The Rush Racing Specialized Factory Team has kicked off 2010 with a series of

solid performances within the first 10 days of the year.

                                                                     Photo credit © Shane Goss

The National Open Road Championships returned to Ballarat again for 2010 and The Rush Racing

Specialized Factory Team were out in their trade mark pink again. The Time trial on Wednesday

forced Rush Racing Specialized riders Mark Fennerand Damien Turner to jump off their Tarmac

Crit bikes and onto their Transition TT bikes without a day off.

Photo credit © Shane Goss

Mark was happy with a 15th place and Damien showed he was in great form with 10th. Thursday

and back onto the Tarmacs for the National Criterium championships. Rico Rogers was pumped up

for the win but with what appeared to be half the field taken up by Fly V riders it was always going

to be tough. The break got away and some well organised blocking tactics made the chase too

difficult for the main field.

Photo credit © Shane Goss

Sundays Road race was dominated by Damien on his local circuit. For the past year he has been

focussed on retaining his National King of the Mountain title he achieved in 2009 and from the

second the race started he knew he could get it. Leading the break up mount Bunningyong on

every lap, Damo was floating on a wave of local support. With the KOM in the bag he suddenly

realised he was in a chance for the podium as his early and sustained attack had put him at the

front with a lap to go. An attack on the first half of the final climb was reeled in and Damo buried

himself to stay with the final move. Rush Racing Specialized Factory

Team now has not only the 2010 King of the Mountain but also a bronze medal to go with it. 

Twelve months of media attention followed Damien’s KOM win last year so we look forward to

seeing his smiling face for another 12 months on the TV and in the newspapers around Ballarat.

The town hall will also have anotherjersey to hang on the wall.

Full story on www.cyclingnews.com Here :- 

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/scody-australian-open-road-championships-ne/elite-mens-road-race/results

The Jayco Bay Classic is the traditional start to the road cycling year in Australia and the criteriums are

regarded as the fastest in the world. Rush Racing Specialized Factory Team had teams both the Support

Men and Pro Men classes and as we have done every year we brought our 50 Sq metre team prep, VIP

and display area with us.

Rico Rogers proved that his consistent podium finishes around the Melbourne club races have been no

fluke by finishing with a couple of top ten places against some of the worlds bestpro tour athletes in

the pro class. The support team was made up of a mix of mountain bike and road athletes from

the Rush Racing squad showing that the mountain bikers can comfortably mix it with the roadies even

when they were averaging the fastest speeds for the past 4 years!

A couple of disappointing decisions by officials again caused confusion and some interesting results on

a couple of days adding to the frustration of some riders crashing on easy turns and damaging not only

bikes and bodies but the opportunity for a clean head to head battle between our boys and some of

the big hitters.

“Although our results were not as good on paper as they were last year, the team achieved more

of its goals this time.” Said team manager Tim Chadd. “We set out to ride as a team and

discover what we need to work on together for the rest of the year and we are more excited now

than we were a week ago because with a little team work we will be a dominant force in the

Australian Crit races for 2010.”

The focus now swings to mountain bike racing for the next few weeks. Josh Carlson showed he

was in top form at the bay crits and will take that into the National Mountain Bike Championships

in Adelaide. Josh will then follow that effort up with Round 2 of the National Mountain Bike Series

in Shepparton the following week. Simon Coffin, Tim Chadd and Mark Fenner will then try to hold

onto Josh’s wheel as the four of them take on the Wildside Mountain Bike stage race on Tasmania’s

west coast at the end of January. The Rush Racing Specialized Factory Team is still seeking 2 elite

road racers and 1 elite mountain biker to finalise the roster for 2010.