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Overall race winner Tim Farnham eyes the turn during Sunday's criterium through Downtown Omaha. Photo by Mike Madcharo.
Omaha – Getting Team Kaos to admit last week’s Monumental Memorial Stage Race amounted to nothing short of a monumental disappointment might be a little tough.
But ask riders like Tim Farnham and Jarred Berger about Team Kaos’ success at this weekend’s Dave Babcook Memorial Stage Race and they literally gush about how dominating a performance the team turned in over the two-day event.
Team Kaos captured the top two places overall, won every stage, placed four of its riders in the top 10 of the Pro-I-II-III division and took home six of 11 state criterium titles.
Farnham earned the overall crown on the strength of his victory in Saturday’s 66-mile road race while Berger successfully defended his Pro-I-II state criterium championship and finished second overall. A third teammate, Mark Brackenbury, won the Category III title in the same race – one that saw only 10 finishers of more than 40 starters.
Team Kaos also got state criterium championships from Morgan Chaffin (women), Marie Brackenbury (junior women 10-13), Ian Danielson (junior men) and Gary Schmidt (Masters 60+).
More than 120 racers from eight states competed in the two-day event, which included road races and a six-mile time trial near Mount Michael Benedictine High School in Elkhorn on Saturday and a criterium through the streets of Downtown Omaha Sunday.
Farnham (left) and Berger were all smiles after their 1-2 finish overall.
Photo by Dan Farnham.
Berger said the team strategized before Sunday’s 75-minute criterium with an eye on moving up several of its riders on general classification. Berger himself was sitting fourth heading into the final stage.
“Joe (McWilliams) and I sat down and talked about it,” Berger said. “I wanted to lap the group today and I knew (Terry) Beenken wasn’t riding well and that Tim was going to win (the overall). With Beenken only 1:11 ahead of me, we thought we could make that up.”
And Team Kaos got a gift of sorts early on, when Beenken’s Bianchi-Grand Performance teammate Duane Dickey attacked, initiating a four-man break that included Berger. The group would eventually lap the field.
“I knew (Monumental Memorial overall winner Micheal) Grabinger was strong and (Lincoln Plating-Lemond’s Jon) Randall was there,” Berger said of his other breakaway companions. “It was a tight, quick course, so we quickly got a lap up.”
Behind, Farnham played the role of helper, rather than overall race leader.
“I knew none (of the riders in the break) were a threat to me and the only one who was a threat to Jarred was Micheal (Grabinger),” Farnham said. “But Jarred didn’t seem to mind too much that he (Grabinger) was there, so I just let the gap go as we went down the hill. By the time people behind me realized what was happening, those guys were gone.”
Morgan Chaffin made it a clean sweep for the weekend, adding the state criterium championship to her victories in Saturday's road race and time trial.
Photo by Dan Farnham.
Much like last Monday’s closing criterium at the Monumental Memorial Stage Race, Team Kaos was active throughout the final stage. Chris Spence soloed off the front late in the race to secure fifth place, while teammates Joe McWilliams and Farnham monitored the chase. Spence finished sixth overall while McWilliams was eighth.
Farnham said the performance demonstrates Team Kaos’ power when it does not have to deal with “crazy, mechanical mishaps” like the ones that plagued it in Beatrice over the Memorial Day Weekend.
“Last week was one mishap after another,” he said. “But this time, everything worked. No flats, no crazy crashes.”
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