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MTB News & racing round-up for July 13, 2006Edited by Steve Medcroft US National Championships opens ThursdayBy Steve Medcroft, en route to Sonoma
The US mountain-bike community comes together in Sonoma, California this week where National Championships will be awarded in one-day pro/elite, semi-pro, expert, and junior expert category Downhill, Mountain Cross, Super D, Short Track, Cross Country and Marathon competitions. Racing opens Thursday morning with the marathon and continues until the end of Sunday's short-track race. Although there has been a cycling festival at the Infineon Speedway in Sonoma previously, (and even a NORBA event in 2004), this will be the first year the Cougar Mountain Classic has hosted the National Championships. The championship event was originally scheduled for the Mammoth Mountain ski resort in Mammoth Lakes, California but an unusually wet winter left a 21-foot base of snow on Mammoth Mountain and USA Cycling and the venue had to pull the plug and move the event earlier this season. In 2007, the National Championships move east to Mount Snow, Vermont. Promoters expect about 1,500 racers from across the United States. The USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships brought to you by X-Fusion has up to 150 national titles on offer across a wide spectrum of ages, abilities and disciplines. Beyond national pride and likely selection to the US Team for next month's World Championships (Rotorua, New Zealand, August 22-27), pro riders also have the chance to earn real cash for their success in Sonoma. X-Fusion's support of the event, along with a supplemental contribution from Infineon Raceway, means a $25,000 prize purse is up for grabs in the 12 men's and women's pro events. Competitors in the cross country, short track, mountain cross, downhill, marathon and super D ranks will compete for a $1,000 cash prize to compliment his or her stars and stripes jersey, gold medal and title of national champion. Additional cash prizes will be paid out five deep - $500, $250, $150, and $100 respectively. An additional $1,000 bonus will be on the line for any pro rider that wins two national titles over the weekend. With the new qualification system underway for the 2008 Olympic Games, the championships also plays an integral part in the number of start positions the United States will receive in the sport of mountain biking in Beijing. As a UCI-recognized national championship event, the winner of the men's and women's cross country disciplines receive 110 UCI points each – a figure that directly factors into the depth of the United States' presence at the 2008 Games. Check back on Cyclingnews.com throughout the week; we'll be on site to bring you pictures, race reports, results and more. For the complete preview of this week's US MTB Nationals, click here. Deer Valley NORBA wrap-upIn their final preparation race before the 2006 US National Championships in Sonoma, California, Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna Chix) and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru/Gary Fisher) notched another win on the NORBA belts this past weekend. JHK took a flyer on the first lap in the men's cross country race, ending up with a 2:35 gap over his closest competitor. Jeremiah Bishop (Trek/VW) and Geoff Kabush (Team Maxxis) swapped that second place with each other a few times during the race until Kabush ultimately nipped Bishop by a nose in a two-up sprint at the line. Vanlandingham didn't have it as easy as her male counterpart. Heather Irmiger and Willow Koerber (both Subaru/Gary Fisher) dangled just fifteen and thirty seconds behind Vanlandingham at the finish. Irmiger even bumped tires with Vanlandingham in the early laps and briefly took the lead. Deer Valley promotes staged the mountain cross race some twenty-five miles south of the venue at the Rad Canyon BMX track in the Salt Lake City Suburb of West Jericho. Jared Graves (Yeti/Fox) and Joanna Petterson (Morewood Bikes) won the event. There was also marathon, super D, downhill and short track racing at Deer Valley. Only two racers left in Great Divide Raceby Tom Purvis, greatdividerace.blogspot.com. Things turned brutal in the second week of the 2006 Great Divide Race (which follows the Adventure Cycling Association's Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, over 2,490 miles of remote, mountainous terrain along the spine of the continent to the New Mexico/Mexico border; entirely self-supported). Of the eight racers who started in Roosville, MT at noon on June 23, five were still racing at the beginning of the second week. And Matthew Lee, the race leader, was on a record pace. On Sunday, July 2, two racers dropped out unexpectedly. 