DLP Racing - Home of the DLP Pro Cycling Team

Tommy Nankervis Wins BMW River Gorge Crit

webmaster — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:39:18 +0000

Tommy Nankervis capped off an exciting weekend of racing at the BMW River Gorge Omnium in Chattanooga, TN with a well earned win. DLP Racing sent a strong squad to the race including Thad Dulin, Joey Coddington, Andrew Olson, Chris Judy, Boyd Johnson, and Tommy Nankervis. Racing started out fast with a strong field of riders. DLP rode agressive from the start with the team being represented in all the major moves. Shortly after the half way point in the race Tommy Nankervis covers a dangerous move and soon found himself in a move of three with Matt Windtead from Team Inferno. The trio worked well together and DLP was happy with the move knowing that Tommy was probably the fastest finisher in the group of three. In the closing laps Matt Winstead put in a great attack and found himself with a small gap. Tommy dug deep and found himself chasing Matt with less than half a lap left in the race. Tommy caught Matt in the last 300 meters of the race just as he opned his sprint for the line. Matt was unable to respond and Tommy came across the line 1st for the win.

Nankervis wins the Carolina Cup ahead of Toyota’s J. Clarke

webmaster — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:58:14 +0000

On Sunday DLP Racing continued it’s winning ways by taking home the victory at the 37^th annual Carolnia Cup . The Carolina Cup is the longest running bicycle race in the south and occurs in Country Park in Grensboro, NC. The course features a winding road with a number of climbs that snakes its way around a lake. DLP Racing brought a strong team to the race with the goal of winning North Carolina’s most prestigous race. From the 1^st lap Chrs Judy took of and imediately found himself with a 20 second gap on the field. However the rest of the field soon reacted bringing chris back. After a quick series of couter attacks Chris again found himself in a move of 5 only 2 laps later. This time he was accompanied by teamate Charlie Pendry along with Chris Montleone (US National Team), Steve Gordon, and Matt Lee. The group of five quickly built up a large gap on the field with Chalie Pendry doing a big turn of work to keep the move rolling. The group of five stayed away gaining a maximum advantage of almost 2 minutes. As the laps started counting down it seemed like the winner was going to come from this group of five riders. With 3 laps remaining the group still held onto a 1:05 advantage on the chasing field. Back in the field Thad Dulin followed coverd an attack from the field and quikly found himself riding across the gap. With only a lap and half remaingin Thad made contact with the group of five giving DLP 3 riders in the 6 rider move. However the field was in chaos behind and Toyota United Rider Jonathan Clarke was coming across the gap fast. Imediately realizing the danger this move posed Scott Jackson turned on the after burners with teamate Tommy Nankervis in tow. The pair of riders dug deep to reach the lead group. Tommy finally made contact with the group inside of 500 meters to the line. Tommy didn’t stop and rode right through the group knowing he had three other teamates in the front group. Luckily the finish is slightly downhill from the final corner and Tommy held onto the win by a bike length over Toyota’s Jonathan Clarke. In the end DLP Racing ended up with 5 riders in the top 10. Boyd Johnson 4^th, Thad Dulin7th, Owen Nielsen,8^th, Scott Jackson 10^th.

Photo (Below) - Charlie Pendry and Chris Judy in the day long break.

