MTB news & racing round-up for February 2, 2006
Edited by Steve Medcroft
Welcome to our regular roundup of what's happening in MTB and Cyclo-cross.
Feel free to send feedback, news and gossip to mtb@cyclingnews.com
Jongewaard takes Wildside crown
Life's a beach
Photo ©: Rick Eaves
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Former Australian cross country champion and Commonwealth Games contender,
Chris Jongewaard from South Australia, has taken out the 2006 Wildside
MTB in convincing style after completing the last manic stage along Ocean
Beach at Strahan.
It's the first time the 26-year old part-time chippie and full-time hard-man
has secured the title, in an overall winning time of 5hours 33mins and
7 secs to cover over 200-kilometres and seven stages of the best trails
Tasmania has to offer from Cradle Mountain to Strahan. Jongewaard put the
hurt on the competition king, Sid Taberlay (5:39:50) from stage 2 and
never looked back, the final margin a whopping 6 minutes and 43 seconds.
After the event a triumphant and relieved Jongewaard took the Wildside
crown from Taberlay, its only owner to date. "The only guy to win it is
Sid so it's pretty special, to get up in the Wildside. I'm stoked," he
said.
For the rest of 2006 Wildside MTB Stage Race final stage race report,
click
here.
NZ National Championships; Leuchs aims for Gold
French-based Dunedin cross country rider Kashi Leuchs achieved his first
of three goals in Nelson on Sunday by winning the New Zealand National Mountain
Biking cross country Championship title. Leuchs, who lists the National,
Oceania and Commonwealth titles as his key goals before heading back to
the World Cup circuit in April, got off to a flying a start and did not
look back.
Meanwhile the scorching conditions, big crowds, high tension and fast
times combined to make last weekend's National Downhill and Cross Country
Mountain Bike Championships a spectacular weekend of mountain biking all
round.
The Downhill National Championship on Saturday produced fast times on
the 2.5 km course, with team mates Nathan Rankin and Glenn Haden taking
first and second respectively with less than a second between them. Local
rider Kieran Bennett (Nelson) was third.
The elite women's field was lacking former world champions Vanessa Quin
and Scarlett Hagan but did see Auckland rider Jennifer Mackgill produce
a fast time to take the women's title.
For brief results and the full report, click
here.
Aussie National Mountain Cross Series winners
Now that all the races are in the books, MTBA announced the winners of
the Australian National Mountain Cross Championship Series this week.
The series winner for elite men is Luke Strom (248pts) just ahead of the
winner of the Sydney Olympic park round 1, Alex Lloyd (225pts) and in
third place is Dennis Beare (188pts). Luke finished 10th overall in last
year's NORBA series with several top ten results. He's been working with
Stéphane Girard (the French coach of Villoux, Minnaar etc.) and they decided
together that Luke should now focus on MX - and the results show.
In open women, the clear leader is Emma McNaughton (360pts) over ACT
rider Claire Whiteman (185pts) and Sarsha McGowan (175pts).
Tom Patton had a very consistent season, and as a result took out the
Junior men class on 233 points followed by Ashley Grundy (176pts) and
Graeme Mudd (145pts).
And lastly, but by no means the least, Randal Huntington was a close
winner of the sport men class on 245 points just in front of James Collins
(210pts) and in 3rd place Bruce Watman (130pts).
Goldman crowned winner at The Gathering
Dirt Competition
Santa Cruz Syndicate's Jamie Goldman was on fire at The Gathering, a
dirt jump and skatepark competition held January 27th-28th in Renton,
Washington, USA. Goldman (Santa Cruz, SRAM, Rock Shox) won the overall by earning
third in the dirt jump competition and fifth in the skatepark; the only
rider to podium in both events.
Spectators packed the stadium on Friday night to watch the dirt jump
competition. Kurt Voreis (in attendance but not competing due to an ankle
in jury) had a lot to say about the event. "The bleachers were filled
with about 500 people who paid $15.00 a pop for both nights to be there,
which is pretty unbelievable in the mountain bike world for a dirt jump/skatepark
comp. A few BMX'ers showed up. Legend Leigh Ramsdell came out and was
thoroughly impressed. Ruel Erickson throwing down a decade over the second
set had a good outing, but wasn't strong enough for the mountain bike
contingent. Finals actually happened in the practice before the finals.
Some of the stuff getting thrown down in hopes to pull off a new trick
for the final was sick. Those guys were going insane!"
The dream tricks didn't prevail this night. It was all the stylish tricks:
360's, x-ups, cans, that were taken higher and more stylish which brought
it to a new level."
Pro Dirt Finals top five
1 Darren Berrecloth
2 Paul Basagoitia
3 Jamie Goldman
4 Greg Watts
5 Sam Miller
Skatepark Competition
The skatepark comp was held Saturday night. Voreis said, "The four man
jam sessions moved things along efficiently. The six-minute format allows
the rider to take a break while another rider takes a line. This gives
them a chance to perfect their line and look for a possible new line while
others are search for theirs. The riders end up completing four or more
runs each in a six-minute jam session."
Goldman, who placed fifth, preferred the format over a single run saying,
"I was stoked about how the jam session went. It made you get super psyched
about what other guys were doing and made you want to try other stuff.
