Pro CX: Dual Wins Vaults Werner to Top 3; Kemmerer Gets Boost with Two Podiums

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 24, 2017) — Dry and mild conditions continued for a seventh weekend of competitions for the Professional Cyclocross Calendar (ProCX) Oct. 21-22 in the nation’s capital for DCCX. An 11th year of racing at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in metro Washington, D.C. kicked up the dried leaves, dust and the Top 10 of the ProCX points standings with Category 2 races for elite women and men.

Kerry Werner (Birdsboro, Penn./Kona Factory CX Team) swept the weekend for the Elite Men, logging his fourth consecutive DCCX win and his third ProCX victory of the season. He earned 70 ProCX points to jump into third place overall for the calendar. The ProCX leaders, Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz, Calif./Santa Cruz/Donkey Label Racing) and Stephen Hyde (Easthampton, Mass./Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com), rested with enough points to retain overall first-place and second-place standings, respectively.

“Winning two days in a row is obviously a little bit of a confidence booster, it lets me know that I'm on the right track and where I'm supposed to be,” said Werner on Sunday after his second win of the weekend. His first win of the ProCX season was at the start of the season in early Sept. at Rochester Cyclocross.

In addition to Werner’s two victories, the DCCX podium for Elite Men starred repeat performances for the silver and bronze positions. Anthony Clark (Feeding Hills, Mass./Squid Bikes) would use his back-to-back second-place finishes to move from 19th to 11th position in the ProCX standings. The next biggest mover was Tristan Cowie (Mills River, N.C./Triple Oaks Racing), who would jump six places to 16th overall by securing third place both days in D.C.

For the Elite Women, Arley Kemmerer (Palmerton, Penn./Fearless Femme Racing) used a solo attack on Saturday to claim her first ProCX victory of the season, Along with a second-place finish on Sunday, she earned 65 ProCX points to move up to eighth overall. Cassandra Maximenko (Watertown, Conn./VanDessel/Atom Composite Wheels) used consistent finishes at DCCX (third and sixth) to move into the Top 10.

“I've always liked this course. This is a great place to have a race because it has more features that you would think, there are a lot of ways to utilize the area,” said Kemmerer, who added a third career DCCX title to the ones from 2009 and 2010. A crash coupled with a mechanical and flat tire kept her from a fourth win on Sunday. “I like coming back here. It's a great event, the atmosphere is really awesome, so it makes it more manageable even if it doesn't go well as you wanted it to.”

The balance of the Top 10 for the Elite Women did not compete in D.C., keeping Kaitlin Keough (Racine, Wisc./Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) in the overall lead with 505 total points. Ellen Noble (Kennebunkport, Maine/Aspire Racing) continues in second and Crystal Anthony (Newbury Park, Calif./Maxxis-Shimano) is third.

Carla Williams was one of the big movers for the Elite Women, earning 55 points at DCCX with a win on Sunday and a fifth-place finish on Saturday. She jumped 31 positions to 24th overall in the standings. Jen Malik (Columbus, Ohio/American Classic Pro CX) and Allison Arensman (Brevard, N.C./J. A. King p/b BRC) gained points in D.C. to move into the Top 20. Malik, now 17th overall, had a second-place and a fifth-place finish, while Arensman had third-place and fourth-place honors.

ProCX will feature dual events Oct. 28-29 in the U.S. It is the 18th year for Highland Park Cyclocross (HPCX) in Jamesburg, N. J., making it the second longest-running UCI cyclocross event in the country. HPCX offers two days of C2 events for elite categories, and is the penultimate stop of the Mid Atlantic Cyclocross Series (10 events in four states). HPCX will also serve as the only cyclocross event in the state for the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference, with support from the Rutgers University Cycling Team.

Cincinnati Cyclocross Festival (Cincy CX), now in its 14th season, includes C1 and C2 events for Junior 17-18 Men, Elite Women and Elite Men. The first day of competition will take place in the amphitheater area of Devou Park in Covington, Ky. The second day will be held at T. William Harbin Park, in Fairfield, Ohio. This will be the third of four events for Elite riders earning points for the ShoAir US Cup-CX Series. Going into Cincy CX, Keough and Ortenblad were on top of the ShoAir US Cup-CX standings for women and men, respectively, vying for an expanded prize purse of $35,000.

Gage Hecht (Parker, Colo./Alpha Bicycle Co./Groove Subaru) leads ProCX in the U23 Men’s rankings and Benjamin Gomez Villafane (Scotts Valley, Calif./Top Club CycloCross) leads the Junior 17-18 Men’s rankings. The next ProCX points for Junior 17-18 Men will be contested as a C1 event at Cincinnati Cyclocross (Devou Park) on Oct. 28. The next ProCX points for U23 Men will be awarded at CXLA Weekend: Los Angeles on Nov. 18.

USA Cycling’s ProCX features the premier cyclocross events in America and uses an overall ranking system to determine the best individual male and female ‘cross racers over the course of the season. The 2017 ProCX schedule provides a total of 43 race days across 18 states and the District of Columbia. For information on the ProCX, visit www.usacycling.org/procx/. Follow Pro CX all season on Twitter - @USACProCX (#ProCX).