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US CUP at Fontana Southridge Park 2011

April 6th, 2011 10:55pm

US CUP at Fontana Southridge Park 2011

As the seasons' unofficial kick off to the race season, racers of all disciplines attending round two of the US CUP at Southridge Park in Fontana California were treated to near perfect dirt conditions. Traditionally known for its loose dust and limited hill to work with, this years event saw race organizers SouthRidge cycles and Team Big Bear, continue to throw in new twists and push the tracks limits at every opportunity. Everyone from cross country, to down hill and Super D, received some surprises. Even racers who call Southridge Park home, had new elements to content with.


 
Cross Country and the Climb


The Cross Country Race saw both the mens and women’s field grow significantly from the Bonelli opener. The men grew from 78 racers to over 100 riders in the traditionally large field while the women's field triple in size to a respectable 36 competitors.


 
North America's best competitors came out to test their early season fitness on the signature piece on the five mile loop - "The big climb".  All Pro, Cat 1 and Jr Ex racers would tackle multiple laps on the vertical hurdle that kicked up to 31 degrees in several sections. So how do you improve a XC course with a signature climb in it? Make it longer... Yes, If last years climb wasn't enough to get riders attention- this years edition would see the climb extended further into the clouds by another couple hundred yards in length and an estimated 100ft of additional vertical.  The extension of the course took riders to the left (instead of right and over the saddle) and out to the edge of Southridge Parks massive granite cliffs and back, winding around to the top of the mountain. The new extension featured two of the climbs steepest sections that would test the riders fitness as the race wore on.

 

 

Lap one of the mens elite pro XC race up the climb

 

Todd Wells leads the strung out field up the climb on the first lap. The train of riders stretched down to just above the houses on this first lap.

 



The men’s race was highly competitive with two groups getting an ever so slight advantage over their chasers on the second and third laps. The lead group contained all the top names, Wells, Kabush, Schultz, Plaxton, Craig, Paxson, Bishop, Tabberley and Hogan-Kelbeski. They were followed by a chase group of approximately ten riders less than a minute back. Toward the end of the third lap, it was game on as Max Plaxton (Specialized) attacked and blew up the lead group putting a solid 20 seconds into his pursuers Bishop, Schultz, Wells, JHK. and stringing out the rest of the top 20.

 

Lead train at Fontana US CUP


The lead train stayed together for three full laps - marking each other all the way until Plaxton (2) blew the field apart.



Plaxton continued his strong riding with no signs of fading as most of the racers began to show some visible signs of discomfort on the final two circuits of the big hill. Cannondale’s Jeremiah Bishop continued to show his fine early season fitness and looked ever so comfortable riding easily into second place. With one lap to go Plaxton held a comfortable lead and Bishop opened a small gap over the chase group that turned out to be a good old fashion throw down for third place. Wells finding himself in the middle of Trek-Subaru sandwich made up of Schultz and JHK. It was near the top of the big climb that Schultz successfully attacked Wells and JHK and getting a gap that he could hold till the finish.

 


Todd Wells held on to fourth place with JKH taking the final medal spot. Four time winner of previous Fontana races Geoff  Kabush  would finish a bit farther back in sixth and while strong, was never really in contention. The educated guess would have Kabush focusing his training efforts on the World Cup Events this year.

 

kabush checking the competition

 

Jeff Kabush taking his turn at the front checks in with his competitiors as they hit one of the 30 degree kickers in the climb with the San Bernadino Valley as a backdrop.

 

Adam Craig

 

Even taggers can climb but probably not as fast as Adam Craig (Giant/Rabobank) - grinding it out for a tenth place on the day.

 

troy wells in the hurt locker

 

Cliff Shot's Troy Wells visits the hurt locker on his fourth tour of the climb. Troy rode a solid race .

 

Arizona rider hits it big time

 

Arizona's Bicycle Ranch rider shows how steep this section really was -laying on the bar and on the tip of the saddle to keep the front end down and traction up.

 

Max Plaxton explodes the field

 

Specialized rider Max Plaxton is in great early season form and means business for the US CUP series.
Plaxton attacked early on the fourth lap and opened up a 20 second lead with one to go.

 

 

jeremiah bishop - cannondale

 

Crowd favorite Jeremiah Bishop looked comfortable all day and rode to a comfortable second place. Bishop is definitely ready for this Olympic qualifying season.

 

3-4-5 sandwich

 

On the final lap it was the Subaru sandwich of JHK (7), Sam Schultz(8) taking on the national champion in XC, short trac and Cross Todd Wells (3). Schultz would attack at the top of big climb and open up a gap that Wells couldn't close. Here the team riders force Wells into the loose line on the short steep hill coming out of the feedzone area.

 

 

Victory is sweet

 

Max Plaxton raises his hands in celebration of a job well done and trip to the top of the podium.

 

 



Mens Pro Final Results

  1.  Max Plaxton - Specialized
  2.  Jeremiah Bishop - Cannondale
  3.  Sam Schultz - Trek- Subaru
  4.  Todd Wells - Specialized
  5.  Jeremy Hogan-Kobelski - Trek-Subaru

 

 

 

Katherine Pedrel and Georgia Gould had a solid battle for the win but Pedrel had just a bit more to take the win.

 


Luna's Georgia Gould looked good all day - especially with the blooming wildflowers and granite mountain backdrop.

 

emily batty in the hills of fontana

 

The rain in Fontana earlier in the week transformed the urban track into a green Scottish pasture with tons of traction. Emily Batty continued her consistent riding with fourth place.

 

pedrel and gould

 

Catherine Pedrel was all smiles after a nice win. A successful Luna 1-2 punch - team mate Georgia Gould (background) took second.

 


Super - D


One of the faster growing segments in the mountain bike race scene is the emergence of Super-D. A combination of gravity riding with several climbs thrown. This format is the best test of all around fitness and descending skills and quite fun. Everyone on gets to run on the same course so  you can compare your time with the best riders in the world.  This weekend, that rider would be Brian Lopes, who showed up looking super fit from lots of crit racing in the off-season. Major kudos have to be given to the event organizers for making what everyone said was fantastic course that dropped riders down from the very top of the XC big climb and threw enough of everything into the course to make it a legit Super- D title.

 

brian lopes would win the fontana super d

 

Looking fit and strong Brian Lopes took out the super-D win on a great course. Lopes also competed in the short track race and scored an impressive top 20.

 

 

super d competitor at Fontana

 

The super D coure got rave reviews and fans down below helped make it even more fun with some creative noise makers like this Budwieser box of rocks and cans. GET SOME!

 

Four Cross - 4x - Mountain Cross, maybe its the name confusion, but it is a mystery why this years field was so small. Always fun to watch and usually one of the weekends highlights, this event was a rather non-event with the low turnout.

 


Former world champion Melissa Buhl (KHS/Oneal) showed up to race DH and got wrangled into the womens 4X action also. Buhl easily took the win in the small women's field. Buhl will be contesting 4x in the world cup season this year aiming to get her title back.

 

gate starts

 

Gate starts are super important in 4x. This fight snapped the gates hard in a Fontana Cat 1 showdown.

 

mens pro field final

 

Mens pro field final gate - going over their game plan one last time.

 

Blake Carney -KHS in second place

 

KHS Rider Blake Carney overcame a poor start to power past the men's field on the second straight away and on to victory.
Carney has put in the office season training and is looking to score some podium finishes on the World Cup Circut this year.

 

DownHill

 

Please check back in 24 hours for photos and race recap on the Fontana US CUP downhill event.

 

Location: News >> US CUP at Fontana Southridge Park 2011


 
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