Davis Racers Dominate Cal Cup

Davis Bike Club Race Team members Karta "KP" Khalsa and Jim Mansoor won the 2001 California Cup series of races in their respective categories over the Labor Day weekend. The "Cal Cup" is a 3 weekend series of 6 races culminating in the Giro de San Francisco which is the traditional "last" race of the season in Northern California. The races include Corral Hollow Road Race and Suisun Criterium on the first weekend, Winters Road Race on the second weekend, and San Ardo Road Race, University Road Race, and the Giro Criterium over the third weekend. The top 10 riders in each of these races are awarded points, with the Cal Cup going to the rider who has the most points at the end of the series. There are 4 Cal Cup trophies awarded: Pro/1/2 men, Pro/1/2 women, Masters men and Senior 3 men.

KP Khalsa won the Senior 3 Cal Cup on the last day of the series by placing 5th in the Giro and gaining 6 valuable points over his opponent, while the leader before the Giro was shut out of the top 10. This allowed KP to win the Cal Cup by 3 points. In that same race, KP got some help from teammate Roman Kilun who soled the last 2 laps of the Giro to win easily. This set up a fast case spreading out the field and allowing KP to position himself in the top ten. KP's other points were scored in the following races: Corral Hollow Road Race, 2nd; Suisun Criterium, 7th; Winters Road Race, 4th; and San Ardo Road Race, ??.

Race Team Director Jim Mansoor had the series virtually won before the Giro even went off. Unlike KP, who scored valuable points in both criteriums, Jim scored all of his points in the road races. He was 3rd at Corral Hollow, probably the hilliest road race of the season next to Mt. Hamilton; 2nd at Winters Road Race; 2nd at San Ardo Road Race; and 3rd at University Road Race. He had a 15 point lead going into the Giro, and the only way he could have lost was if one racer, Henry Kramer of Equipe Le Matin won the Giro. With the likes of US Postal rider Peter Allen on a mission to win his "favorite" race, it was unlikely Henry was going to win, and indeed Peter Allen won the race by just beating out Rocknasium rider Marc Lefler. Both Henry Kramer and Jim were shut out of the top 10 in the Giro due to a fast field and tired legs after battling it out in the prior 2 days' races.


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