Flathead made an excellent showing last weekend in Frenchtown. A much nicer new course with perfect weather made for a fast race.
In the 1-3 class Clint Mulfeld sprinted with a select lead pack of fast guys from around the northwest. He finished 4th, and from where I stood, he would have finished third if they had allowed for both lanes to be used in the sprint. A great finish none-the-less for a tall skinny mountain bike dude!! Russ road strongly as well, but was plagued by two flats.
In the fairly large Masters 4/5 group. Matt and Wake (cat. 3 in actuality) finished 1st and 3rd respectively in the final sprint. Jason finished in the lead group as well, but got tangled up in a crash. Walt also was in the lead group and finished well (maybe even won) in the Masters class. I, as usual, flatted on the run-in, and watched the sprint from about 400 meters behind after chasing for four miles.
Flathead Cycling, a local competitive cycling club, is pleased with early season rankings as seen in the latest Montana Bicycle Racing Association (MBRA) Rankings released May, 5 2005 (montanacycling.org).
As a team, Flathead Cycling, currently ranks 2nd out of twelve USA Cycling registered teams in the state of Montana. Individual riders ranked in the top of their category (Cat.) include Clint Muhlfeld, ranked 1st in Cat. 1-2; Russ Schneider 3rd in the Cat. 3; Matt Butterfield 1st, Jason Keister 3rd, Wakefield Troy 4th in Cat. 4; and Walt Chauner 4th, David Landstrom 5th in Masters 40+.
Strong early season Montana Race Results boosted individual and team rankings. Races typically feature distances of 40-70 miles depending upon category with packs ranging from 15-40 riders in Tour de France-style road cycling.
In his first year of road racing Matt Butterfield has yet to finish worse than 4th in any race, dominating good-sized Cat. 4 packs of 20-40 racers in each event. In the Cat. 1-2, Clint Muhfeld has been in the winning break in every Montana race thus far.
At Rocky Mountain Roubaix in Missoula, Matt Butterfield in his second ever road race took 1st in the Cat. 4 field, while Clint Muhlfeld took 4th in the Cat. 1-2, Wakefield Troy took 3rd and Jason Keister 6th in Cat. 4, and Walt Chauner placing 2nd and David Landstrom 4th in the 40+.
In the Helena Primavera Race #1, Russ Schneider took 4th in the Cat 1, 2, 3 field and 3rd of Cat. 3 finishers. Matt Butterfield placed 2nd in Cat. 4 with Jason Keister taking 4th.
In the Helena Primavera Race #2, Clint Muhlfeld took 2nd in the Cat. 1-2; Russ Schneider took 4th in the Cat. 3; Jason Keister took 2nd, Matt Butterfield took 3rd, and Wakefield Troy took 4th in the Cat. 4 field;
In the cold and windy Feeley-Melrose Road Race near Dillon. Clint Muhlfeld took 2nd in the Cat. 1-2; Matt Butterfield took 4th in the Cat. 4; Dave Landstrom took 3rd, Walt Chauner 4th, and Rich Graves 5th in the 40+ field.
Flathead Cycling is proud to host the MBRA State Championships June 11, with the 3rd Annual Star Meadows Road Race. This year’s race will feature a team trophy competition and an awards ceremony and barbeque following the race at Glacier Cyclery in Whitefish. For more information, visit the team website at flatheadcycling.org. Flathead Cycling wishes to thank the continued sponsorship of Neon Next, Glacier Cyclery, Oasis Environmental, Tim Murphy State Farm, Pin & Cue, and Sun Road Cycles.
In the 4s Matt and Jason got nipped at the line for 2nd and 4th respectively and road aggressively all day. Jay rode strong, but Bill had some tough luck in the Masters field. On Saturday, I (Russ) suffered from a lack of teammates, but was able to take the bunch sprint with a 3-man break away for 4th.
Clint road a very strong and smart race and just about got the win in the 2-3, just taking 2nd in a very windy attacking field. I got spanked the second time up the hill with heavy legs and a heavy bike.
In the 4s, Matt and Jason helped drop most of the field and then sprinted for 2,3 Wakefield showed up to help them and easily took 4th behind Jason and Matt. In the Masters, both Bill and Jay had stronger races finishing 9th and 10th respectively.
In the overall, of note in the 2/3, Clint got 5th overall after only racing one day and I managed 6th overall. In the 4s Matt and Jason got 2nd and 3rd overall (I guess they let the same guy outsprint them two days in a row. And Wakefield got 7th for one good day of racing.
Kudos to all who braved the sun and wind of good old Helena.