It was like the dirt jump comp going off, how crazy it was! I flipped
the spine and did a flip, 1-footed x-up on the spine, things I had never
done before. I never flipped a spine until this comp,"
Pro Park Finals top five
1 Phil Sundbaum (3-whipped a box)
2 Aaron Chase (barrel rolled the transfer)
3 Ryan Sundbaum (landed a double tail whip)
4 Andrew Carpenter (landed a brakeless 720)
5 Jamie Goldman (flip, 1-ft. x-up on the spine)
World championship venues announced
After a meeting of the UCI Management Committee in Kleve, Germany, venues
for various world championship events for the next 2-3 years were awarded.
After the successful Revolution series of track meetings were once again
popular in 2005, Manchester will host the 2008 track world championships.
The 2007 junior world championships will be held in Aguascalientes, Mexico,
with the 2008 event to be held in Cape Town, South Africa. The 2008
MTB marathon world championships were awarded to the Italian city
of Villabassa while the track masters world championships for the years
2007-09 will be staged in Sydney, Australia. Finally, the cyclo-cross
masters world championships for 2007-09 were awarded to the Belgian city
of Mol.
UCI announces Mountain Bike World Cup Organiser's Trophy
The UCI awarded it's Organiser's Cup this week; an award to recognize
the best World Cup venues for the 2005 season.
In the Cross Country, Houffalize, Belgium was awarded the top trophy
with Spa Francorchamps, Belgium second and Madrid, Spain third. In Downhill,
Scotland's Fort William got the nod and Balneario Cambriu, Brazil and
Mont Sainte-Anne the honourable mentions.
MTB World Cup registration open
USA Cycling announced that it is processing UCI World Cup registration
applications for U.S. mountain bikers this week. Downhill and 4-Cross
registrants no longer need any UCI points to register for a mountain bike
World Cup. A rider must have a valid international license and be a U.S.
citizen to enter a race through USA Cycling. Registration forms and procedures
for the 2006 UCI Mountain Bike World Cups can be accessed through the
links below.
Click
here for a complete schedule of the 2006 mountain bike world cups
and deadlines.
Click
here for registration procedures.
Click
here for the registration form.
Forms should be faxed to Marlis Johnson at (719) 866-4764 or mailed to:
Marlis Johnson
USA Cycling
1 Olympic Plaza
Colorado Springs, CO 80909
No drops allowed in NORBA Marathon Series
Organiser of the U.S. based National Off-Road Bicycling National Mountain
Bike Series announced the series rules and regulations this week. One
significant change in the 2006 series over the 2005 series is the handling
of event 'drops'; a rule that allows a racer to drop a specific of their
results from a season (typically one race per season).
Changes for the 2006 series include the assignment of no drops in the
marathon or Super D series (compared to one drop in the 2005). Which means
contenders for the marathon overall title will need to attend all five
races in the series. All five races are in West Coast venues, which puts
a burden on East Coast athletes, but makes it a little simpler for West
Coast racers to afford the travel to each event.
Two drops will be allowed in both the Mountain Cross and Downhill series.
One in the cross-country and short-track endurance series. In each series
that allows a drop, the National Mountain Bike Series finals cannot be
used as the dropped race.
The 2006 NORBA Marathon Series race schedule
March 24, Nova Desert Classic, Phoenix, AZ
May 5-7, Southridge Park, CA
July 7-9, Deer Valley Resort, Park City, UT
July 14-16, Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, CA
August 4-6, Brian Head Resort, Brian Head, UT
For complete and current series rules, check out the NORBA
Nationals Web site.
'Race under the Sun' offers a warm season start
Organisers of the 'Race under the Sun' a new MTB race in Cyprus, March
19, 2006 are making final preparations for what promises to be a world-class
event. Thomas Frischknecht's Swisspower team has recently confirmed its
participation in the event which will take place in the town of Limassol/Yermasoyia.
The Swiss outfit will be sending three riders, including Frischknecht,
along with Nino Schurter and Till Marx.
Organisers hope that the Race under the Sun will be a good test for elite
riders before the first World Cup round in Curacao two weeks later, April
1-2. The similarity of the two climates during March will offer riders
who train and race in Cyprus the chance to acclimatise to the warm conditions
also present in Curacao.
Florida MTB stage race planned for April
Josh Van Cleef, Director of Florida mountain bike stage race, the Santos
Triple Bypass, announced that the 2006 event will take place April 22
and 23, 2006, in Belleview, Florida, USA.
The three stage event will be open to all NORBA (National Off-Road Bicycling
Association) categories. Final awards will be based on traditional stage
race timing, where the lowest combined time from all three stages determines
the winner.
Stages 1 and 2 will be held on Saturday, April 22. Stage 1 will be a
circuit race contested on a 1.5 mile cross-country course. Stage 2 will
be the 8.5 mile Cytomax Time Trial. Stage 3, April 23, is Florida's first
Marathon race. Pro and Expert classes will complete approximately 62 miles
(100k) of backcountry racing. Sport and Beginner classes will run shortened
40- and 20- mile stages, respectively.
Proceeds from the race will benefit the Ocala Mountain Bike Association,
who built and maintains the Santos Trails. Complete details are available
now at http://www.mtbstagerace.com.
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