April 2007

April has concluded and NRC racing has kicked into over-drive for the A&F Pro Development Cycling Team with the biggest win in the program's history! That's right, Mark Hekman and the A&F USA SE Crit Series Team (Marco Aledia, Jim Baldesare, Neil Coleman, Frankie Dierking, Rich Harper and Mark Hekman) have started off the series with a bang and a win at the biggest criterium in the U.S., if not the world; Athens Twilight Criterium!

With the strong team bond and selfless team work the team is displaying day-in and day-out, the guys have managed to put Mark in field lapping breakaways and in the top 10 for 4 consecutive events. As a result, Mark and the team claim the overall lead in both the USA SE Crit Series and the USA Championship Crit Series that will ultimately end in Las Vegas at the first ever World Criterium Championships.

Mark celebrates the largest victory of his career at Athens Twilight.

Mark and the A&F team continued their roll as of this issue of the newsletter with a 7th place in Nalley Roswell and a 4th place (including the mid-race prime) at the Series' 3rd stop, Beaufort Criterium. Mark will again pin on the No. 1 bib entering the 4th event in Walterboro. Good luck, lads!

Continuing the winning ways for the team is late addition and new-comer, Josh England. Josh has come to the team from Aukland, New Zealand with high recommendation from the likes of Greg Henderson (T-Mobile) and Hayden Godfrey (Colavita-Sutter Home). Josh has entered 4 races in the US thus far and has the same number of victories to show for it. "Josh is very low key, very professional and has a phenomenal finish. It feels as if he has been with the program all along and is no doubt a perfect fit!" stated team VP, Ryan Rish.

The unfortunate news of Ryan Gamm being struck by a car while training was a wake-up call for us all this past week as well. Ryan is fine and will actually be riding again this weekend! Both Ryan and the entire program are so very grateful to every one of our sponsors for the well wishes and immediate equipment replacement to our non-profit cause. A special thanks to Alex Wassmann at SRAM, Tim Jackson at Masi, Chris McLaren at Spinergy, Preston Sandusky at Kestrel, Bob Kalmbach at ProNet, Jason First at Crank Brothers, Jenni Nichol at Sigma Sport and the entire crew at Canari Cyclewear for your overwhelming kindness during Ryan's situation.

Inferno Racing LLC has also established the new Inferno Foundation. The foundation is designed to be an umbrella for all of the multiple charities we support throughout any given season. Currently under the umbrella is LAF, A Perfect Day For a Cure, Team Type 1 and the Junior Donation Nation. More information on this great program will be released in the coming months at www.infernoracing.org

See you at the races!

Best regards,