MTB News & Racing Round-up, August 13, 2009

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Date published:

August 13, 2009, 17:47

Edited by Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

Welcome to our regular roundup of what's happening in mountain biking. Feel free to send feedback, news, & releases to mtb@cyclingnews.com and results, reports & photos to cyclingnews@cyclingnews.com.

• Kurschat to skip mountain bike World Championships

  

  Article published:

  August 13, 2009, 11:25

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  German cross country champion focusing instead on World Cup finale

  Following a discussion with team management, Wolfram Kurschat, the German national cross country champion, decided against travelling to Australia for the World Championships at the beginning of September. Instead, Kurschat will continue to focus his efforts on the World Cup series.

  Kurschat has been having his best season ever on the circuit after taking two second place finishes in Offenburg and Houffalize, and he is currently fifth in the general classification. The German hopes to make a strong impression as the series wraps up in  late September.

  Kurschat cited several reasons for not going to the World Championships including the time required for the World Championships, adjusting to the local time zone, the lengthy flight and the stress of the event. The World Cup penultimate round, in Switzerland on September 12-13, comes  just one week after the worlds in Australia.  The finale follows one week later on September 19-20, in Austria.

  "Undoubtedly this is detrimental to the chances of winning for the rest of the year, and the penultimate World Cup is just a week following Australia. When looked at from this perspective, it is a clear decision," read a statement from the team.

  The 2010 calendar may be more appealing to some as the World Championships will be the final major international event, just one week after the final World Cup and located geographically in the same time zone on the same continent. Next year the final World Cup in Windham, New York, will precede the World Championships in Mont Sainte Anne, Quebec, Canada.

• Windham Mountain hosts ProXCT Finals

  

  Article published:

  August 12, 2009, 16:26

  By:

  Dave McElwaine

  (Updated) Racing action to heat up at next year's World Cup venue

  All of the top North Amercian racers will head to Windham Mountain this weekend for the finale of the US Pro Cross Country Tour (ProXCT) series. Cross country, short track, and team titles will be awarded after a highly competitive six-race series that started in Fontana, California, back in April.

  Gravity events will also be held as part of the Windham Yankee Clipper and the US Pro Gravity (ProGrt) Tour. Some top level racers are expected to compete so they can check out the newly built four cross and modified downhill courses. Racing disciplines will also include super D, dual slalom, and downhill.

  UCI points will be awarded for cross country, four cross and downhill events.

  Last year was Windham Mountain's first year hosting mountain bike events. The ski resort, only 140 miles from downtown Manhattan, made a major investment into course construction and it has paid off. Windham Mountain has been named as a 2010 World Cup Venue for both gravity and cross country events and will directly precede the World Championships held at Mont Sainte Anne a week later. Riders from as many as 35 countries are expected to attend the races at Windham.

  Cyclingnews reported last year that the courses were "World Cup class" and "the most fun courses of the year". Then US national cross country champion and current US national short track champion Adam Craig (Giant) said, "That is a hard, proper, mountain bike course". US short track national champion Georgia Gould (Luna Women's MTB) said, "They did such a great job building this course. You could tell they put a lot of work into it-it is really great."

  Cross country

  US ProXCT series leaders Catherine Pendrel (Luna Women's MTB) and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski will attempt to wrap up their series titles. Pendrel, the second ranked rider in the world, has won three straight ProXCT events including Mt. Snow last weekend. JHK, while winless this season in the series, has a sizeable lead due to his consistency.

  Pendrel currently has a 20-point lead over her teammate Georgia Gould. With five points awarded per position in the race, Gould would have to finish at least five positions ahead of Pendrel to take the series. At last year's race, Gould won convincingly by 1:27, but Penrel was second. With Gould not satisfied with her fourth place finish at Mount Snow, she will certainly be looking to redeem herself at Windham.

  The men's race last year was perhaps the most stunning of the year. Mattieu Toulouse (Team Maxxis) won in a sprint to the line against Adam Craig. While Toulouse has retired from racing, his teammate Canadian champion Geoff Kabush will be competing at this year's event. Kabush won the Bromont World Cup two weeks ago, and then followed it up with a win at Mount Snow. Only Todd Wells (Specialized) and Sid Taberlay (ShoAir/Specialized) were able stay with Kabush for most of the race.

