Race Report:  Brentwood Grand Prix
by Lucas Binder, SKLZ/Pista Palace

8/8/11 - The Brentwood Grand Prix is one of the premier bicycle races in Southern California and this year it was fittingly chosen as the SCNCA State Criterium Championships. With $4,500 and the state title on the line every major SoCal team showed up in full force and with their big hitters. Cashcall, SKLZ/Pista Palace, Monster Media, the home team Herbalife/La Grange, NOW-MS, SoCalCycling.com, Swamis, ARoadBike4U, Full Circle, Yahoo! and even the Clif Bar team. But if any one team was to be considered the favorite it was our team which included both last year's winner Rahsaan Bahati and runner-up Eric Marcotte.

The pre-race call up.
photo © SoCalCycling.com

With this pressure on our team each of us made sure to be near the front constantly and from the gun an attack was up the road with teammates Chris DeMarchi and Rahsaan Bahati and two others (Anthony Canevari and Brandon Gritters). The quartet built up a good gap of 20 seconds but with such a long and flat course they were destined to eventually be brought back. So after about 15 minutes off the front they were reeled in. Eric Marcotte (SKLZ/Pista Palace) was the next to go on the offensive, taking a bigger group of riders with him that included Rahsaan once again. CashCall and Monster Media were both represented so that lead group was able to power away off the front of the field for much of the rest of the race. However there were a lot of riders in the field still willing to work to bring them back, and the break's gap never got to more than 25 seconds. The riders who missed out on the current break were given a consolation in the form of some field merchandise primes. I went for two of them, but just missed out to Shawn VanGassen (SoCalCycling.com) and Cody O'Reilly (Clif Bar) both times, while up ahead the break was given all of the cash primes, with Eric Marcotte taking two $100 primes and CashCall nabbing the $250 prime.

The first break of the day included Brandon Gritters (Herbalife/La Grange), Chris DeMarchi
(SKLZ/Pista Palace), Anthony Canevari (CashCall Mortgage) and Rahsaan Bahati (SKLZ/Pista Palace).
photo © SoCalCycling.com

Brentwood is a very flat course, but with some technical sections and a hairpin turn the field can really break apart under race pace. It was about halfway through our race that the pressure of the chase from riders like Sergio Hernandez (Jelly Belly) and recently un-retired Ivan Dominguez (MRI-Franco Racing) and the accelerations of bridge attempts from fast sprinters like Justin Williams and Eric Barlevav (Full Circle) began to shoot riders off the back and create gaps in the field.

Sergio Hernandez (Jelly Belly) drills it on the front.
photo © SoCalCycling.com

However, the break away was moving fast and accelerating under the pressure from the field and it eventually broke up, dropping everyone from the lead group except for an elite group of four that included Eric Marcotte (SKLZ/Pista Palace), CashCall riders David Santos and Anthony Canevari, and Jason Bausch (Monster Media). The pressure on the gap hovered around 15 seconds with 5 laps to go. Recent San Marcos Circuit race winner Bryan Larson (ARoadBike4U) gave one final bridge attempt but was brought back by the field a lap later.

Eric Marcotte (SKLZ/Pista Palace), Anthony Canevari (CashCall Mortgage) and Jason Bausch
(Monster Media) were part of the final break of four, which also included David Santos.
photo © SoCalCycling.com

With 3 laps to go, things were looking pretty interesting. The four man break was still up the road, but with a gap of less than 15 seconds. Inside of 3 laps to go we were told to start doing some work on the front. We had Eric Marcotte still up the road but with CashCall having two men in the break we would have to make them both work hard to stay away by putting the pressure of a field that contained the fastest sprinter in SoCal, Rahsaan Bahati, on them. I pulled for a lap inside of three to go before pulling off and letting some other guys finish off the final laps.
            
The strategy seemed to work as the break away had no time to fool around and came in all together for a small bunch sprint that Eric Marcotte (SKLZ/Pista Palace) easily took ahead of Anthony Canevari and David Santos (CashCall), followed by Jason Bausch (Monster Media) and a hard charging field only five seconds behind being led out by Chris DeMarchi (SKLZ/Pista Palace), with Rahsaan Bahati taking the field sprint to get 5th place and round out the podium.

Eric Marcotte (SKLZ/Pista Palace) celebrates with a pair of devil horns.
photo © SoCalCycling.com

Getting the win was a great result, as well as two other riders up in the top ten. CashCall Cycling put up a great fight like they always do and had two guys on the podium, with Anthony Canevari taking the Bear Jersey as the top Californian. With only a handful of races left on the SCNCA calendar, and some close standings for the top 5 of the SoCal Cup the rest of the crits this year should be just as dramatic.

2nd placed Anthony Canevari (CashCall Mortgage) won the Bear Jersey since winner Eric
Marcotte (SKLZ/Pista Palace) is from AZ, with David Santos (CashCall Mortgage) 3rd.
photo © SoCalCycling.com