US Pro Criterium Championships Race Report

webmaster — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:53:21 +0000

DLP had a good two days of racing in Illinois this past weekend. . A crack team of three riders, Scott Jackson, Owen Nielson, and Tommy Nankervis decided to make the trip to the Downers Grove to contend the US Professional Criterium Championships. The weekend started with a combined Professional and Amateur race on Saturday as a warm up for the national championships on Sunday. Saturday night the three DLP professionals descended on the race course looking to open up the legs, and with two riders who had never done the race before on the team, learn the course. The team rode a good race the first night with DLP represented strongly at the front by Owen Nielson who seemed to have unstoppable form after his return from a swing of races in Belgium. Scott and Tommy rode the race with the larger goal of Sunday in mind, sitting comfortably in the field, until with two laps remaining; the trio got stuck behind an unfortunate crash, taking them out of contention for the win. However, Sunday was a new day and once again Owen was showing some great form by riding strongly throughout the day. Tommy and Scott both rode conservatively, but managed to represent DLP in the two significant moves of the day, albeit both moves were doomed to fail. In the end the race would be decided by a chaotic field sprint. DLP looked to its’ two strong sprinter, Owen and Tommy with Scott doing what he could to help them in the closing laps. Despite the chaos and high speeds that typically define Downers Grove, Owen and Tommy managed to both place themselves in the top 20, finishing 14th and 16th respectively. This is a great finish for Owen in his first time racing the Downers Grove race. The race was won by Rahsaan Bahati of Rock Racing.

Chris Judy takes 3rd in Statesville, Bahati takes the win.

webmaster — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:14:31 +0000

The final race of The Giordona Crossroads Cycling Classic always draws a top notch field as many of the teams have arrived in town for the following day’s $100,000 crtierium in uptown Charlotte. This year was no exception! DLP hit the race in force looking to make things happen. The race started out fast and within only 10 laps of the course in downtown Statesville a small group of five had escaped the field containing both Boyd Johnson and Chris Judy from DLP racing. Almost immediately the rest of the field hit the panic button as riders from both Team Type 1 and Rite Aid attempted to bridge the gap. However it was not to be as the group of five rolled away on the technical course. With two riders in the group, Boyd Johnson took the initiative to drive the break. Within only a few laps the breakaway had a 1/2 lap lead on the field. As the race went on, Chris and Boyd made a couple of attempts to try and shake Rahsaan Bahati (as he was clearly the fastest sprinter in the group). There attempts were unsuccessful and eventually 4 of the 5 riders ended up lapping the field. Once the break had reintegrated with the field DLP made a couple of attempts to get riders up the road again in hopes of sending Chris up the road without Bahati on tow. However, Bahati marked Chris like a hawk as the lap board counted down. In the finale, the DLP team did a great job getting Chris Judy in position for the sprint, but Chris was no match for the top Sprtiner in the country and ended up settling for 3rd on the night. Chris was happy with the result considering the situation and said his form is good and he hopes to show that in the next coming races. Boyd Johnson ended up in 4th place.

Tommy Nankervis scores a 2nd place Finish at Superweek

webmaster — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:17:56 +0000

Tommy Nankervis took 2nd place for DLP racing in the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Grand Prix of Cycling. The race was the 11th stage of the International Cycling Classic known as Superweek. Following Spencer’s win the night before the momentum was high within the DLP Team. The race started out with lots of crashes as the group navigated the technical criterium circuit. All day long attacks went but nothing was sticking. Then with only 9 laps left the Columbian Rider Jairo Perez Suarez put down a big attack and found himself riding clear of the field. Tommy immediately recognized the opportunity and set off in pursuit of Suarez. Tommy quickly bridged across the gap with Peter Dawson from Rock Racing along for the ride. Peter mostly sat on as his team had the lead in both the points competition and the overall GC. As the laps counted down the trio built up a 35 second lead. Tommy felt good about his chances but Dawson threw down a somewhat surprising attack with 400m to go to the line. The early move caught Tommy off guard and he quickly found himself digging deep to grab Dawson’s wheel. Dawson was able to hold on for the win just barely edging out Tommy at the line by a wheel. The second place finish is another great result for the DLP Racing team.

Spencer Beamer wins 10th Stage of the Supeweek Series

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:35:22 +0000

Spencer Beamer seized one of the biggest wins of his career last night when he won the 10^th race of the Superweek series with an unbelievable “hail marry” maneuver. With only 3 laps left in the race the bell rang for a $1000.00 prime lap. Many of the larger teams hesitated following the prime lap as they looked at each other waiting for the next move. Spencer Beamer decided he wasn’t going to wait, and attacked out of the large break away group. The other team’s hesitations turned into a small gap over the rest of the chasing field. Spencer put his head down and and hammed out the last two laps to come in 100 feet ahead of the hard charging field. After the race Spencer told Cycling News: “Everyone was going for that $1,000 prime so with two laps to go I said to myself - I might as well try it. I’m a good time trialer and they sat up on the back side so I drilled it as hard as I could. I was surprised when I heard one to go because I thought it was still two to go, so that gave me extra motivation. I didn’t want to slow up because you see all those sprints were the guy gets caught at 50 meters, so I didn’t look around until then.” Alex Candelario from Kelly Benefits led the rest of the break across the line for 2^nd place.

