LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY: As the domestic cyclocross season starts to count down toward the end of the 2011 racing season, the Zipp OVCX Tour presented by Papa John’s has three championships over the course of two weekends. After a brief hiatus for the region’s five UCI-sanctioned races, the Zipp OVCX Tour returns to action this Sunday, November 20, with the Kentucky State Championships in Lexingtion. Two weeks later, the Zipp OVCX Tour concludes the most successful season in its history with a double header weekend in the suburbs of Cincinnati featuring USA Cycling’s Midwest Regional Championships for Masters and Juniors, followed by the Zipp OVCX Season Finals.
Held just one week after Veteran’s Day, the Kentucky State Championships will, fittingly, take place at Lexington’s Veteran’s Park as part of Promotion Cycling’s Commonwealth Eye Surgery Promotion Cross. As is traditional for state championship races throughout the Midwest, these will be “open” championships, meaning that all USAC-licensed riders are eligible to compete with the highest-placing Kentucky residents in each category winning the designation of Kentucky State Champion. Lexington’s Commonwealth Eye Surgery Promotion Cross is also the penultimate round of Zipp OVCX’s 2011 season points chase.
Two weeks later, the Midwest’s best cyclocross racers head to the outskirts of Cincinnati, Ohio for the two-day King’s CX Weekend. Held at Mason, Ohio’s Kingswood Park, a former golf course which is rapidly gaining the reputation as one of the country’s premier cyclocross facilities, the King’s CX Weekend will host two distinctly different events. On December 3, the USA Cycling Midwestern Regional Championships for Masters and Juniors will draw competitors from across two time zones for one of the largest and most prestigious one-day domestic cycling championships apart from the National Championships. In addition to the Championship races for age groupers, the day’s racing will also see non-championship racing for the open classes. The following day, December 4, “points” will be on everybody’s minds as Kingswood Park hosts the final ponts-paying race of the 2011 Zipp OVCX Cyclocross Tour presented by Papa John’s.
In the Elite Divisions, Niki Dallaire will attempt to complete her second consecutive perfect season in Zipp OVCX action, while Mitch Kersting tries to complete an historic come-from-behind run to take the Men’s title. Unique, hand-made Zipp OVCX Beer Stein Trophies will be presented to the season point champions in all divisions, both Elite and Amateur. Following the races, the post-season party will be highlighted by the traditional “Zipp Hardcore 404 Raffle”. The huge raffle, based on the number of Zipp OVCX races each competitor entered throughout the year, is highlighted by the drawing of the main prize, a set of Zipp 303 CX carbon fiber tubular cyclocross wheels.
