Plaxton wins Fontana short track

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Specialized's Max Plaxton capped off yesterday's impressive cross country victory with a great win in the men's short track over Subaru-Trek's Jeremy Horgan Kobelski.

During the 20-minute event, several riders took their turn at the front, including current US National Short Track Champion Todd Wells, former Australian National Short Track Champion Sid Taberlay, Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale), Stephen Ettinger (BMC) and Sam Schultz (Subaru-Trek) among others.

Plaxton and Geoff Kabush (Rocky Mountain) also took their turn at the front, with Plaxton stretching the rubberband with about three laps to go. Once brought back, Plaxton sat in and let teammate Wells ramp up the pace. Then Horgan-Kobelski poked his head into the wind as the laps began to wind down.

No sooner had JHK chopped the throttle than Kabush drilled it with about a lap and a half to go. However Kabush had a slow leak in his tire that would ultimately end his chances.

That left the door open for Kobelski to take the front Ettinger was riding solid in second wheel.

The men jockeyed for position of the final climb of the course, as the riders all tried to get to the steep downhill that led into the finish.

However, Plaxton wouldn't be denied and used a similar display of power used to make his winning cross country move and pinned it past JHK and Ettinger at the top of the climb, just making it into the downhill before the rest of the group.

From there, Plaxton held his line through the last few little chicanes and held off a charging group of men to take his second win on the weekend, and the overall Triple Crown title at Fontana.

After the race, Plaxton was pleased with his form and his equipment.

"It was a good weekend for me, and both courses really suited me," said Plaxton. "I was stoked on the new cross country course yesterday. I just can't say enough about my new team, and I'm excited to see how things progress as we head into Sea Otter."

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