Mulally goes two for two

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Neko Mulally (Specialized Team America) went two-for-two while Karen Eagan (Sam Adams Brewery) scored a major upset at the first major gravity race at the new Vertical Earth Mountain Bike Park at Eastern Pennsylvania's Blue Mountain. A freshly cut track combined with overnight rain meant a lot of mud. But, like the dual slalom course the day before, riders praised the course. And promoter Dan Whitehead and his Vertical Earth Crew, with plenty of support from the resort staff, pulled off his first major race without a hitch, no mean feat when it continued to rain throughout the day.

Coming into the race, Dawn Bourque (Rhino Bike Works) was undefeated in Gravity East racing this year and, after winning the dual slalom on Saturday night, was the prohibitive favorite. But Eagan, working to improve on her streak of five straight runner-up finishes broke through to win her first Gravity East Downhill with a time of 4:13.84, just 0.02 seconds shy of one full second in front of second place Bourque. The victory was especially sweet for Eagan, who came to the race specifically to race, "someplace I've never ridden before." The combination of freshly-cut trails (the first tree on the park was only cut in April), and Pennsylvania decomposed granite soil with lots of small, sharp rocks at first confused Eagan. But she quickly adapted and showed a knack for reading new terrain.

For Mulally, however, Blue Mountain is like a second home. The mountain is only about 35 miles northeast of his home in Reading, and he has been spending many evenings helping the Vertical Earth Crew fine-tune their trails and the dual slalom course. Chris Higgerson, for one, probably wishes Mulally would focus a bit more on his homework and chasing girls like other 16 year olds. The Von Cooper Productions rider lost out to Mulally by just 0.58 seconds, giving Mulally his second win of the weekend after he triple-jumped his way to the dual slalom the day before. On the open-faced section of the mostly tree-lined course, Mulally took an outside line that was visibly faster, even from the bottom of the hill; some observers said he looked like he was riding a motorcycle. Then, at the bottom of the course, he put on a show by launching off the drop and roller combination.

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In other noteworthy news, 11-year-old Ben Bodycoat may have finished second to Kory Koehler in the Cat. 3 Junior race, but he probably didn't care after posting a faster time than his father George did in winning the Cat. 2 40+ division. The Bodycoats have attended every Gravity East race this year, and it was the first time Kory beat his dad.

Altogether, 200 racers participated in the weekend's dual slalom and downhill with another 40 in the Saturday morning Super D.

This coming weekend, October 3-4, the Gravity East returns to New England as downhill racers tackle the new "Trail 13" at Mount Snow, as well as a a dual slalom and non-points Super D.

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