Thad Dulin Wins the French Broad Cycling Classic

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:33:14 +0000

Over the weekend while some of the team was racing in Superweek, the other 6 riders headed to the French Broad Cycling Classic in beautiful Asheville, NC. The French Broad Cycling Classic is one of the longest running omniums in the southeast. Past race winners include many notable names in the cycling world. Present at the race were Thad Dulin, Andrew Olson, Matthew Howe, Torsten Wambold, Joey Coddington, and Boyd Johnson. The race started out with a Time Trial along the river on Friday Night. Thad Dulin placed 2^nd with the the others all occupying various places amongst the top 20 spots. Following a successful TT the team headed out for some Burritos. On Saturday the race circuit featured a small hill followed by a couple of tight technical turns. The field blew apart in just a matter of laps. Thad was able to finish 3^rd solidifying his chances for the overall win. On Sunday the DLP Racing troops rallied to defend Thad Dulin’s overall race lead from a host of riders looking to lay claim to the top spot. DLP rode well in Sunday’s Criterium as they covered all dangerous moves throughout the race. As the race came to a close Thad was able to attack to get away with only Jonathan Clarke (Toyota – United) . The two worked well together and were able to lap the field in short order. In the closing lap Thad put in some major attacks but ultimately could not shake the young sprinter from Toyota United who took first place for the day. Thad’s efforts were however enough to take the overall GC win for the team.

Joey Coddington wins Blue Ridge Properties Crit in TN

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:17:13 +0000

On Sunday Joey Coddington won the Blue Ridge Properties Criterium in Kingsport, Tenessee. The Criterium was in downtown Kingsport and the weather was anything but ideal. The racers were greeted with a strong summer thunderstorm that drenched the whole course. From the gun, former professional cyclist Brian Sheedy decided to toss down a solo attack. He probably assumed it would be the safest and fastest route around the rain slicked circuit(and it was). Almost immediately he had a gap on the chasing field and found himself building a substantial lead rather quickly. Soon a chase group got organized off the front containing Joey Coddington along with Jacob McGahey(Industry Nine) and Bradley Spears (Krystal Burger). The group worked well together to cut down Brian Sheedy’s lead. In the closing laps the catch was made and now Joey found himself looking for the race win. In the final corner Joey drilled it knowing he had to be the first one through. Brad lost traction coming through the same corner and Joey sailed across the line for an impressive solo win.

Boyd Johnson Earns Two Podium Placings at Grandview

webmaster — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:14:30 +0000

The DLP Racing team brought a field of six guys up the Germain.com Tour of Grandview on June 28-29th. The weekend featured great race venues, large crowds, and a street festival to go along with the races. Saturday was a dead flat .9 mile course with 4 left turns. The start of the men’s race was delayed due to a very strong thunderstorm hitting right on the course. The officials decided to wait out the storm although the first half of the race was on wet roads. After a very aggressive start to the race a six man break soon found itself about 20 seconds up the road. DLP racing had missed the move and soon all six guys were seen at the front bringing the move back. When the move was within striking distance, Boyd Johnson launched an attack to get across to the move. The rest of the team instantly switched from chase mode to cover mode and shut down all attempts to bring back the break. With 9 laps to go, the break of seven lapped the field and the whole team got to the front to keep the pace high. With a very dicey last couple of laps the group came down to a sprint with Boyd placing 3rd after Owen brought him to the front on the last lap.

