Powell and Stetson-Lee win super D national championship

Seamus Powell and Teal Stetson-Lee (Luna) won the elite super D races at Bear Creek Resort in Macungie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday morning. Both riders claimed their first career elite mountain bike national titles.

Men

The second man down the mountain, Casey Williams (Whole Athlete/Specialized) set a fast time that would hold up well.

"I made a few mistakes, but who didn't?" said Williams. "It started out super fast through those trees, and it was super tight and rocky, and then you kind of broke out onto an open road. That's where I pedalled as fast as I could all the way to the finish."

Williams didn't have much time to spend in the hot seat before Powell flew across the line, dropping the bar with a faster time.

"It was a perfect run for me. I rode really hard - that's the only thing you can do in these things. You don't want to over-think it," said Powell.

Powell's strategy was to keep it conservative up top in the more technical section and then open the throttle on the gravel road part. "My goal was to get through the first section without any flats or mechanicals and the rest of the track was pretty mellow and pretty straightforward," he said.

It was Powell's second national title of the weekend. "Winning is fun. I won singlespeed and I got a super D now, too. Who would have expected that?"

"Local" downhill rider Neko Mulally (Trek World Racing) had come out to race the super D since he had the week off from the World Cup and Pro GRT races. He put in a good run to bump Williams into third place, but he couldn't unseat Powell.

"This event is only a few minutes from my house, and I figured I had to come out because I didn't have another race. It's been a lot of fun," said Mulally, who was the only rider to describe the course as "not very technical".

"It was the kind of course that required a lot of power. It was fun to come out and mix it up with these XC boys. When you're tired, you don't feel like you hit sections as good in the race as you do in practice. That's how it is in downhill too. When you flatten it out and make it longer, it exaggerates that even more." Mulally heads next weekend to the World Cup in Andorra.

Many riders followed, including pre-race favorite Carl Decker (Giant) and yesterday's top five cross country finisher Spencer Paxson (Kona), but no one could unseat the top three.

Women

Going into the race yesterday's cross country winner Lea Davison (Specialized) was the favorite, but Teal Stetson-Lee managed to go faster than Davison. Both riders said they were feeling the effects of yesterday's effort.

"It was a really awesome run," said Stetson-Lee. "It was a little hard after how tired my legs were from yesterday's cross country race. There were two or three little uphill sections, and I could really feel it when I was trying to put the hammer down."

"I got a second wind when I saw Lea through the trees a couple of switchbacks below me. I was like 'ok, you don't want this to be one of those races where you are like 'oh I could have made up those two seconds somewhere'."

"It was very redeeming to ride the uphill portion of the cross country course downhill. That was probably the highlight of the whole run."

Stetson-Lee was delighted to earn her first elite national mountain bike title but noted the tiny size of her field. Just 11 women started. "It's a relatively small field, which is kind of a bummer. It'd be nice to see more women out here. I feel like while I'm at nationals, I might as well do every event I can and maybe make one of them count, like this one."

Davison enjoyed the course and was impressed with Stetson-Lee's ride.

"That was hard, but fun. It was a technical, good course. I started behind Nina [Baum], and Teal was following me by about 30 seconds," said Davison. "There were some switchbacks where I thought Teal was gaining on me and I had better pick it up."

"I'm happy for Teal. She deserves a jersey. I was foiled in my triple, but it's ok, I got the jersey I wanted yesterday."

Rose Grant finished in third place ahead of Lauren Catlin (Durango Devo) in fourth.

"It was sweet. That was my best run yet. I was crashing a bit during practice, but I kept it together for this one," said Catlin. "I was trying to be a little conservative since I have the short track this afternoon. I flatted in my [U23] cross country race, so I wanted to do another race and finish it."

The racers will contest the short track this afternoon.

