Written by: Admin

The second day of Nebraska weekend racing was the Norfolk Criterium on Sunday which would settle the state championship bragging rights for 2010. Racers enjoyed sunny skies and moderate north winds in the morning that yielded to stronger winds in the afternoon on the popular 'u-shaped' 8-corner course.

Buddy Houts took the opportunity to race back-to-back on this day. He won the Junior race for his second win of the weekend and then lined up with the Cat 4's where he finished a fine 16th.

In the Cat 3 race, Jeff Kluck would take 5th in a contest that strung out the field early on. Alegent Health/Team Kaos riders Justin Maresh and Ashton Lambie launched an impressive 2-man team time trial effort that would lap some in the field up to four times by the end of the 60 minutes. Maresh took the top step as state champ. Bob Greigg was 13th.

Joe McWilliams (Alegent Health/Team Kaos) jumped away from the 1/2 field early in the 75 minute race and held onto the lead with a consistant 30 second gap until 8 laps to go. Behind him, a number of riders made bids to join McWilliams throughout the race. After taking a late race prime in a solo chase, Jon Nelson continued on and would bridge with McWilliams teammate Jarred Berger and Paul Webb (Mars Hill College) to cement a 4-man lead group in the closing laps. Berger would spring away for his second win of the weekend to become state champion in his 35th race of the year including the collegiate schedule. McWilliams was 2nd and Jon took 3rd as an indication of his increasing form in his build-up for the Iowa State Crit. -Posted 6/10/10