3 laps. Race Direction: Counter-Clockwise (Into the Woods).
Marcus Kennedy gets his redemption. After finishing 4th last year while tied on points with Tom Repkoe, Kennedy had unfinished business. His approach was challenging at best. Coming into the night in 7th place, he had to nail two wins to have a shot at 5th, or so he thought. But he didn’t get the win in Race 1. Aaron Longstaff gave it a rip and got Marcus at the end. That allowed Jake Looney to stay in 5th after Race 1, but the margins were insanely tight, and Marcus in 6th. It left Marcus with one option: Win or risk not being on the podium at all – let alone 5th.
He went all in. He dropped Aaron Snyder early on lap 1, leaving Aaron in no man’s land. A group behind formed with Jake Looney, Scott Effting, Ben Strine, and Andrew Dudle. Looney and Effting worked well together as teammates to put bodies between Looney and Dudle to secure that gap. Looney knew Kennedy was a threat, though. At the start of race 2, he offered to buy anyone a beer if they could beat Kennedy (once he confirmed Bright Path and New Trail beers were free at the afterparty 😆). But little could they have predicted that Looney would finish one point AHEAD of Kennedy in the final standings. And that’s the magic of #fifthisfirst – you don’t really know until you know. It would make sense for Kennedy to be ahead of Looney and for Looney to need as many points as possible, thereby targeting a finish at the front of the group he was in. Had Effting and Looney switched places, Looney would be 5th. But it’s a bike race, and the scoring is defined from the start; the riders have to do their best to figure it out. Congrats to Marcus on his season championship!
| Placing | BIB | Name | Team | Gender | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | MARCUS KENNEDY | Team BSR | M | 120 |
| 2 | 134 | AARON SNYDER | M | 110 | |
| 3 | 3 | JAKE LOONEY | ACTION WHEELS RACING | M | 104 |
| 4 | 420 | SCOTT EFFTING | ACTION WHEELS RACING | M | 100 |
| 5 | 263 | BEN STRINE | 717 Cycling | M | 96 |
| 6 | 2 | ANDREW DUDLE | Doylestown Bike Works p/b Fred Beans | M | 92 |
| 7 | 7 | SEAN SMITH | JB’s Bike Shop Racing | M | 88 |
| 8 | 8 | ANDREW AMEY | The Velo Shop | M | 86 |
| 9 | 60 | ZACHARY SAURMAN | M | 84 | |
| 10 | 299 | MARC INNELLA | M | 82 | |
| 11 | 300 | MATT COLLINS | M | 80 | |
| 12 | 298 | DAN LARINO | M | 78 | |
| 13 | 132 | JOHN EORIO | Scooters Bike Shop | M | 76 |
| 14 | 173 | RYAN SMOLKO | The Valley Om p/b Two Rivers Brewing | M | 74 |
| 15 | 155 | LUKE WYNEN | m | 72 | |
| 16 | 308 | DAVID BALAZS | ACTION WHEELS RACING Pb PARANORMAL PIZZA | M | 70 |
| 17 | 246 | STEVE SCHWARZ | The Naughty List | M | 68 |
| 18 | 156 | SELAH WYNEN | Independent Youth Cycling | F | 66 |
| 19 | 289 | ROBERT WATTS | NJCX PROJECT | M | 64 |
| 20 | 131 | SCOTT HOLJES | M | 62 | |
| 21 | 266 | MIKE EMERY | Balboni Brothers Racing | M | 60 |
| 22 | 51 | DAVE LLOYD | Indie | M | 58 |
| 23 | 198 | SOPHIE FOLMAR | Twin Valley | F | 56 |
| 24 | 48 | ADAM HOFF | Hoff Cycles | M | 54 |
| 25 | 40 | ADAM BURKE | Liberty Grant Off-Road | M | 52 |
| 26 | 142 | MICHAEL YARNALL | M | 50 | |
| 27 | 13 | ELODIE BURLET | Saucon Valley Bikes | F | 48 |
| 28 | 170 | JASON FARNSWORTH | VMB | M | 46 |
| 29 | 23 | RYAN WHEATLEY | M | 44 | |
| 30 | 55 | CRAIG PYNDINSKI | M | 42 | |
| 31 | 666 | HARLEY DETRICK | Hair by Harley | M | 40 |
| 32 | 99 | KENNY FISHER | Hunt Enginering Company Cycling | M | 38 |
| 33 | 94 | LEE MCILVAINE | M | 36 | |
| 34 | 227 | MICHAEL KUZMISSION | M | 34 | |
| 35 | 12 | MORGAN BLASER | Lehigh Valley Composite MTB Team | F | 32 |
| 36 | 310 | PAISLEY CRAWFORD | Keystone Composite | F | 30 |
| 37 | 258 | RYAN DAUGHERTY | M | 28 | |
| 38 | 47 | MATT RICE | Balboni Brothers Racing | M | 26 |
| 39 | 148 | DAVE LARITZ | M | 24 | |
| 40 | 133 | RJ CASSI | M | 22 | |
| 41 | 49 | DAVE PRZEKURAT | M | 20 | |
| 42 | 241 | HENRY JONES | Lehigh Valley Thunder | M | 18 |
| 43 | 43 | GREG WESOLOWICH | Bike Works p/b Fred Beans | M | 16 |
| 44 | 292 | NATHANIEL HARRISON | M | 14 | |
| 45 | 64 | COLIN SHERIDAN | Golden Coins Co | M | 12 |
| 46 | 309 | DEL HAWBAKER | M | 10 | |
| 47 | 44 | GREG SCHOLZ | Lehigh Valley Composite MTB Team | M | 8 |
