Wichita hosted two days of criterium racing to start out the month of June, with the Bicycle X Change Crits on Saturday and the SPECS Wichita Riverfest Crits on Sunday.

Saturday was a big day for the team with a couple of top finishes and a bunch of primes.
Joe Kleidosty got his second big win as a four this season, with a first place in the Cat4 race. The green was controlling and attacking all race, with Kurt Wilson and Shawn Knight leading the charge. Dan Ruettimann stepped up early on and grabbed the first prime sprint, then had a big gap with another rider. They held on as long as they could, but the pace was just a little too crazy back in the field, so they got swallowed up within a lap or two. Kurt Wilson grabbed prime #2, and managed to keep on attacking the field until a mechanical slowed him down. With two laps to go, Knight and Kleidosty got set up near the front of the pack. Joe launched his final push with a crazy amount of distance to the finish, and Knight was on his wheel the whole way. Instead of launching himself for the win, Knight held back so the competition would have to come around him to try to get the win. Special K kept putting the heat on all the way across the finish, with Knight two spots behind him in third.

In the Masters 40+ race Knight got 7th and Jim Clevenger came in 10th. The first race of the day was a bit chilly, but got our riders used to the cobble section which transitioned to concrete. Potholes and cracks were all over the place so you really had to pay attention.

Lynn Wilson once again took control of the Women’s open field with the help of Rochelle Schleicher, who chased down the breaks and kept tabs on the competition from VeloTek and Tom’s of Tulsa. Wilson grabbed a prime along the way and sprinted for first while Rochelle stayed cozy and let the competition do the chasing. She came in sixth nonetheless.

On Sunday the team did not fare quite as well, but did pick up a few top-ten spots and a couple of primes.

The Chica Ds were marked women in the open race against a stacked VeloTek field. With a break about halfway through, Rocky and Lynn were under pressure to shut it down but two motivated riders ahead combined with some solid tactics by the team from Lawrence made it difficult. The wind also worked against them, as it seemed like it was always in the face of the riders by the afternoon races. Wilson did well to pick up fourth and Rochelle turned in a respectable 11th.

The other bright spot was Jim Clevenger’s performance in the Cat3 race, which he kind of decided to enter at the last minute. He was at the front the entire race and came around to the final sprint in a group of about six riders, who had a slight gap on the field. Third place for Jim to cap off a pretty successful weekend for him and the team in general. Jim had a seventh place finish in the 40+ race where Shawn Knight also did well with a top-ten. In the Cat4 race Knight took seventh while Wilson and the rest of the fast 4s finished together 13th-16th.