Burnham Racing and Vitaminwater-Trek have quickly come up with a spring criterium to replace the series we had hoped would happen in Vernon Hills.

The Spring Super Criterium will take place April 6 at the Blackhawk Farms Raceway in South Beloit, about two hours from Chicago. Discounted pre-registration is available.

“It’s a rally course,” says Eric Goodwin (Vitaminwater-Trek). “Twists and turns like Laguna Seca without the elevation. There are some false flats though.” This video of the 1.9-mile course makes the turns look as gentle as they come, and indeed it looks more like a circuit race than the criteriums we’re used to. I’m looking forward to it.

We all will miss Parkside, but this should be a good, low-key tuneup for the season ahead. I expect it will draw teams from Madison and Milwaukee. Masters racing is available for the men, so there will be no reason not to race two or even three times.

Thomas Lynch this morning pleaded not guilty to the seven felony charges related to September’s paceline incident on St. Mary’s Road. The judge set a May 12 trial date.

The six counts of aggravated battery carry sentences of two to five years. The count of failure to stop after an accident causing injuries carries a sentence of one to three years. In addition, Lynch faces $25,000 in fines.

• » The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation is looking for new bike ambasssadors.
• » VeloNews legal columnist Bob Mionske will be speaking tomorrow night at Turin, 1027 Davis St. in Evanston. A reception will be at 6:30 p.m. with a talk at 7. (Mionske’s most recent column addresses cyclists’ rights in Wisconsin.)
• » Seattle study: Caffeine is bad for cyclist.
• » A few Chicago racers headed to Tennessee last Memorial Day for the Edgar Soto Memorial Stage Race, but the event has been changed to two June criteriums. It’s a trek, but an alternative might be the Duluth Classic.

A cyclist was killed this morning after an SUV struck him during a street race.

Matt Manger-Lynch, 29, was at the front of a large group of riders competing in the Tour da Chicago, a popular alleycat series. The pack was heading southeast on Lincoln and attempted to cross Irving Park against a red light. An eastbound SUV entered from Irving Park and struck him. He died on the scene.

I do not know much about Matt, other than that he was married, and that his results had been impressing people.  He was not affiliated with a team, but he had recently acquired a license and was looking forward to sanctioned racing.

I have been in touch with riders who were both in the pack as well as some who happened to be on the sidewalk at the time. All are incredibly shaken.

Alleycats are normally outside my purview

— note that today’s race did not include checkpoints, so some would not consider it a true alleycat —

  but I’ll continue to update this post as I learn more about the incident and about Matt.

7 p.m.: The coroner is giving media the name “Matt Mager,” but I’ve spoken to more witnesses and am confident that it was indeed Matt Lynch.

2/25 10 a.m.: Media and friends are reporting his full name as Matt Manger-Lynch.

2/26 8 a.m.: The Tribune has a story about the racing aspect of Sunday’s collision, including more information about Matt. “‘He was very excited about [the racing],’ said Elizabeth Lynch, Manger-Lynch’s wife. ‘It was organized fun, and he got to be a little competitive.’” (I’m not bothering to read the comments on the story. I can only imagine how full of ugly, gleeful callousness they are.)

Here is Matt’s obituary, along with his Legacy guestbook.  Visitation will be Thursday near Milwaukee. Memorials may be made to the YMCA Camp Manito-wish, Box 246, Boulder Junction, WI 54512; or to the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, 9 W. Hubbard St., Suite 402, Chicago, IL 60610-6545.

Finally, here are pictures a friend of Matt has posted to Flickr.

2/27 11 a.m.: The Tribune editorial board responds to the tragedy by staking a position of being pro-courtesy, anti-races without port-o-potties.

Last week’s system upgrade prompted me to do a complete overhaul of the CBR look and feel. I hope you like it.

A few notes:

• » Members can now submit avatars that will show up alongside their comments.
• » The top logo features two new sprinters. Same contest as last time: A Clif Bar to the person who can correctly name both riders.
• » A wider canvas means photos will run even bigger this year.
• » IE 6 has a few issues with the site, but I don’t have a very good way to debug. If what you see is hinky, feel free to send me a screen shot — along with a 200-word essay explaining why you continue to use the Huffy of browsers.
• » Coming within a few weeks: An upgrade of the race calendar, including search and sort features.

Again, feel free to contact me with any bugs or errors you find.

Rats!

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Happy Wednesday! This week: Tour of California. CBR cousins. Bike polo.

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The March 2 opener of the Kenosha Velosport Spring Training Series has been canceled.

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A grand jury on Wednesday indicted Thomas Lynch on six counts of aggravated battery and one count of failure to stop after an accident causing injuries in connection with September's paceline incident on St. Mary's Road.

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