Los Alamitos Graduate Wins Women’s 20-Mile Race

Just two weeks after her graduation from Los Alamitos High School, Janie Eickhoff added to her already impressive array of cycling titles Saturday in the Anaheim Stadium parking lot.

Eickhoff, 17, the first American to win two world titles in the same season, used an impressive last-lap sprint to win the 20-mile senior women’s event in the U.S. Cycling Federation’s Criterium bicycle race.

Eickhoff, who stayed close to the pack throughout the race before her late charge, pulled away from Juliana Nowlan of San Diego and Cathy Rice of Santa Barbara to take the first prize of $270 in merchandise.

Nowlan received $180 in merchandise for her second-place showing, and Rice received $158 in merchandise for finishing third.

Eickhoff, who won the world junior sprint and pursuit championships last year, was a bit concerned when she stepped on the track for her race. There had been a number of crashes in earlier races Saturday.

In one of them, a 79-year-old woman escaped with minor injuries when she inadvertently stepped on the race course, only to be hit by one of the competitors. In another mishap, cyclist Richard Koss of Los Angeles broke his collarbone when he was involved in a collision with another cyclist during the final moments of a preliminary race.

“The crashes made me a little bit concerned because you can’t see the cones on this course very well,” Eickhoff said. “I kept racing toward the inside on the curves, and there was a lot of communication among the riders in the race, which helped. Once I got used to riding on the course, however, I had no problems.”

Eickhoff, who plans to attend Cal State Dominguez Hills this fall, said she hopes to gain a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

In the men’s 35-mile event, West Germany’s Lutz Schaefer used a strong last-lap sprint to edge Santa Barbara’s Kent Bowen and win $1,020 in cash and merchandise.

Bowen, who was closely followed by Louro Fernando of Brazil and Michael Varbeck of Denmark, received $250 plus merchandise, and Fernando received $352 in merchandise for his third-place showing.

Schaefer found himself among a host of riders trailing a pack of four front-runners early in the race.

When the four leaders faded, Schaefer, Bowen, Fernando and Varbeck battled for the lead, with Schaefer emerging victorious.

“I just went out early in the last lap figuring that if I didn’t see anyone in my windshield, I had a good chance,” Schaefer said.

Said Bowen: “When he (Schaefer) went into that early sprint in the final lap, I thought he was going to die, but he just kept going on, and I just didn’t have enough speed to catch him.”

Three top candidates for the U.S. Olympic team who were scheduled to compete Saturday--Matt Rayner, Tim Bengston and Marcello Arrue--did not show up for the competition. Organizers said none of them gave any reason for not racing.