Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 1, 1993 TAG: 9306010049
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
With four laps left in the 45-lap Pro/Category 1-2 criterium through downtown Roanoke, Murray, Stephen Faust and Steve Sevener sprinted from a group of eight riders who led the field to form a breakaway pack.
The other two wanted to decelerate the pace. Murray didn't.
"I figured this is a good time if they're going to hesitate like this," he said. "I went for it. It worked. I had two teammates in the pack doing blocking for me."
Murray, a 24-year-old former college swimmer from Los Altos, Calif., who races for the Wheelsmith team, won by half a block. Greg Bamford of Columbus, Ohio, was second, followed by Dirk Pohlmann of Athens, Ga., Lloyd Tabing of Athens, Ga., and Steve Weber of Grafton, Wis.
Tabing and Weber were two of the Duckheads team's three professional riders. The other two pros - Saturn's high-profile Bob Mionske and Peter Stubenrauch - had less memorable rides. Each hung around near the lead at various points, but late in the race Mionske loitered back in the cluster before wrecking on the last lap. Stubenrauch couldn't crack the top pack and finished 11th.
"They were marked," said Murray, a Category 1 rider who won the $466 first-place money and another $180 in primes (pronounced "preems," $60 awards for leaders of certain laps). "We were marking them [saying] `They're not getting away by themselves because they'll stay there.' "
Mionske, a two-time Olympian, and Stubenrauch, a U.S. National Team member, could tell.
"I had a rough day. I just didn't feel very good. It was a hard race," Mionske said.
Said Stubenrauch, "You can only do so much. They'd chase us, but they wouldn't really chase the break. You kind of expect that. In some ways, races like this are harder for guys like Bob and I. We're the ones being keyed off of."
This was the first time the Roanoke race featured professional riders, but Mionske said there's not much difference between pros and Category 1 riders. The Pro/1-2 race drew 58 entries.
Races were run in six categories plus children's and public events on the 0.6-mile four-cornered course that covered parts of Church Avenue, Second Street, Franklin Road and Jefferson Street. Rain held off until the next-to-last race for Category 4 riders.
Mary Beth Grier of Williamsburg won the women's race; Jon Hamblen of Manassas won the juniors race; Mac Canon of Charlotte, N.C., won the Masters 35-over race; John Carliss of Roanoke won the Category 4; Michael Muskus of Burlington, N.C., won the Category 3; Ben Nielson won the public age 9-14; Edward Shepherd of Roanoke won the public 15-29; and Tom Bolton of Roanoke won the public 30-over.
In the Pro/1-2 race, Murray said strategy was set when the bell rang signaling one of the 14 prime laps.
"That pretty much started all breakaways that happened," he said. "With six laps to go there was a prime, and three of us went for it real hard."
That's when he, Faust and Sevener broke away. Even before that, the lead changed as often as the sun slid in and out of the clouds.
"There was a real strong core of riders here," Murray said. "I thought we'd lap the field, and people would work together to split the primes. But nothing like that happened."
by CNB