Sean Kickbush won the second edition of Crop Circle Cross with a tremendous start. His middle and end were also strong. It wasn’t nearly as close as it looked, and it didn’t look that close. Defending Crop Circle Cross champion Cody Sovis floundered in the wake of a storming Kickbush, with Spencer Nemechek battling hard for third.
Larry Brownell won the UFO race, a nice result after only learning about the race after seeing people milling around in the field on his road ride. He sprinted home, grabbed a mountain bike and came back just in time to slide into the start queue. He built up a big lead on lap one and cruised for lap two, while one of the most exciting fights of the day raged behind. Sanda Dunn and Kirk Rainney were never more than a bike length or two apart for the full 30 minutes of the day’s first race. Sandra was unstoppable on the climbs, with Kirk weaving and descending like mad to close the gaps that opened over the top of the rolling hills. The unforgiving grass promised that riders would never take an easy pedal stroke.
Coming into the final 200 meters, Rainney just barely overcooked an off camber turn at the bottom of the last short, steep climb before 30 meters of flat. Sandra nailed the turn and was out of the saddle to get away. The pair finished an arm’s length apart with Sandra second. Katie Tomczyk and Don Morsh rounded out the top five on the day.
In the A-Lien Race, Kickbush’s great first lap cancelled out the normal Sovis holeshot. Nemechek was second after a half a lap, with Sovis scrambling in 3rd. As Kickbush pulled cleared, Sovis made it past Nemechek for second as his teammate, Craig Fortuna, circled the wagons and began to turn his attentions to Kyle C. and Nemechek. Kickbush eventually built a lead of over six minutes, easily taking the win. Sovis was forced to settle for first place cyclocross bike, but Nemechek was the rider of the day, battling hard from the gun right to the very end.
The second Crop Circle Cross is slated for 3pm on October 18, cheekily placed in the vacant spot formerly occupied by Crystal Cross. You can stay up to date on Crop Circle Cross Numero Duh here.