If Michael Ball, the chief executive of Rock Racing, has his way, cycling fans will see more skulls and crossbones at future races.

In the last year, Rock Racing, known not only for its cryptic logo but also for its three team members allegedly linked to an ongoing doping investigation in Spain, has had trouble getting all of its riders into races.

Most notably, Ball did not register the three riders -- Santiago Botero, Oscar Sevilla and former Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton, who also served a two-year doping suspension from 2004 to 2006 -- in February's Tour of California after AEG Sports, the race's organizer, told Ball the riders were not eligible for the event.

In April, all members of Rock Racing were allowed to compete in the Tour de Georgia, but only after Ball threatened legal action when organizers tried to deny the team entry into the race.

Speaking Sunday at the Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix, a race won by Rock Racing's Rahsaan Bahati, Ball said his team shouldn't have as many headaches trying to get into future races.

"I think the worm has turned," Ball said. "I get more 'good jobs,' 'thattaboys' and 'you're good for the sport,' instead of boos and hisses."

Ball, who also announced the creation of the Professional Cycling Catastrophic Fund (an organization designed to assist cyclists who suffer severe injuries while participating in the sport), said last year many in the sport viewed Rock Racing as "a joke."

He added that this year the team received invitations for four European races and is still exploring other opportunities to compete in the U.S.

"I don't think we're going to have the controversy and negative press we had at the beginning of the year," Ball said.

"If you break it down, all we're trying to do is promote the sport and foster it and make it cooler."

Even if Rock Racing runs into trouble down the road with race organizers, Ball said Hamilton, Botero and Sevilla, who were eligible but did not participate in Sunday's race because of other commitments, would remain a part of his team because they "have every right to ride."

Said Rock Racing member Fred Rodriguez: "Right now, the way the sport is, it's kind of a kamikaze. Nothing is guaranteed, nothing's for sure."

 
chris.hine@latimes.com

Carson resident, defending MB Grand Prix

champ Bahati a rising force in cycling

By Andrew Howard, Correspondent

Article Launched: 06/28/2008 05:24:27 AM PDT

 

Rashaan Bahati's life as a cyclist began with a misunderstanding. Reggie Garman, a teacher at Davis Middle School in Compton, enrolled Bahati in an after-school program at Cal State Dominguez Hills with a focus on bikes in order to keep him out of trouble. With the exact kind of bike left unspecified by Garman, Bahati did not know what exactly to expect.

"I thought it was going to be dirt bikes and motorcycles and I was really excited," Bahati said. "Then I found out that it wasn't and then I wasn't so excited. But my parents made me do it as punishment and as something good to keep me out of trouble, and I've stuck with it ever since." Bahati has not only stuck with it since that fateful day, he has excelled at it. He enters Sunday's 47th annual Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix as the defending champion, a member of a team chock full of cycling greats, Rock Racing and as one of the favorites to win it again this year.

For Bahati, who was born in Lynwood and now lives in Carson, cycling has defined the last eight years of his life, racing mostly in criteriums throughout the country. In 2000, Bahati was the National Road Racing Champion, Criterium Champion, and won the National Elite Criterium Championship. But the big breakthrough came in 2007 when he joined the newly created Rock Racing Pro Cycling Team, established by CEO and Head Designer for Rock & Republic clothing company, Michael Ball.

 

"I was introduced to Michael through a mutual friend," Bahati said. "When we started he wanted to sponsor just a few riders. It wasn't a big deal.
"After a while he realized that he could have something big and he wanted a professional cycling team." Ball, a former cyclist, knew Bahati was a terrific athlete, but initially was unaware of his ability on the bike. Now, after seeing all that he has accomplished, Ball has the utmost praise for his rider.

 

"He is an incredible athlete and he has the ability to be one of the great cyclists," Ball said. "When we found out that he was free, we immediately grabbed him. I think the plan that we try and implement with this team is very much to his liking, and I think that he has really fostered and bloomed with us. Now the wins come freely."
Those wins started last year, when Bahati earned the young Rock Racing team its biggest wins - the CSC Invitational in Arlington, Va. and the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix in June, wins Ball was supremely impressed with.

 

"We had just come of the CSC win which was huge, (and) it was always our intention to pick up Manhattan Beach," Ball said. "It's in our backyard and most of the team is from the area. So it was very important to us and it was something that we wanted, and he delivered." Bahati believes the two wins he gained for the team while it was still early in its development raised the credibility of Rock Racing tremendously. "(The team has) seen its ups and downs, but it's really starting to take off right now," Bahati said. "We are one of the best teams in the country. Even across the Pond they are noticing and we have become one of the most watched teams. For that to happen in just two years is incredible."

 

In order to prepare to defend his title, Bahati said that he is training on certain aspects he needs improvement in as opposed to general riding. Part of training for Sunday's 1.4-mile-course around Live Oak Park was competing in the AT&T Downtown Austin Criterium two weeks ago, where Bahati had a top-10 finish. He described it as a good, but not great showing. Away from the bike, Bahati is a quiet person, favoring calm activities over loud and crowded parties. From playing Ghost Recon 2 on his Xbox 360 to spending time with his family to having get-togethers with his teammates, Bahati likes to stay low-key.

"I'm a pretty laid-back person," Bahati said. "I don't really like crowded places. I'm more into hanging out at calm and underground places, listening to jazz." Ball believes Bahati's best quality is his intelligence. Ball went so far as to say when Bahati decides to put the bicycle away, he would be willing him to offer him a job with either management or the Rock & Republic brand."He is very well-spoken," Ball said. "I can have a conversation with him about everything, from cycling to economics to fashion. He is so well-rounded."