Full Results

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Elite men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Seamus Powell0:07:35
2Neko Mulally0:00:03
3Casey Williams (Whole Athlete / Specialized)0:00:13
4Carl Decker0:00:20
5Tristan Uhl (ATC Racing)0:00:20
6Victor Alber (Gearlink Racing Inc.)0:00:20
7Cameron Dodge0:00:22
8Jason Blodgett (Spin)0:00:24
9Adam Snyder (Adigga Racing)0:00:24
10Alex Ryan (Mock Orange Bikes/Mock Orange Racing)0:00:26
11Drew Edsall0:00:26
12Michael Sampson (Pemi-Baker Cycling Club)0:00:27
13Cody Phillips0:00:34
14Michael Broderick (Kenda/Stan's Notubes)0:00:34
15Aaron Snyder0:00:37
16Macky Franklin0:00:37
17Taylor Smith (Sho-Air/Cannondale)0:00:39
18Jordan Kahlenberg (Giant Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Team)0:00:46
19Sean Leader0:00:53
20Harlan Price0:00:58
21William Curtis (Whole Athlete)0:01:06
22Chad Cheeney (Durango Devo)0:01:06
23Chase Dickens (American Classic)0:03:37
24Skyler Trujillo (James Bros. Bikes)0:07:31
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Elite women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Teal Stetson-Lee (Team Luna Chix)0:08:45
2Lea Davison (Specialized Factory Racing)0:00:12
3Rose Grant (Sportsman & Ski Haus)0:00:25
4Lauren Catlin (Durango Devo)0:00:38
5Carolyn Popovic0:00:48
6Nina Baum0:00:51
7Sarah Kaufmann (Team Roaring Mouse)0:00:57
8Elisa Otter0:01:25
9Karen Krasley0:01:34
10Anne Galyean0:01:47
11Elinor Wesner0:01:48
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Junior men 10-15
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Christopher Blevins (Durango Devo)0:08:26
2Michael Mace0:00:13
3Clayton Puckett (Bear Development Team)0:00:15
4Adam Cohen (Cycle Youth)0:00:35
5Jared Karinen0:00:37
6Ekrem Ayhan (Somerset Wheelmen)0:00:42
7Jake Yackle (Yackle Brothers Racing)0:01:05
8Samuel Connell (Cycle Youth)0:01:07
9Trent Donovan0:01:12
10Ross Ellwood (Smba(Singletrack Mountain Bike Adventure)0:01:18
11Nicholas Tabares0:01:39
12Donald Seib (Bikeman.Com)0:01:41
13Caleb Swartz (Brazen Dropouts/Junior Dropouts)0:01:59
14Jonathan Dietz (Bike Line)0:02:42
15Jacob Smith (Pdx Devo Junior Cycling Team)0:02:48
16Tyler Miranda (Mirco Racing)0:03:27
17Carson Beard (Onion River Sports)0:03:42
18Austin Beard (Onion River Sports)0:03:53
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Junior men 16-18
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Carson Beckett (Wood -N- Wave)0:07:45
2Luke Vrouwenvelder (Cycle Youth)0:00:16
3Peter Karinen0:00:26
4Jorge Munoz Jr (Mc Supercenter)0:00:26
5Jonathan Anderson (Essex County Velo)0:00:28
6Ryan Berliner0:00:28
7Matthew Erbentraut0:00:28
8Skyler Taylor (Bear Development Team)0:00:30
9Jacob Sacket (Tri-City Bicycles)0:00:36
10Keegan Swirbul0:00:37
11Justin Noel0:00:46
12Evan Williams0:00:47
13Carter Anderson (Cycle Youth)0:00:51
14Elliott Baring (Cycle Youth)0:01:02
15Dillon Van Wart (Team Town Cycle)0:01:04
16Kyler Walker0:01:11
17Kyle Ellis (Cycle Youth)0:01:13
18Morgan Platt (Team Bulldog)0:01:17
19Ryan Munko (Upmc/ Pro Bikes)0:01:30
20Rob Sandusky (Matrix Cycling Club/Matrix/Rbm)0:01:33
21Max Southam0:01:35
22Ian Stowe (Bear Development Team)0:01:41
23Nathan Clair0:02:07
24Stephan Davoust (Durango Devo)0:02:55
25Hayden Miller (Garneau Custom)0:05:59
26Dylan Drake0:10:11
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Men 19-29
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Gunnar Bergey0:08:20
2Trevor Deruise (Blu World Inspired/Getreal Nutrition)0:00:03
3Dominic Nudy0:00:09
4Noah Mabry0:00:22
5Ian Herchenroder0:00:25
6John Proppe (Lake Effect Cycling Team/Team Lake Effect)0:00:28
7Eric Ness (Central Bucks Velo)0:00:40
8Stephane Roch (Swami's Cycling Club/Sklz-Swami's Cycling Team)0:00:45
9Chris Johnson0:00:46
10John Newsom0:00:49
11Alexander Elkins0:00:54
12Jake Davidson (Charm City Cycling Llc/C3-Twenty20Cycling.Com)0:01:13
13Steven Jones0:01:57
14Cameron Nyguist0:03:19
15Joshua Murdock (Peak Cycles-Bikeparts.Com)0:04:44
16Karl Verna0:08:19
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Men 30-39
