The U.S. men were not lucky in the other races. Jeff Simon was DQ'd for impeding in his 500 semifinal victory, bumping him from the finals, while teammate J.P. Kepka could not match his semifinal victory and slipped with two laps to go, robbing him of his momentum and landing him in fourth place during the finals.

In the men's 5,000 relay, Simon lost his balance on a corner and went tumbling into the side padding. Despite a furious rally over the final 30 laps of the 45-lap race, the American relay team was unable to make up enough ground to overtake Korea or China to advance to today's final.

Especially impressive was the sold out crowd of 2,500 at the oval cheering on the skaters. The ticket office had to turn away a few hundred fans who arrived after the stands had reached their capacity.

After two days of racing, those fans will get one more chance to watch the action as the final stop on the 2008 world cup tour will wrap up today with finals in the relays, the men's and women's 1,000 and another set of finals in the 500. Competition starts at 3 p.m.

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E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com