21-year-old Kevin Montgomery had mentioned that he was having knee pain, but the news that he was leaving the race came quite suddenly after sending in reports that all was well. He also cited lack of available nutritious food as a reason for leaving the race. He left the race after arriving in Wyoming on July 1. Rudi Nadler from Tucson, AZ called in a little later that morning from West Yellowstone, MT to report that he was leaving the race for physical reasons. Rudi was the last of three racers who entered rigid, fixed-gear bicycles. The next day, Monday, July 3, Matthew called to report that Colorado's monsoon summer rains were continually slowing his progress. He was still working toward his goal of breaking the record of 16 days and 57 minutes set by Mike Curiak in 2004. But the rains were beginning to frustrate his progress. Also on July 3, John Nobile reported that he had successfully crossed the Great Divide Basin in Wyoming, arriving in Rawlins, WY at around 8 PM. He started a day late, due to a cancelled flight, and was making very good progress. Still a few days behind Matthew Lee, but making a good pace and apparently holding up well. Matthew arrived in Salida, CO late on July 3. He had been caught in a huge storm earlier and had waited it out under an abandoned bus. As he approached Salida he realized that his fork had seized. He started seeing his bid for the record slip out of reach. He left Salida late that night, heading into the wet darkness, encountering a mostly cleaned up landslide that closed the highway south of town for several hours earlier. After climbing for a few hours, he decided that he would have to abandon his goal of beating the record. He returned to Salida to see about getting his bike fixed. He finally left to continue racing on July 5. Later in the day Nobile called in from Steamboat Springs, CO to report that he was leaving the race. Even as he'd been making good progress, he was failing to beat a cold he'd picked up in previous days. And by that time it was clear that a rainy July was in full swing in the mountains of Colorado. Riding for over a hundred miles every day in the mountains with a cold in the rain was a risk John could not take. Now that the race has entered it's third week, there are only two of the original racers still out there. Matthew Lee last reported in from Grants, New Mexico near midnight on July 8. He was hoping to make Pie Town, NM on the 9th. From Pie Town, he'll have another 300 miles to the finish in Antelope Wells, NM. Matthew encountered a huge amount of wet weather, both in Colorado and New Mexico. This year's weather has had a big impact on his race. The other racer still on the course, Kenny Maldonado from New York City, last reported in from Lima, Montana, (about 70 miles from the Idaho border along the route) at 10 AM on June 7. His stated intention was to do the race at "a more leisurely pace", a strategy that appears to be working for him. Follow the action daily as racers check in by phone with Tom Purvis at greatdividerace.blogspot.com. Prokop and Kintner win Jeep KOM openerTwo of the youngest athletes on the Jeep ® King of the Mountain Series (www.jeepsports.com) roster, Jill Kintner of Seattle, Wash., and Michal Prokop of the Czech Republic (both 25) continued their torrid national and international winning streaks by capturing titles at the first stop of the 2006 Mountain Biking World Professional Championships today in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
The thousands of race enthusiasts on hand from across the Central Coast area were met with blue skies, ideal temperatures and action packed racing that resulted in several wipeouts and numerous photo finishes before the outcome was decided. At the end of the day, Prokop and Kintner, the event's defending World Professional Champions, held off their rivals to earn the top spot on the podium. Prokop, who has won four of the first five races of the 2006 UCI World Cup season as well as a World Championship, European Championship and National Championship , began the day with a win over Brian Schmith of Lancaster, Calif., a NORBA Nationals and World Cup medalist. He then eliminated Eric Carter of Temecula, Calif., the 2005 USA Cycling National Champion, to reach the Championship Heat. Once there, he faced Brian Lopes of San Clemente, Calif., a three-time World Champion, five-time World Cup Champion and nine-time National Champion who is one of the most recognizable cyclists in history. Lopes worked his way to the finals with victories over Travis Collins , the local favorite from San Luis Obispo, and Wade Bootes of Australia, the 2004 JKOM World Professional Champion and runner up in 2005. Prokop swept Lopes in a close two-race duel to bring home the title, with Carter edging out Bootes in the Consolation Heat for third place. Read the entire Jeep King of the Mountain #1 race report here. Global MTB round-up
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