Last weekends Tulsa Tough was the 11th stop on the National Road Calendar (NRC), the countries premiere Pro-Am cycling series.  With the second-biggest prize list on offer at nearly $115,000, the three-day omnium of criteriums, Tulsa Tough was one of the highlights of Park Place’s season.  Joining Park Place Dealerships were some of the nations top domestic professional teams including Jelly Belly, Team Mountain Khakis, Bhati Foundation, and Kelly Benefits Strategies.

The racing was fierce and Park Place was everywhere, logging more and more time on the announcers PA throughout the weekend.  Finishing just off the podium in the overall Pro-Cat 1 Omnium, Chad Cagle had a spectacular weekend with all of the help of the Elite team.  In addition, Tucker Gerald swept the weekend races, taking 1st on both Saturday and Sunday, to go along with 7th on Friday, to secure the overall victor in Cat1-2 Omnium.

You can see all of the action at:

Top 20 results and team results are posted below.

Overall Omnium:
Pro-Cat1    Chad Cagle 4th
Jason Waddell 7th
Bryan Fawley 12th

Category 1-2    Tucker Gerald 1st
Evan Bybee    18th

Friday
Pro-Cat1    Jason Waddell 4th
Bryan Fawley 7th
Chad Cable 12th

Category 1-2    Tucker Gerald 7th
Shaun Bonavita 14th

Saturday
Pro-Cat1    Chad Cagle 5th
Jason Waddell 8th

Category 1-2    Tucker Gerald   1st

Sunday
Pro-Cat1    Chad Cagle 7th
Brian Fawley 8th

Category 1-2    Tucker Gerald 1st
Evan Bybee 10th

Photo by: Jere Arnold

Brian Fawley, Jason Waddell, and Chad Cagle go 1,2,3 to sweep the podium at the Sunday Matrix Crit.  It was a big weekend for the team as Park Place made every signficant break and took almost all of the Primes in route the their podium sweep.

Nick Boulle won the mens Cat 3 after rebounding from a 5th place on Saturday.

Congrats guys on a great weekent of racing!

Alex Welch and Chris Hamilton - photo By Jere Arnold

The Dallas Racing team showed up big at the Park Place Crits this
weekend.

Saturday April 3rd brought beautiful weather and a great course to show
off the Elite team.  The guys from Oklahoma came down to join the Dallas
party, and party they did…

Having made the final selection, Jason Wadell held on for 3rd place in
the P/1/2 race while Bryan Fawley took the field sprint for 9th.

Bryan Fawley - Photo By: Jere Arnold

Nick Boulle controlled the Cat 3/4 race from start to finish, just
nipping his closest rival for 1st place at the line.

Jorge Merle also took 1st in the Masters 40+ race, just a sign of
things to come this weekend.

Justin Reddell took 2nd in the Cat 5 race, showing a lot of promise for
the future.

Easter Sunday, April 4th.

Chad Cagle Park Place Crit - photo by Jere Arnold

Park Place Crits Day 2 - P12 Podium

Chad Cagle took 2nd from a hard fought two-man break while Bryan Fawley
took the field sprint for 3rd and Chris Hamilton finished 7th in the
P/1/2 race.

Earlier in the day, Dallas Racing put their stamp on the Park Place
Crits.

Justin Reddell took 1st in the Cat 5.

Frank Cusimano recovered from a hard crash on Saturday to pull out a
1st place victory in the Cat 4 race.

Jorge Merle made it a two-peat for the weekend, claiming 1st place in
the Masters 40+ event.  Jimmy Olsen took 3rd while Shawn Bonavita
claimed 4th.

Nick Boulle continued his great early season form with another victory,
1st place in the Cat 3/4.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend thanks to all of the volunteers,
sponsors and participants.  Thanks everyone, and we will see you at the
next race!!!

P12 Results – Day 1:

1. Heath Blackgrove – Team Hotel San Jose
2. Christian Helmig -   Metro Volkswagen
3. Jason Waddell – Park Place Dealerships

P12 Results – Day2:

1. Christian Helmig – Metro Volkswagen
2. Chad Cagle – Park Place Dealerships
3. Bryan Fawley – Park Place Dealerships

3/4 Results -Day 1

1. Nick Boulle – Park Place Dealerships
2. Will Radar
3. Flash Cross

3/4 Results -Day 2

1. Nicholas Boulle – Park Place Dealerships
2. William Radar
3. Adam Allen

Man, that was a tough weekend. Fun, too. I love a good hard race.

Saturday started nice and calm which surprised everyone. However, there was a line of dark looking clouds off in the distance that looked very threatening. Sure enough at the start of the second lap, someone turned the fan on “High” and the fun began.

Echelons and gaps everywhere. I missed the main split but worked my way into a group of 8 and we worked together for the next 40 miles hoping we’d catch the leaders. No such luck with the horsepower up ahead of us coming from a group of mostly former pros. And most of that 40 miles was spent leaning the bike over 70 degrees trying to fight the wind.  I was looking forward to a little reprieve on Sunday at Pace Bend, but again, no such luck. With a field of 130 riders, many, many fit guys and a fast, non selective course, the pace stayed between 26 and 30 mph the entire time. Add to that the stress of riding in a tightly grouped pack for several hours made the race a tough one. About half way through a group went up the rode that looked promising. The bigger teams were represented so I went to the front to ride tempo for a couple laps to try and keep the gap down. With some help from a couple other guys the break was brought back with 4 to go and Fawley was able to attack and form another break that looked good. The big dogs weren’t about to let them stay away and went to the front. They caught Fawley and Co with about half a lap to go and then the Heads of State battled it out for the V.  So no luck for us this weekend but I’m optimistic about Lago. I’ve won there as a Cat 3 before and always have good legs for those races. Look for Park Place on the podium in the very near future!  Thanks again for all your support Jorge. You coming down this weekend? We still need to meet and share more racing stories.  LD