 When asked about the chances of a Bahati repeat on Sunday, Ball was confident. "I believe he has an incredible chance and I wouldn't expect anything less from him."

 

 

SUNDAY CYCLING

 

WHAT: 47th annual Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix races

WHERE: The races start/finish at Live Oak Park

WHEN: Races begin at 7 a.m. with the 50-minute Women's Pro 1-2 Race scheduled for 11:15 a.m., and the 80-minute Men's Pro Race scheduled for 1:10 p.m.

Link with photo: http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/ci_9726839

 

ATTENTION: TONIGHT IF YOU HAVE YET TO START YOUR WEEKEND. AT 10:45 ILL HAVE A SHORT CLIP ON THE LOCAL NEWS CHANAL KCAL 9.

 

CHECK IT OUT.  

http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports

 

I have moved up in the ranks on the USA Crit Series. Here are the standings after Austin.

 

1. Rahsaan Bahati    Rock Racing                                          713
2. Yosvany Falcon    TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife    699
3. Jeff Hopkins        Team Inferno Pro Cycling                        643
4. Frank Travieso    TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife    578
5. Seth Hansley        Locos Grill & Pub                                   559
6. Adam Myerson    Time Pro Cycling                                     558
7. Ivan DOMINGUEZ    Toyota- United Pro Cycling Team          529
8. Kyle Wamsley    Colavita Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light     462
9. Alejandro Borrajo  Colavita Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light  461
10. Henk VOGELS    Toyota- United Pro Cycling Team             460

The team and I headed down to Austin, Tx for some good old bike racing held Saturday night in the streets of Austin, TX. Being one of my favorite places in the states, I arrived a day ahead of the team to spend some time in the heat and also to do a "training race" on Thursday night.

The cycling communities of Austin are absolutely amazing. They posses a lot of passion and enthusiasm for not only the race they are promoting but for their community, the children, kids with disabilities and many more things I learned while talking to Barry Lee one of the promoters of the race.

The whole weekend for me was great. The whole atmosphere was do for a fast exciting race.

So I heard through the grapevine that Rock Racing would be sponsoring the race as they did in Harlem the week before. Austin Rocks.... it just sounds good.  So Ball arrived with new kits in hand and with that, expecting results...as we all did.

The race got off to a great start. All the guys raced well but as sometimes we do, at the end of the race when it really counts, we as a team didn’t pull it together and I finished 9th after Toyota tried a shady move to prohibit the field from coming around them in the last two turns and in turn, Colivita stole the show.

I finished 9th. I'm waiting on the final tally of points to see my overall in the USA Crit Series standings. The current leader going into Austin failed to finish, so I should be the overall leader with 4 races to go.

I'm in Austin Texas right now and it’s hotter then fish grease.  The promoters got me down here early to do a training race I did tonight over on a motor racetrack and it was pretty cool. All the locals are way cool, way more laid back than the SoPro guys out in New York when we showed up in prospect park.....

    Anyways, it was fun and ill be doing some press stuff tomorrow and then racing Sat and Sun in the dryer.

ill try and have pics and a update from the races.

So most of you know that I was second in a bike throw at the Harlem crit last Sunday.

That whole week was very busy for me. MB had us running all over the place doing some cool things to promote not only our team but the race and this sport. I was nervous going into the race on Sunday only because my day before was 13 hours in the kit doing photo shoots and shooting a commercial.

However about 15 laps in I felt great, so I just let it rip. 

This race was HOT. Not sure what the temperature was but it was really hot.  Because we had live video feeds on our bikes, one of my water bottle cages got occupied by the camera, so at the start I’m drinking for the entire race...sucked.

Well to sum it up, the race I thought would be super safe because of the wide-open 4-corner course, however it was the total opposite. Total pandemonium the whole race. I saw a guy sprint for a prime and as he sprinting he clipped out his pedals, fell on the top tube with both legs on the ground and clips the fence and woshkaaa, buff down. It wasn’t funny, but then it was, because I saw the whole thing.

Later in the race a dangerous break got away and after a few unsuccessful attempts to bridge across by other guys, I took it amongst myself to get across. It hurt like hell to do it, but I did it in half a lap. But like always, once I get there everything shuts down.

10 to go the team gets on the front and set tempo to bring back two riders and to deliver me to the line.

Every lap guy where diving underneath me damn near taking me out. In the last lap the guy who won came underneath again in turn two almost crashing me and again in turn four. He hit me so hard, I ran into Ivan of Toyota Ivan then ran into Alejandro Borrajo of Colivita and we are heading right for the fence. We all stopped and Eric made it through taking the win.

I was very disappointed to lose that race in front of my sponsors and more importantly after the team busted their butt’s for me.
So…I looking forward to Austin this weekend and Manhattan Beach there after.  Also check out these videos http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/video

He took throwing your bike to a new level...

Harlem, N.Y. - Race winner Erik Barlevav (TIME Pro Cycling) hits the pavement after crossing the finish line of the 35th annual Skyscraper Harlem Cycling Classic

 

Photos courtesy: Vero Image

Oscar Sevilla killed it Yesterday

Sunday’s 156-mile (251 km) race begins with three one-mile parade laps around Central Philadelphia’s Eakins Oval and Logan Circles, followed by 10 laps of a 14.4-mile (23.1 km) circuit that begins and ends on Benjamin Franklin Parkway near the Philadelphia Museum of Art.