  JHK leads the series by 25 points. Only a catastrophe could dislodge him from the title. In 2006 he faced a similar situation at the Snowmass, Colorado, finals. He rode a strong race but rode somewhat conservatively on the descents to keep his bike together and assure he finished. The same could happen at Windham Mountain.

  Adam Craig was easily the best descender at last year's race. Winless this season on the ProXCT circuit, he will certainly be looking to turn this advantage into a victory.

  Rick Hodge, the Windham Race Director, reports that “The UCI wanted to shorten the course and make it more spectator friendly.” As a result, the course has been reduced from 4.8 miles to 3.2 miles. It still will include a couple dozen man-made bridges, two flyovers, and technical trails where every rock placement has been thought out. Tons of flat rock has been placed in strategic places to make the course flow like few others in North America. Man-made berms allow the rides to carry high speed through the turns on the long descent. Climbing will be 1,100 feet per lap on singletrack and some relatively steep fire roads.

  The one drawback of the course last year was the bumpy traverses across the ski slopes. This forced many of the top riders to race on their full-suspension bikes. The organizers report that many of these sections have now been "ridden in" and should be quite a bit smoother.

  Short track

  Barring a disaster, Todd Wells has the Trailwatch.net short track series all but wrapped up with a 45-point lead over Carl Decker (Team Giant). He also won the Windham short track event in 2008. The real battle may be between Decker and JHK who trails Decker by only five points in the standings. If JHK can finish two spots ahead of Decker, he could take second place away. Both of them will know the math heading into the race.

  Only two women have a shot at winning two short track races this season; Heather Irmiger (Gary Fisher/Subaru) and Katerina Nash (Luna Women's MTB). While it is quite likely that Irmiger's 30-point lead in the series will be sufficient to give her the title, both women would like to win this race. Last year Nash won the event and Irmiger was fifth. Georgia Gould was second, only two seconds behind Nash.

  Lea Davison has put the other riders on notice, saying "It's the last short track of the season and I will be going all out." Davison crashed hard at Mt. Snow last week and was a bit bruised afterwards. She finished third two years in a row at the United States championships.

  The short track course at Windham Mountain has far less climbing than the last two short track events that the racers have faced. The start on a fireroad climb, make a 180-degree turn onto some off-camber grass, then ride a lumpy downhill with more off-camber sections until the course bottoms out near the ski lodge. It continues along a flat before riders tackle a small climb on a sweeping turn that brings them back to the start/finish.

  Gravity - Downhill and four cross

  Windham marks the fourth stop on the US ProGRT. In the downhill, only 10 points separate the top four men. Series leader Kain Leonard (Crested Butte Mtn Sports) sits just one point ahead of Chris Heath (Manitou-Hayes), however Chris Boice (Yeti-FoxShox) and Aaron Gwin (Yeti-FoxShox) sit just within striking distance.

  In the women's field, Darian Harvey (Cannondale) has a bit more of a comfortable lead over the field, but will be determined to maintain her advantage through the final rounds.

  In the four cross, 2009 US four cross national champion and series leader Mitch Ropelato (Café Rio - Canfield Bros) has a sizeable lead over the field and barring any mistakes should see gold at the end. That will not distress the field as they do their best to upset this young pinner.

  Series leader Jackie Harmony (Vixen Racing) looks to assert herself as the women's four cross champion, but with Harvey and others hot on her tail, she'll have a tough battle on her hands.

  The weather is this weekend looks good with partly sunny skies forecast and temperatures in the low 80s. Hodge reports, "Everything is drying up well. There are a few running water spots but the mud is not a factor."

  Stay tuned to Cyclingnews this weekend for coverage of all events. We will also bring you some photos and a preview of the World Cup gravity courses.

• Wallace wraps up three-day solo TransRockies with victory

  

  Article published:

  August 12, 2009, 16:18

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  Wrong turn mixes up inaugural TR3 results

  Colin Kerr seemed to race to a win in the final stage three of the TR3, a three-day solo version of the TransRockies on Tuesday. However, Kerr's win wasn't truly a win. While riding in second place in the open men's division, Kerr inadvertently shortcut the course and passed the first place rider Cory Wallace - as well as the first place overall team, Rocky Mountain. Kerr was penalized 10 minutes, which dropped him to third for the stage.