Sunday’s race was the featured event of the weekend. A one mile course with an increasingly difficult hill up to the start finish line. The crowds were very large and the racing would be very aggressive again from the start. Small moves kept going up the road from the start of the race, but couldn’t find their rhythm before being brought back a couple laps later. DLP always had a guy in the front of the race marking the moves. A couple laps after Owen won a prime, the move of the day went up the road. Boyd Johnson managed to make it into the lead group of nine riders, with two Texas Roadhouse rides and three riders from Team Inferno. Being outnumbered, Boyd made sure not to do too much work in the break and the rest of the team followed wheels in the field looking for a free ride across to the break. In the last few laps of the race there were many attacks which shook all but five of the riders off the break. Boyd was having to cover every attack and in the end the group of five came to the line together with Boyd taking third in the sprint behind Hayden Godfrey of the Inferno team. In the main field, Owen took the field sprint and Joey just got nipped for third despite finding out a couple days before the race that he had a fractured bone in his wrist.

Beamer wins Cookeville Criterium ahead of Bookwalter

webmaster — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:56:56 +0000

The DLP Racing team raced the Cookeville Criterium on Sunday in Tennessee. The team went into the race highly motivated because the winner of the Cookesville race also earns the right to be crowned 2008 Tennessee Criterium Champion. The racing started out with a series of attacks. Soon a small group of 6 riders separated themselves from the field. The group contained Spencer Beamer, Thad Dulin, and Boyd Johnson from DLP racing. Also in the group were Brent Bookwalter (BMC), Eric Murphy, and Dirk Pohlmann. With three riders in the move, DLP Racing quickly took the initiative to drive the pace and build the gap. In the closing laps Thad Dulin took control of the race and kept the pace high to discourage any attacks. Shortly before the finish Brent Bookwalter attacked but Spencer was right on his wheel and easily came around for the win. Since Spencer is a Tennessee native he earned the title of Tenesseee Criterium Champion. This is the second state championship for DLP Racing as Boyd Johnson also won the South Carolina criterium championship in April.

Pendry Wins NC Blueberry Festival Twilight Criterium

webmaster — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:50:33 +0000

Charlie Pendry took an impressive win at the 1^st ever NC Blueberry Fesitval Criterium. The race took place in downtown Burgaw, NC on Friday Night. The race drew a strong regional field of racers including some local NC standout riders. DLP had three riders in the race Chris Judy, Matthew Howe, and Charlie Pendry The racers were greeted with pouring rain that somehow cleared out right as the riders took to the starting line. From the gun a series of attacks were launched that were all immediately covered, yet somehow on only the third lap, Charlie Pendry covered a move from Jeremy Conn and the two riders immediately had a gap. Riders in the field just looked at each other as the pair rode off. Within a matter of moments the two had a 15 second gap on the field and quickly began working together. Many riders tried to bridge across from the field but Matt and Chris covered every single move. As the race went through the half way point the duo of Pendry and Conn had a 40 second lead on the field. The two worked well along the wet 7/10 of a mile circuit. As the lap board started counting down a few of the stronger riders including Inferno’s Rich Harper and Mercy Cycling’s David Leduc upped the pace to try to bring the pair of riders back. In the end the two stayed away and Charlie found himself taking the final corner in the perfect spot at second wheel. Charlie was able to maintain his speed through the final corner and came around Jeremy Conn for the win.

DLP Racing Signs Tommy Nankervis for 2008

webmaster — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:34:37 +0000

DLP Racing is pleased to announce that it has signed Tommy Nankervis for the duration of the 2008 season. Tommy is transferring to DLP Racing from the Toshiba Pro Cycling team. Tommy has also raced previously with the Jittery Joes team in 2007 and the Priority Health team in 2006. Tommy hails from Melbourne Australia but he is currently residing in Roswell, GA during the racing season. Tommy is a strong criterium rider and should be an excellent asset to the team in many of the large US criteriums this year. Everyone on the team is extremely excited to have Tommy on the team and we are looking forward to great things from him in the future.

