Midwest Regional Championship 2008
For two straight years, the
Wisconsin WORS Series has dominated the Midwest Regional Championship and 2008 was no exception!
This year WORS captured four top
spots and 5 second place finishes to lead the MRC with
just 17 points. Jake Begley of Spring Street Sports took first in Sport Men
19-24, Nate Jasperson of
Performa Cycling, 1st in Sport Men 25-29, Greg Jones of Hayes Disc Brakes, 1st
among Sport Men 40-43, and 17 year old Murphy Kate Montee,
placed first in all women 12-18, 34 minutes ahead of second place, led the WORS
Series this year! Putting an exclamation point on the day, WORS Series
Director, Don Edberg, placed fourth in his division.
OhioŐs OMBC Series, for the
first time ever, moved ahead of the Michigan Tailwind Series this year and
moved closer than ever to the WORS Series by garnering second place with just
37 points. OMBC was led by 18 year
old Christopher Spring of Zanesville, racing for Trek Ohio, who capped off his
undefeated record in the OMBC Series as the only OMBC representative to win his
division at the Iceman his year. However, OMBC benefited from an improved team
score, taking many other top ten spots, including second place finishes by Cato
Coleman, Trek Ohio, Sport Men 30-33, and, 14 year old rising star Lindsey Prososki, Gary Fisher/RayŐs MTB, in all women 12-18, that
helped the series improve its ranking significantly in 2008.
Last yearŐs battle for second
place was between Ohio and Michigan, with victory going to the Michigan
Tailwind Series. However, in 2008, the battle was fought for 3rd
place between MichiganŐs Tailwind Series and IndianaŐs DINO Series with just 3
points separating 3rd and 4th place. In the end, Indiana snatched
victory by the smallest margin ever, giving DINO its best MRC finish ever!
DINO was led by 33 year old
Sonny Morroco of Indianapolis who captured the only 1st
place finish for DINO in Beginner Men 30-34. Chad Salla,
of Winona Lake, placed 2nd in the MenŐs Singlespeed
39 & under. DINO also improved its overall score by seizing three other
fourth place finishes that helped the series slip past the former #2 Michigan.
MichiganŐs Tailwind Series
was led this year by 66 year old Neil Scharphorn Sr.
of Cross Country Cycle, who captured MichiganŐs only first place finish in All
Men 65+. 29 year old David Riemenschneider of Auburn
Hills helped his team score by placing 2nd in Beginner Men 25-29 as
well as third place finishes by Bryan Underwood, Cycletherapy
Racing, in Expert Men 15-18 and Adam Naish,
Bloomingdale Construction, in Sport Men 30-33.
KentuckyŐs KYMBA Series has
struggled each year to send enough representatives to be competitive, however,
despite having just 6 of the 10 required minimum representatives resulting in a
team penalty of 80 points, 20 for each missing representative, KYMBA improved
their score this year led by 23 year old Ray Smith who placed 5th in
Beginner Men 19-24 and Mark French who placed 10th in Sport Men
47-49.
Final Standings:
| 1. | Wisconsin/Illinois WORS: | 17 |
| 2. | Ohio OMBC: | 37
|
| 3. | Indiana DINO | 55 |
| 4. | Michigan Tailwind | 58 |
| 5. | Kentucky KYMBA | 188 |