{"id":142853,"date":"2025-06-02T17:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T21:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=142853"},"modified":"2025-06-02T17:56:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T21:56:08","slug":"rain-shortened-opening-night-delivers-thrilling-races-at-valley-preferred-cycling-center-american-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=142853","title":{"rendered":"Rain-Shortened Opening Night Delivers Thrilling Races at Valley Preferred Cycling Center – American Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rain-Shortened Opening Night Delivers Thrilling Races at Valley Preferred Cycling Center – American Classic<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trexlertown, PA \u2014 May 30, 2025<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 The 2025 season at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center kicked off with intensity, speed, and standout performances during a rain-shortened Opening Night. Although the weather ultimately forced the event to end early, fans were treated to several exciting races, including victories from both returning champions and new faces.<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s Scratch Race Final \u2013 10km<\/strong>
\nReigning Men\u2019s Rider of the Year Lance Abshire (Chaney Windows and Doors) opened the season in dominant form, sprinting to victory at an average speed of 49.2 km\/h. He was followed by Jackson Sanders (Edge Cycling) and Brad Green (Star Track) in second and third, respectively. “Starting the season strong is always the goal,” said Abshire. “T-Town is a special place to race, and I\u2019m grateful to open the year with a win.”<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s American Tempo Race \u2013 5km<\/strong>
\nNew Zealander Olivia Ray (Star Track) secured a dramatic win over last year’s Women\u2019s Rider of the Year Kimberly Zubris, with both finishing on 18 points. Ray’s higher final sprint placement gave her the edge. Jillian Halm (Kelly Benefit Strategies Cycling) claimed third with a strong showing.<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Chariot Races<\/strong>
\nFinn Koller (Edge Cycling) powered to victory in the Men\u2019s Chariot Race, while Mandy Marquardt (Edge Cycling) took gold in the Women\u2019s final, outpacing a strong field that included Olivia Ray and Divya Verma.<\/p>\n

Flying Kilometer<\/strong>
\nDakota Stein (Edge Cycling) blasted to the top spot in the Men\u2019s Flying Kilometer. On the women\u2019s side, Marquardt once again delivered, taking first with an impressive 50.3 km\/h average speed.<\/p>\n

Points Races Add to the Excitement<\/strong>
\nIn the Women\u2019s Points Race, Olivia Ray claimed her second win of the night with 31 points, followed by Zubris and Jessica Chong. On the men\u2019s side, Patton Sims (Star Track UCI) dominated with 41 points, with Kristopher Judd (Inerro NYC Elite Racing) and Mark Mazel (Inerro NYC Racing) rounding out the podium.<\/p>\n

Weather Forces Early End<\/strong>
\nWith safety as the top priority, race officials made the call to cancel remaining events as storms rolled in. “We always put the safety of our community first,” said Jorge Romero, Managing Director of the Valley Preferred Cycling Center. “That said, we\u2019re incredibly proud of the performances tonight and grateful for the strong turnout. We can\u2019t wait to welcome everyone back next week.”<\/p>\n

Looking Ahead to the T-Town Showdown and UCI Series<\/strong>
\nNext Friday’s T-Town Showdown will feature elite-level racing in events like the Madison, Chariot Race, and Points Race. It also marks a key prep event ahead of the international UCI event series coming to T-Town on June 13, 20, and 27. These races promise to bring global talent and high-stakes action to the Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n

Full Results & More<\/strong>
\nFor complete results and live timing:
\nthevelodrome.com\/may30<\/a><\/p>\n

Media Note:<\/strong>
\nPhotos available upon request.<\/p>\n

About Valley Preferred Cycling Center<\/strong>
\nThe Valley Preferred Cycling Center (T-Town) has been America\u2019s premier velodrome for over 50 years. As a training ground for Olympians and host to world-class events, VPCC is dedicated to growing the sport of cycling and inspiring the next generation of athletes through community engagement and elite competition.<\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nJake Burns<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rain-Shortened Opening Night Delivers Thrilling Races at Valley Preferred Cycling Center – American Classic Trexlertown, PA \u2014 May 30, 2025\u00a0\u2014 The 2025 season at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center kicked … Continue reading Rain-Shortened Opening Night Delivers Thrilling Races at Valley Preferred Cycling Center – American Classic<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/vpcc.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142853"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=142853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/139598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=142853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=142853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=142853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}