DLP Racing wins Two Stages at Edgar Soto Stage Race

webmaster — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:40:33 +0000

DLP racing won two stages at the second annual Edgar Soto Memorial Stage Race. The race took place in Nashville, TN and drew an excellent field with a $19,000 pro mens purse. The race drew all of the top teams from the southeast including riders from Toshiba, Jittery Joes, and DLP Racing. Spencer Beamer won the opening prolouge with a blistering time of 1:12 over the course that was slightly over 1 kilometer. Later that evening Tommy Nankervis continued the winning streak by winning the sprint competition and taking home 1^st place in the finals. On Saturday the guys lined up for a $10,000 twilight criterium. Spencer got away early in the race with Bobby Sweeting (Toshiba) and another rider. The three stayed out for almost the entire race. While out on course Spencer grabbed the majority of the sprint points that were available every 5^th lap. Unfortunately the trio of riders were brought back in the closing laps of the race. In the sprint finish Tommy Nakervis placed 7^th in the sprint finish. On Sunday’s Criterium Spencer again went out on the attack and took more sprint points. In the end Spencer won the Points Jersey for the weekend and the team ended up with two stages.

Scott Jackson Makes the Winning Break at Bike Jam

webmaster — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:36:53 +0000

The DLP team sent a full squad to the Bike Jam NRC race last week. The 10^th 10th Annual BikeJam Cycling Festival was held in downtown Baltimore in beautiful Patterson park. The riders were greated with a strong field with racers from Slipstream, Toyota United, Jelly Belly, Rite Aid, Time, Colivita, Bissell, Team Type 1 and of course the home team, Kelly Benefits Strategies. One hundred and thirty riders started the Baltimore Bike Jam/Kelly Cup ready to take on forty laps of a one-mile circuit at full speed. Several attacks lead to breakaways that shuffled and re shuffled over the courses undulating terrain and strong winds. With fifteen laps to go, Johnny Sundt (Kelly Benefit Strategies), Scott Jackson (DLP Racing) and Kyle Wamsley initiated the beginning of what turned into the winning break. Five additional riders soon joined the pair that included Veilleux, Rollin and Fuentes along with Luis Amaran (Colavita/Sutter Home) and Armando Borrajo (Ciudad de Chivilcoy). Team TIME organized a strong chase from the peloton and were later joined by Team’s Type 1 and Bissell all of whom were not represented in the front separation. However, even the collaboration of the three partial teams was not enough to gain back the time lost to the escapees. The group rode well together and ended up staying away. Unfortunately for DLP racing an attack in the closing laps by Rollin (Toyota United) split the break from 8 riders down to four. Scott Jackson rode well but ended up on the wrong side of the split. Altogether the team rode great even though we just missed out on the final podium.

Crystal City Cycling Classic - Race Report

webmaster — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:32:34 +0000

On Sunday DLP Racing contested the Crystal City Cycling Classic presented by the US Air Force (UCI 1.2). The race was the third stop of the US Pro Tour of Cycling. The team sent a strong group of 7 riders to the event held in Arlington, VA. The race started at the new Air Force Memorial and continued past the Pentagon to the finishing area in Crystal City. The riders were faced with 13 laps of the grueling course for a total distance of just over 150 kilometers. The racing started off extremely fast and never slowed down for the entire race. The race was extremely active all day as riders attempted to get in the right breakaway. However it was not a day for a break. The only significant breakaway of the entire race contained 8 riders (including Spencer Beamer of DLP Racing) never established more than a 30 second advantage on the field. In addition to the fast pace the course took its toll on the riders with many corners and obstacles of the downtown DC landscape that created a need for constant quick accelerations. As the race got down to the business end, both Boyd Johnson and Thad Dulin made some excellent attempts to establish a winning move amongst the race favorites. The last time over the air force memorial Thad made a small group containing Borrajo(Colovita) Davide Frattini (Colovita) and a Toshiba Rider. Without a true sprinter from DLP the guys left everything out on the course. In the end however it came down to a field sprint and luck was not on our side. The high pace saw less than 35 finishers in the lead group of more than 138 starters. The guys rode really well and I think it is a sign of good things to come. Boyd Johnson took the top placing for the DLP team in 21st place.