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Wednesday 25 June 2008  John Trujillo upgrades to Cat 1Karl Kupecz On Wednesday June 25 2008 - 14:51:51 | Monday 23 June 2008 Velossimo represents Jack and Adam's Bicycles at AT&T Criterium     Velossimo had a great weekend of racing in several categories over the weekend. The AT&T Criterium was an NRC (National Racing Calendar) event this year and drew some of the top professional men and women in the USA to Austin, Texas.John Trujillo got 2nd in the Men's Cat 1-2-3 race on Saturday and followed that up with a win on Sunday at the eRacing Stigma Criterium. Trujillo should have his points for a Cat 1 upgrade now. Nice job John! In the Men's Cat 1-2-3 race on Saturday, the team wanted to try and get Trujillo the win. They sent several riders to the front and attacked to keep control of the chasing peleton. Strong performances were put in early on by Draye Redfern, Colten Jarisch, and Steve Brandt. Chris Trickey and Marc Bergeron both put in strong performances to help out the team and keep things in check. Loren Dodsen also put in a lot of early work keeping Trujillo close for the finish. All of the early attacks were eventually brought back by several teams looking to put their riders in contention. Erick Benz of AT&T launched a late attack and quickly got a 10 second time gap. Velossimo quickly organized a chase with 5 riders at the front of the peleton to reel in Benz and try to set it up for Trujillo. Going into the final turn Joseph LaFico had the gap and powered thru to take the victory with a hard-charging Trujill taking 2nd place. Madison Prado represented the Velossimo women for the weekend in the Cat 4 women's race on Saturday and then in the Women's Open Pro race on Sunday. Karl Kupecz and John McAllister represented the team in the final race of the evening in the Pro 1 race. Several of the top racers in the USA descended on Austin to take part in the Austin AT&T crit which is part of the USA Cycling series. Teams included Rock Racing who brought a full team of 9 riders including Tour de France racer Tyler Hamilton. Michael Ball also attended and gave the audience some final words before the race kicked off. Other teams included Colivita-Sutter Home, Toyota-United, and Jelly Belly plus many other regional and local teams. Other Velossimo racers over the weekend included Tyruss Cramer (Cat 4), Carl Graf (Cat 5), Sammy Legge (Cat 3), John Hatlelid (Cat 2), and Jordan Nguyen (Cat 4). 
Tuesday 17 June 2008 Velossimo's Madison Prado only female to attend USA Cycling Developmental Camp
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| Posted by Karl Kupecz on Tuesday June 17 2008 - 16:51:52 |    |
Monday 16 June 2008
Matrix Criterium WeekendKarl Kupecz On Monday June 16 2008 - 09:15:46 |
Wednesday 28 May 2008
Teammates Draye Redfern and Colton Jarisch "Shake and Bake" the Cat 3 Dallas crit weekend
Young Cat 3 bucks Draye Redfern and Colton Jarisch put the hammer down all weekend in Dallas. Velossimo dominated the Cat 3 weekend, winning 2 of the 3 events! Draye went 2nd, 2nd,1st while Colton scored a win and was a player in every race which is amazing given the state level talent and stacked fields.During team warmups prior to Saturday's Gary Glickman Memorial Crit, Colton stressed to the team about being aggressive saying "there's no reason we shouldn't be winning given our strength and numbers!" In searing 100 degree Dallas dog day summer heat and humidity, Colton, Draye and Tomek Baginski made the final break of the day 55 minutes into the 1:15 race - less than 1/3rd of the starters remained by this point. Colton attacked the break group with 3 laps to go and dictated an unchaseable pace that held the group at bay for his first Cat 3 win. Draye "Cavendish" Redfern won the group sprint with Tomek holding on to 4th before being relegated to 9th for an illegal feed with teammate Jamey Munroe surviving, just barely, on his own for a "Finisher" T-shirt!
Draye "Cavendish" repeated his sprinting exploits at GS Tenzing crit Sunday, besting the field sprint for 2nd place (winner was on solo breakaway), with Tomek, Jamey, Stephen Crawford and Colton snagging Top 25 results. Another notable achievement was Marco Corsi finishing his first Cat 3 race on his first post-upgrade weekend - good job hanging in there Marco!