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Nathan Winkelmann (Shama Cycles)0:08:06
2Robert Stine Jr (Ness Team New England)0:00:08
3Brian Shernce (Team Bulldog)0:00:16
4Andy Gould (Blue Steel Cyclery/Blue Steel Cyclery)0:00:18
5Christopher Valenti (Bikesport-Pa)0:00:21
6Andrew Mills (Compass Cycling Team)0:00:30
7Tim Pierce0:00:35
8David Bender (Janesville Velo Club/Michael's Cycles Team)0:00:37
9Matthew Morrison (Toasted Head Racing)0:00:52
10Vaughn Micciche0:00:53
11Bernhard Resch (Stoudts Brewing Co)0:01:02
12Matt Mccourtney (Whole Athlete / Specialized)0:01:02
13Daniel Bonora (Lost Boys Racing Inc.)0:01:16
14Jason Beauregard0:01:55
15Matthew Shirk0:03:02
16Michael Lemon0:03:32
17Jason Winkelmann0:04:33
18Sean Marlin0:07:47
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Men 40-49
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Michael Yozell (Kapelmuur Independent)0:08:22
2Dwayne Allgire (Gearlink Racing Inc.)0:00:07
3Joshua West0:00:08
4Gregg Galletta0:00:09
5David Macpherson0:00:20
6John Ronca0:00:22
7Tige Lamb (Cow Town Cycling Team)0:00:26
8Mose Howard0:00:49
9John Stenger (Guys Racing Club)0:00:54
10Troy Alexander0:00:55
11Robert Brien0:00:56
12Eric Sheffer (Thru-It-All Body Shop Inc)0:00:59
13William Kemmerer0:01:00
14Markus Bowman (South Mountain Cycles)0:01:10
15Chris Berlow (Westchester Mountain Bike Association)0:01:15
16Gerry Creighton0:01:20
17Nathanial Bartholomew (Spinteck Cycling Team)0:01:27
18Sean Hess0:02:47
19Michael Julian0:03:06
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Men 50+
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Robert Eichlin0:08:22
2Cary Smith0:00:01
3Troy Zimmerman0:00:16
4David Van Wart (Team Town Cycle)0:00:41
5Charlie Haimes0:00:43
6Donald Seib (Bikeman.Com)0:00:47
7Chris Carlson (Matrix Cycling Club/Matrix/Rbm)0:01:04
8Patrick Miranda (Mirco Racing)0:01:06
9Arthur White0:01:33
10William Gentile (Lupine Lights)0:01:52
11Stefan Cihylik0:05:27
12George Hart0:14:19
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Junior women 10-15
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Veda Gerasimek (Red Zone Cycling)0:10:14
2Hailey Fortin (Get Out! New Mexico)0:00:21
3Morgan Fortin (Goathead Jr. Devo)0:01:57
4Mason Hopkins (Tradewinds Racing/Tradewinds Racing)0:02:36
5Kiley Krasley0:03:28
6Corrine Krasley (Chester County Velo)0:06:24
7Courtney Krasley (Chester County Cycling Foundation)0:11:13
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Junior women 16-18
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Kaylee Blevins (Durango Devo)0:09:00
2Kate Courtney (Whole Athlete)0:00:11
3Angelina Palermo0:00:37
4India Waller (Durango Devo)0:00:42
5Avery Morin (Bear Development Team)0:00:44
6Katherine Santos (Borah Girls)0:00:51
7Melissa Seib (Bikeman.Com)0:01:02
8Samantha Miranda (Mirco Racing)0:01:18
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Junior women 19-29
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Sarah Ginsbach0:10:19
2Nicole Miranda (Mirco Racing)0:00:41
3Callan Horwath0:00:41
4Sarah Lukas0:00:57
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Master women 30-39
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jessica Rawlins (Bicycles Plus Racing)0:09:29
2Karen Krasley0:00:49
3Jocelyn Linscott0:01:02
4Tiffany Ballew (Peachtree Bikes)0:01:33
5Amy Alton0:02:11
6Rebecca Bubp0:02:19
7Kim Marlin0:04:09
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Master women 40+
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Shannon Gibson (Stans Notubes Elite Womens Team)0:10:01
2Kelly Ault (Mountain Moxie)0:00:17
3Ellen White0:00:28
4Jane Hodess0:00:38
5Aida Elder0:00:44
6Jennifer Horn (Peachtree Bikes)0:00:45
7Angie Sokorai (Alberto's Sport)0:00:51
8Loretta Simpson (Peachtree Bikes)0:04:45

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Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews.  She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.

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