Lopes schools the men's Super D field

Multi-time world champion Brian Lopes (Oakley/Ibis/Marzocchi) showed some of the world's fastest cross country racers the fast way down the hill in Saturday's elite men's super D.

After his win, Lopes had praise for the newly designed super D. "That was a good, fun course, which suited my style and equipment," said Lopes.

"It was really fun to mix it up with these top cross country guys with this Triple Crown format. I'm going to give it a go in tomorrow's short track as I prepare for these upcoming UCI 'Eliminator' races."

The course, designed with input from Joe Lawwil, had both gravity and cross country oriented racers raving about the run. The all new Southridge super D for this year's Triple Crown was the first "proper" super D riders have seen since last year's finals at Massanutten, Virginia.

Recent rains left the dirt in primo condition, allowing riders to push themselves and their bikes to the limit. The course was littered with tricky off camber sections, rock ledges and drops that kept riders on their toes for the nearly six-minute run.

Waylon Smith of Great Britain was the only rider to keep the former four cross and downhill world champion Lopes honest with his second place run.

To no one's surprise, Giant/Rabobank cross country egular Adam Craig landed on the podium in third. Other than being a top World Cup cross country contender, Craig is known for his all mountain prowess, and his skills showed on this technical layout.

Raphael Gagne (Rocky Mountain) continued to impress in this year Triple Crown, as the young Canadian took a solid fourth place run among a legitimate gravity contingent of riders, and he bested many of his cross country rivals.

Ryan Gardner, Aaron Bradford, Lawwill (Bikeskills), Derek Zanstra (3 Rox Racing), Sid Taberlay (Kenda/H2O) and Nick Weighall (Cal/Giant Specialized) rounded out the top 10.

Full Results