That’s right folks; the Bad Boys are Back to Battle in a Boyd Bonus Bonanza. My Bold predictions? Bryan Borgia in the A’s, Blake Bedoya in the B’s, Brittlee Bowman in the women’s and surely (surely!) Ben Boehmke can get up in the C field…. But all Bad Banter Behind; this week’s club race could well be the pivotal point in a number of the Team Cup and Jim Boyd competitions.  The Tavern Finish brings a new twist and should see exciting, fast finishing sprints.

Here is the run down so you can start to plan your counter attack and prove me wrong.

Men’s A:

For the Boyd Cup, it’s still a pretty wide open race.  Although Ariel Mendez has a good lead thanks to his first place on the prior Boyd Bonus day in June.  If any of the eight placed immediately behind him in the standings take first and he doesn’t score, then he loses first and it’s a bunch sprint to the finish of the season. With Adler being the ‘team’s team’, I am sure they will be pulling hard to get Ariel well placed at the line.  If they are successful, it will be hard to catch him before the end of the season so the stakes are high.  Watch out for Gavin Robertson who is due a win and is Foundation’s highest placed rider, and Gabriel Acaba who joined L-Raphael mid season and has placed first and second in both his races so far.

The Team Cup looks like it going to come down to Adler vs Foundation; although I am not prepared to count out L-Raphael just yet.  They have picked up the pace lately scoring highly in the last three races after adding to their roster.  Foundation is in good form having won the Maltese; but Rafael Meran doesn’t race too many club races.  If Foundation brings their ‘A’ team, they will be hard to beat, but they will be well marked (the team is apparently considering a new uniform with a bull’s-eye plastered on the back) which could be to Adler’s advantage.  Unless either team totally dominates this week, I expect that we will still see these two teams separated by just a few points after the race and I am hoping for a move by L-Raphael to make this a three horse race – it makes for higher TV ratings.

Women’s:

Kristin Lotito appears to have the Jim Boyd Cup under control, but with Bonus points, you just never know.  Fabienne Gerard has been racing well and recently upgraded to a Cat 1 while Kristin continues to battle local category 3 riders.  Gerard is 17 points behind, but has won three out of four times she has raced in club races and only lost once to Kristin.  I would almost consider not racing so I could watch this race.  I think Fabienne’s recent experience racing in the higher category races is going to give her an edge in what promises to be an epic battle.  Equally epic will be the Miller vs Miller battle for 3^rd place in the overall standings.  Raquel Miller is coming off a win last week at Maltese and head to head it’s 3 wins to Raquel, 2 wins to Ann Marie.  I am a numbers guy and trend is your friend so I expect to see Raquel move up to third overall after this weekend.

The Team Cup?  My job here is to build up the tension, so I need to hope for flat tires from the entire Houlihan-Lokey team.  But because I wouldn’t wish ill on anyone, I guess the best we can hope for is a narrowing of the gap should Fuoriclasse/Discover Chiropractic place first and second.  For that to happen, there needs to be a change of strategy as Lotito and Raquel Miller are sprinting well.  I imagine some of the teams are already scheming together to upset the status quo.

Men’s B:

Tony Munoz is leading the Boyd Cup even after sitting out the last race.  He came back to racing last weekend with a win in Prospect Park, but was unable to back up for the win in Maltese, placing 6^th.  Graham Macbeth is his nearest rival 15 points behind and he has been extremely consistent in placing throughout the season.  A win this week with the Boyd Bonus will make it very close at the top of the standings.  No doubt Foundation will be looking to setup Munoz for the sprint.  If they are successful, Monuoz probably seals the Jim Boyd competition.  Josh Sakofsky showed up for the win in his first B race last time out and showed it was no fluke with a third placed finish at Maltese last week.  Siggi’s will be looking to place Josh or teammate Matt Vandivort first across the line.  Watch out for John Blake as well….  And remember, if you are sprinting behind John Bueanventura, its not over till it’s over.

Its definitely two-horse race in the Team Cup between Foundation and Siggi’s.  Both teams brought full squads to Maltese but only Siggi’s was on the podium which bodes well for them this week.  Siggi’s needs Matt Vandivort to return to his form of old and place highly in the sprint.  This competition though is probably going down to the Team Cup Finale (double points) race at the end of the season.