2014 Arkansas Super-Prestige p/b The Dillon Group Custom Homes

This post will be updated with the most current information on the 2014 season, as it becomes available.

CLICK HERE for points tallies through race #7
[Note: these results might be missing a couple racers who purchased USAC licences on-site. If you are one of these, please contact the Pointsmistress hladd@uwalumni.com and indicate (1) your licence number and (2) when you purchased the licence.]

A bunch of fun links get posted to the Arkansas Super-Prestige Facebook page.

1) Oct 11, Smoke n Suds #1 p/b De Pijp Cycling Federation (Fayetteville)

2) Oct 12, Smoke n Suds #2 p/b De Pijp Cycling Federation (Fayetteville)

3) Oct 19, Jones Center Cross Race p/b Dickson St Cycling Club (Springdale)

4) Nov 1, ASP Night Race p/b CARVE (Interstate Park, Little Rock)

5) Nov 9, Yell County CX Classic p/b Carr's Chain Reaction (Dardanelle)

6) Nov 22, Cedar Glades CX (Hot Springs)

7) Nov 30, Turkey Burn p/b CARVE (Little Rock)

8) Dec 7, State Championships p/b De Pijp Cycling Federation (Rogers, NON-SERIES)

9) Dec 13, Asher Grand Prix p/b The Community Bicyclist (Little Rock, NON-SERIES)

10) Dec 14, CX@Western Hills p/b The Community Bicyclist (Little Rock, SERIES FINALE)

The cross monkeys have been working behind the scenes ensuring that the 2014 cyclocross season will be the BEST YEAR EVER.

The Dillon Group Custom Homes has once again stepped up as sponsor of the series. If you ever need any home or business construction or remodeling done, give them a call and tell them cyclocross sent you. They do excellent PRO work and you won't be sorry.

The racers have spoken and we have listened.  There are a few tweaks lined up for 2014:

• SINGLESPEED.  The singlespeed race is open to all comers, lasts 40 minutes, and starts on the same wave as the masters, women 1/2/3/4, and men's cat 4.
• SLEEP AN EXTRA HOUR.  Sunday events start at 11am.  Last year's state championships was weather-delayed an hour and nobody had any trouble getting home in time for dinner.
• OPEN* RACE.  You must have an annual USAC license with CX cat 4 or higher to compete in the Open* race.

As you can see on the calendar above, the State Championship race is no longer a series race, which allows more flexibility in scheduling the various age groups, categories, etc. There is also a non-series race the day before the series finale, at the same location as the finale.

In the interest of streamlining points tabulation, we will require that points earners hold an annual USAC license. For detail click HERE. (You are welcome to race with a one-day license purchased on the day of the race. You just won't get series points for it.)

Here's the Sunday race-day lineup:
11:00am (40min) Singlespeed, Men cat 4, Women cat 1/2/3/4, Masters 40+
12:15pm (30min) Men cat 5, Women cat 4, Junior 10-18
1:00pm Kid's race
1:30pm (50min) Open 1/2/3/4

Saturday races will typically start later in the day. Non-series events will have completely different line-ups of categories, age groups, start times, etc.  Race duration is approximate; race leaders are timed for the first lap or two, and then laps-to-go are displayed at the finish line.

Series awards will be given on December 14 at Cyclocross @ Western Hills.  Mantel-worthy awards will be presented 3 deep in all divisions except kid's race (no series awards) and Open (6 deep).  The Open and Women 1/2/3/4 divisions also receive cash awards:

Open $165/140/130/120/110/100
Women $165/140/130

The team award is the famed Arkansas Cyclo-cross Cup. It is a perpetual trophy, engraved with the year and team name, and put in their safe-keeping for the following year. The Cup will be awarded on December 13 at an open house celebration at Vino's from 5 to 7 pm.

OK now for the small print:

All categories (except for kid's race) earn points as follows:
- 1st place gets 10 points, 2nd place 9 points, etc, on down to 1 point for 10th place and lower
- Open race gets double points (except 11th place and lower get just 1 point)
- An abandon earns 0 points
- Individual point totals are summed across the best 7 out of 8 races
- Team point totals are the sum of all individual point totals

Points are tracked based on USAC annual license number.  New license holders carry forward ONE result earned on a one-day license.  Team affiliation is based strictly on the USAC license (shown next to "CX").

2014 Arkansas Super-Prestige presented by The Dillon Group Custom Homes

Categories and Age Groups

In advance of States, a few notes about USAC racing categories, age groups, and singlespeed. But here's a brief synopsis:

BRING YOUR LICENSE TO THE RACE. They will be checking that you are indeed entering the correct race(s). One-day licensees have this one covered.

CATEGORY

Your USAC cyclocross category is printed on your license:

A visual aid

If you are racing on a one-day license, then you are CX:05 if you are male or CX:04 if you are female (there are only 4 CX categories for women). If you want to change your category, you must make a request to usacycling.org. This is not something that can be performed on race day.

RACING AGE

OK here's where it's a little tricky. Because the national cyclocross calendar extends into the new year, your cyclocross racing age is how old you will be on December 31, 2015.

SINGLESPEED

USAC rule §1I1(i) is pretty straightforward:
A Single Speed is any type of bicycle possessing only one rear cog and only one front chainring and with no means of altering the gear ratio in any way during the race.

To summarize, BRING YOUR LICENSE. If you can't find it, print off a copy by logging on to usacycling.org. Do it now and put it in your race bag. [We have also been informed that USAC has a mobile app that allows you to show your license on your electronic device. Yet another option.]