Bishop makes it two in a row

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Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale) took his second victory in as many days at the short track at Bonelli Park in California.  Max Plaxton (Specialized) was second ahead of Raphael Gagne (Rocky Mountain) in third.

In the men's race, Sid Taberlay took to the front of the large men's field. However, after not even a half lap, Taberlay went down while in the third spot on a tricky little off camber sweeper. The Aussie looked to have a broken collarbone from initial reports, but later reports said he had dislocated his shoulder.

Taberlay's crash opened the door for Plaxton, who opened up a lead.  He was chased down by Kona's Spencer Paxson.  Other chasers included Adam Craig (Rabobank/Giant), Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Trek), Sam Schultz (Subaru-Trek) and Bishop, among others.

Out front, Plaxton and Spencer dangled at the five-minute mark by about three seconds.

Behind Plaxton, Adam Morka (Trek Canada) took a turn at the front of the chasers.

Then at the seven minute mark, Bishop exploded from the field to go in search of Plaxton's wheel. However by the 10-minute mark, the pack had shuffled around, with Bishop back to ninth and JHK taking up the lead group chase of Plaxton.

No sooner had the race seemed to settle down than Barry Wicks (Kona) popped off the front of the group on the asphalt section and went after Plaxton. A quarter lap later, Wicks joined Plaxton at the front.

But then Bishop countered out of the chase group to bring the leaders back. But he was left with Gagne, Schultz and a few others not more than a second and a half back.

The chase groups were constantly morphing throughout the race. Under 23 rider Zach Valdez was one youngster who made an impression by making the main chase group.

Down to the last lap, Bishop made contact with Plaxton as both tried to jockey for position heading into the infield. As the riders popped out of the trees, Bishop had the lead. Gagne, Schultz and Wicks hadn't been dislodged too far and were still in the mix all the way into the final chicane before the finish line.

Stephen Ettinger, Morka, Ryan Woodall, Jeff Herrera, and 19-year-old Zach Valdez all made the top 10.

With his win, the 34-year-old Bishop cemented the men's Bonelli Triple Crown overall with a fine display of riding.  Plaxton and Taberlay were second and third overall.   With his performance this weekend, Bishop looks likely to be a serious cross country threat for the 2011 season.

Gagne put in another notable performance.  He was the sole Rocky Mountain team representative after his elder teammate Geoff Kabush left Saturday evening. The young Canadian quietly put in three podium rides on the weekend with a 5-3-4 combo, landing him fourth overall for the weekend ahead of some of the sport's bigger names.

Kabush used his short track as his throw out round, and used a six-three combo from the cross country and super D to round out the top five overall.

Schultz edged out his teammate Horgan Kobelski for sixth, while Ettinger, Wicks and Craig rounded out the top 10.  Wells wa

The Bonelli Park US Pro XCT round drew nearly 800 total racers in pro and amateur categories. 

The next Triple Crown will take place on March 26 and 27 at Fontana, California.

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