the end of the lap when Wiggs could use the gearing advantage on a long gradual downhill into the finish stretch to get a gap and then hold it through the courses separated Belgian stair/ramp corner section.
Machado and Dietrich were the racers to watch, matching each other perfectly until the final lap when Dietrich crashed in a drying off camber corner while riding Machado’s wheel. That incident would determine the race, with Machado riding clear and Dietrich remounting in time to stay clear of the chasing Wiggs to finish 2nd. Wiggs was able to hold off the single speed consistency of Cole Kersey for 3rd for his first podium of the season.
In the Women’s Race, the race favorite Julie Young (Julie Young Training) took to the front early but with Megan Brinkmeyer (Quodapp) on her wheel well into lap two. Young would start to pull away on the second half of the lap and the two would ride alone but without mistakes all the way to their 1-2 finishes to match Day 1’s results.
Caetie Ofiesh (Ornot) was the contender for third place after lap one, with Lindsay Wetzel Polin (Team Feral Catz) always waiting to pounce on a mistake. But Ofiesh would ride strong and clean throughout the race, keeping the gap comfortable to to Polin until the finish keeping six seconds clear.
Men’s Top 10 Results:
1st – Michael Machado (Coureur Monterey Bay)
2nd – Michael Dietrich
3rd – Bradley Wiggs (Voler Factory Racing)
4th – Cole Kersey
5th – John Borstelmann
6th – Noah Goldrup
7th – Justin Robinson (Santa Cruz Factory Racing)
8th – Owen Gillette (Sonora FBC)
9th – Will Gregor (Reno Devo)
10th – Paul Bourcier (Elliston Coaching)
Women’s Results:
1st – Julie Young (Julie Young Training)
2nd – Megan Brinkmeyer (Quodapp)
3rd – Caetie Ofiesh (Ornot)
4th – Lindsay Wetzel Polin (Team Feral Catz)
5th – Emily Funk
Click here for full race results. Racing resumes for the series on November 23rd at Lembi Park in Folsom. Schedule info available at: www.saccyclocross.com