  Behind, Wallace and Roddi Lega (Team Pedal Head) were having a classic battle with Lega using his singletrack skills to close in the technical sections only to have Wallace pull back out on the climbs. In the end, the final climb was enough to give Wallace a 20-second win and the overall GC as well. Kerr and Lega would finish, respectively, second and third overall.

  In the open women's category of the TR3, Katharina Beeler of Arizona confirmed her overall win with a third straight stage win. Craig Bartlett of Canmore won his battle extraordinaire with Calvin Zaryski with his second straight stage win in the Master Men (40+) category.

  The TR3 is in its first year after participants requested a solo version of the TransRockies. While the TR3 spanned only the first three days of the full event, TransRockies participants, racing in the original two-person team format, have another four stages to go.

  Stefan Widmer and Marty Lazarski (Team Rocky Mountain) are leading the race ahead of the hard-battling Portugese team of Joao Marinho and Jose Silva and visitPA.com's Ray Adams and Ryan Leech.

  Stay tuned to Cyclingnews for full coverage of the TransRockies.

• Mountain biker Peraud to race road worlds

  

  Article published:

  August 12, 2009, 16:13

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  Frenchman will compete in time trial

  Mountain biker Jean Christophe Peraud was selected to represent the French national team at the UCI road world championships next month in Switzerland.

  Peraud was named to the time trial squad by the French Cycling Federation after he won the French national time trial in June in Saint-Brieuc.

  Peraud is well known as a star in mountain biking. One year ago, he won a silver medal in the cross country race at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

  Peraud, who races for Team Massi, will ride a bike with a custom paint job that includes the colours of the French flag in honor of his national championship title.
   

• JHK takes over US ProXCT series lead

  

  Article published:

  August 12, 2009, 15:22

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  Pendrel keeps women's lead

  Geoff Kabush (Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) earned a convincing win in the men's cross country race this past weekend at Mount Snow's Mountain Bike Festival, the fifth stop on the American ProXCT series presented by Sho-air. Another Canadian, Catherine Pendrel (Luna) took the women's victory.

  The results of round five mixed up the men's series standings. With all but the finals completed, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher) took over the series lead from Max Plaxton (Sho-air-Specialized), and Sid Taberlay (Sho-air-Specialized) moved into second position.

  In the women's standings, Catherine Pendrel (Luna) continues to lead the women with Georgia Gould (Luna) hot on her heels.

  The Mount Snow race weekend also featured a short track contest. Specialized's Todd Wells finished second and held onto his short track series lead. And although Katerina Nash (Luna) won the women's race, Heather Irmiger (Subaru-Gary Fisher) holds the women's series lead.

  The US ProXCT will conclude this weekend at the Yankee Clipper at Windham Mountain in New York on August 15.

  Results

  Men's cross country series standings

  #	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
  1	Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher)	460	pts
  2	Sid Taberlay (Aus) Sho-air-Specialized	435
  3	Max Plaxton (Can) Sho-air-Specialized	420
  4	Todd Wells (USA) Specialized Factory Racing	405
  5	Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain	36

  Women's cross country series standings

  #	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
  1	Catherine Pendrel (Can) Luna	495	pts
  2	Georgia Gould (USA) Luna	475
  3	Heather Irmiger (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher	400
  4	Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna	330
  5	Pua Sawicki (USA) Ellsworth	310

  Men's short track series standings

  #	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
  1	Todd Wells (USA) Specialized	250	pts
  2	Carl Decker (USA) Giant	205
  3	Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru Gary Fisher	205
  4	Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis - Rocky Mountain	160
  5	Adam Craig (USA) Giant	145

  Women's short track series standings

  #	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
  1	Heather Irmiger (USA) Subaru Gary Fisher	235	pts
  2	Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna	205
  3	Georgia Gould (USA) Luna	200
  4	Catherine Pendrel (Can) Luna	175
  5	Pua Sawicki (USA) Ellsworth	145