| 48 | 167 | SIG GROSS | Keswick Cycles Shop | M | 6 |
| 49 | 1 | BEN DOUGLAS | M | 4 | |
| 50 | 112 | OWEN LICHTENWALNER | lupine factory racing | M | 2 |
| 51 | 114 | SORREL DENARDO | Lehigh Valley Lightening Emmaus | M | 0 |
| 52 | 35 | DON POST | V5 Cycles/Century Road Club of America | M | 0 |
| 53 | 178 | BLAKE TART | DJ Blake | M | 0 |
| 54 | 14 | TAYLOR ROJEK | Emmaus Bad Decisions Club | F | 0 |
| 55 | 272 | SEAN MCDONNELL | The Slower One | M | 0 |
| 56 | 145 | WES YARNALL | M | 0 | |
| 57 | 16 | EVELYN SCHOLZ | Lehigh Valley Lightning/EMMAUS | F | 0 |
| 58 | 24 | DANIEL FEENEY | Feeney and Co | M | 0 |
| 59 | 295 | ROBERT WILSON | M | 0 | |
| 60 | 311 | JASON FERRARO | M | 0 | |
| 61 | 256 | EMILY KUZMISSION | F | 0 | |
| 62 | 306 | BRADY WALLIS | M | 0 | |
| 63 | 73 | ALAN HULSIZER | M | 0 | |
| 64 | 293 | DAVID SANDOVAL | m | 0 | |
| 65 | 273 | LISA DENARDO | Keystone Running Store | F | 0 |
| 66 | 301 | LIAM DOVICO | M | 0 | |
| 67 | 288 | LANDRY CRAWFORD | Keystone Composite | M | 0 |
| 68 | 11 | JANELLE JACQUES | JB’s Bike Shop Racing | F | 0 |
| 69 | 113 | WILLIAM BRAY | Saucon Valley Bikes | M | 0 |
| 70 | 108 | ERIC MOXNESS | M | 0 | |
| 71 | 152 | DAVID HART | M | 0 | |
| 72 | 104 | JASON NUSS | M | 0 | |
| 73 | 249 | RYAN DIXON | m | 0 | |
| 74 | 5 | TOM REPKOE | Scooters Bike Shop | M | 0 |
| 75 | 158 | AARON LONGSTAFF | Scooters Bike Shop | M | 0 |
| 76 | 103 | EVAN LICHTENWALNER | lupine factory racing | M | 0 |
| 77 | 19 | ELIANA MUMAW | Team BSR | F | 0 |
| 78 | 139 | THEODORE STROHLER | M | 0 | |
| 79 | 29 | EZRA MUMAW | Team BSR | M | 0 |
| 80 | 57 | GARDY RAYMOND | KickAss, LLC | M | 0 |
| 81 | 69 | DAN MORIARTY | Kempton Excavating | M | 0 |
| 82 | 286 | RIVER CRAWFORD | Keystone Composite | M | 0 |
| 83 | 285 | ARIANA BRUTICO | PICL | F | 0 |
| 84 | 307 | MEGAN WALLIS | f | 0 | |
| 85 | 188 | NICHOLAS SCHELL | Instigators | M | 0 |
| 86 | 220 | EMY KRESSLER | KD Kraft Drinks | F | 0 |
| 87 | 45 | ANDREW SCHNEIDER | Party Size Cycling | M | 0 |
| 88 | 168 | VAUGHN SCHNEIDER | M | 0 |
After Race 1, the top 5 reflected what we saw coming into the night. But the margins between 4th through 6th were very tight. Sophie Folmar, Janelle Jacques, and Evie Scholz were just a few points apart. Their finish order could affect the podium. Amazingly enough, each of them had the same strategy: go as fast as possible in the final race. No games could be afforded. With Selah Wynen taking maximum points, she would get on the podium, and that would keep one of the three in 6th place (off the podium). Morgan Blaser could not drop down enough to fall off the podium, nor could Taylor Rojek.
In the race, Folmar had a strong start. With nearly perfect conditions, she was able to rip around the course, overcoming some of her technical deficiencies. And Scholz, to her credit, raced one of the strongest races of her season to finish 7th behind Rojek. That left Jacques at risk of falling off the podium entirely by the end. But Fifth Street is a funny beast of calculations, and like in the Overall points contention by Looney, 24 race starts with a few comeback opportunities built in, giving everyone a shot at the championship. Though Jacques finished the last race in 10th, she still held a two-point advantage over Scholz, pushing Scholz off the podium and awarding Jacques the 2025 Season XX championship.
| BIB | NAME | TEAM | POINTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 156 | SELAH WYNEN | Independent Youth Cycling | 30 |
| 2 | 198 | SOPHIE FOLMAR | Twin Valley | 24 |
| 3 | 13 | ELODIE BURLET | Saucon Valley Bikes | 20 |
| 4 | 12 | MORGAN BLASER | Lehigh Valley Composite MTB Team | 18 |
| 5 | 310 | PAISLEY CRAWFORD | Keystone Composite | 16 |
| 6 | 14 | TAYLOR ROJEK | Emmaus Bad Decisions Club | 14 |
| 7 | 16 | EVELYN SCHOLZ | Lehigh Valley Lightning/EMMAUS | 12 |
| 8 | 256 | EMILY KUZMISSION | 10 | |
| 9 | 273 | LISA DENARDO | Keystone Running Store | 8 |
| 10 | 11 | JANELLE JACQUES | JB’s Bike Shop Racing | 6 |
| 11 | 19 | ELIANA MUMAW | Team BSR | 4 |
| 12 | 285 | ARIANA BRUTICO | PICL | 2 |
| 13 | 220 | EMY KRESSLER | KD Kraft Drinks | 0 |
Use these boxes to dig into the data!
Double Cross Standings