At Monday's State Crit Championship in Fort Worth, Colton, Draye and Tomek were the lone Velossimo survivors given tired legs and a blistering pace on an unforgiving course. As the peleton was discussing prior to the start, "If you win on this course, you are the real deal for sure!" Colton went with a move by Alex Lewis/Bike Barn at the midway point of the 75 minute race, but decided it was too early in the race to make that move. With 30 minutes to go, Draye attacked the chase group and began a bridge. With agony registering all over his face, he successfully closed a 30 second gap over the course of 5 laps - a strong P12 move for sure. Once safely in the draft, Draye recovered while Colton and Tomek rode tempo at the front of the peleton.
With 2 laps to go, Tomek crashed on a fast, hard right hand turn, that unfortunately saw him and a few other racers go down with him. The gap closed to 15 seconds in the final lap as Draye and Alex dueled over who would lead into the final stretch. As they dragstripped it home, those of us watching knew "Cavendish" would pull out the sprint winning for himself and Velossimo the 2008 Texas Cat 3 State Championship!!!
When asked how he made that bridge Draye modestly responsed, "if it had taken me one more lap to bridge up, I wouldn't have made it" but make it he did and the rest is history!Congratulations Draye on your State Jersey and Colton on your impressive win! You guys were very impressive this weekend and we'll all be anxiously watching as you continue to make your mark on the Texas racing scene!
| Posted by Karl Kupecz on Wednesday May 28 2008 - 12:45:53 | |
Saturday 24 May 2008
Dodson second at Glickman CritKarl Kupecz On Saturday May 24 2008 - 19:56:36 |
Tuesday 20 May 2008
Velossimo Racing visits Center Valley Elementary School
A few members from Velossimo Racing team recently stopped by Center Valley Elementary School in Russellville, Arkansas while they were in town for the Tour of Arkansas stage race. Velossimo talked to Kindergarten-4th graders about bicycle safety as well as bike racing. Team director Karl Kupecz said "we are fortunate enough to have met some really great people up in Russellville the past two years. Our host family, Kim Meatheany, is a specialty focus teacher at Center Valley and mentioned that it would be great if we could swing by and say hello to the kids. We immediately jumped at the chance and decided it would be fun to talk to them about bikes and even do a short mock race for the kids to give them a taste of what bike racing is all about. The school also donated some money for two new bicycles and helmets to use as a giveaway which got the kids really excited."
Karl Kupecz started off the afternoon by giving a brief introduction about the team to over 400 students outside and then got them to cheering "Go Go Velossimo!" As the cheers reached a deafening roar, three Velossimo riders (Steve Brandt, Mario Arroyave, and John McAllister) came racing around from behind the school and did a few laps around the playground parking lot in a mock-style race. The riders then spent the next 30 minutes talking to the kids about the importance of bicycle safety, helmets, and traffic. "I stressed the importance that they should always let their parent know when they are riding and where they are going. Bike safety should be a responsibility of both the parents and the kids" said Kupecz.
The event culminated with the giveaway of the new bicycles and helmets to 2nd grader Andrew (teacher Megon Oliver) and 3rd grader Abraham (teacher Alisha Cooper). The kids then got to hang around and ask questions to the riders about bicycles and racing. "This may have to become an annual event. The kids are still asking if you're coming back to school. They loved it" said Mrs. Meatheany.
| Posted by Karl Kupecz on Tuesday May 20 2008 - 09:07:40 | |
Wednesday 14 May 2008
Racing at Joe MartinKarl Kupecz On Wednesday May 14 2008 - 20:07:12 |
Wednesday 30 April 2008
Loren Dodson places 2nd on final day at Gila; secures 4th overall in GCKarl Kupecz On Wednesday April 30 2008 - 16:17:07 |
Friday 18 April 2008
Karl Kupecz upgrades to Cat 1Karl Kupecz On Friday April 18 2008 - 17:24:42 |
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