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Tuesday

Jun192012

Team BGB/MK Beech Mountain Race Number 1

Tuesday, June 19, 2012 at 6:17AM

With the light at the end of the tunnel shining ever so brightly for the biggest race in the US, the US Gravity Nationals, Team BGB-MK returned to what we like to call our “home track” for the first DH race of the season at Beech Mountain Resort. Over a 150 riders would also make the trek from as far away at Illinois, Texas, and Florida to get some invaluable track time for that race we all see in the horizon.

Rolling into Banner Elk, NC, weather conditions for the weekend looked great with a slight chance of precip forecast for just about the time the last Pro would make his way through the course. Track conditions on a chilly Saturday morning course walk looked dry, but those of us that have been there before know better. The water hides and just seems to come out of the ground on this mountain. She didn’t disappoint with just enough to make those rock sections a bit slick and have a number of rider’s ask, “Cut mud tires or DH tires?”

All racers would maneuver the amateur course of which is extremely technical for the inexperienced and filled with tight twisty sections which kept one on their guard. The weekend started out for Team BGB-MK with lots of “stop and go” trying to find that elusive smooth line in a very rocky course. I’d bet that each of our riders took at least three minor spills (if not more) over the course of the weekend.

After a day of getting into the groove, Nich Ifkovits, our youngest rider, put in a clean run placing third overall in Juniors and 3rd in category. Nicely done young gun! For the team, the weekend would belong to team Pro Rider Ryan Taylor who put in an impressive run after a huge crash during early morning Sunday practice where he introduced himself and his bike to a tree. That meeting didn’t go very well and each left on bad terms. Shaken, but not spoiled Ryan was able to muster up enough mojo to finish on the podium taking home the bronze behind two previous National Champions, Ethan Quehl of Chainsmoke Racing (Silver) and Gerrit Beytagh (Gold). Congrats Mr. Beytagh for winning the Pro class! Finally a must mention, Jay FAST-perman (Fesperman – GROM Racing) laid down the fastest time on the mountain beating Gerrit’s time by a HUUUGGGE 0.01 sec. Running JrX, this is turning into the year of FAST-perman….. expect to hear this young man’s name quite a bit this season. Individual Team BGB-MK results are summarized below.

Pro Men:
3rd – Ryan Taylor
10th – Rob DeMao

Men Cat 1 Master 35-39:
3rd – Matt Haynes

Men Cat 2 Senior 19-24:
7th – Jay Guidry

Men Cat 2 Master 30-34:
4th – Nick Frantz

Men Cat 2 Master 35-39:
7th – Brook Buckelew

Men Cat 2 Junior 15-18:
3rd – Nich Ifkovits

Women Cat 3 Master 40-49:
DNS – Heither Schultz (Injury)

Overall USAC Official Results. Thanks to Talia Freeman, Chris Herndon, Danny Cesare, the Beech Ski Patrol, the rest of the Beech Mountain crew and all of the racers for making it such a great time. We look forward to the 2012 USAC US Gravity/DS Nationals in just four short weeks, in which all will fight to make the claim, “The Best in the US!” The countdown BEGINS!

Thanks to all our sponsors: Mountain Khakis, Billy Goat Bikes, Rocky Mountain Bicycles, Loaded Precision Components, Black Market Bikes, Feedback Sports, Smith Optics, Zerode Bicycles, POC Sports, Suspension Experts.

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Monday

Jun182012

Mitch Ropelato To Fill In For The Injured Troy Brosnan

Monday, June 18, 2012 at 4:18PM

With Monster Energy-Specialized racing’s Troy Brosnan at home recovering from a training injury sustained in Austria, Mitch Ropelato is ready to step up to the opportunity to fill-in for Brosnan. Ropelato has been racing in the U.S. for Specialized Racing-USA gravity onboard his Demo and will now debut for the Monster Energy-Specialized Team at both the Mont Saint Anne, Canada and Windham, New York World Cup rounds.

“Mitch was our first choice when we thought about a possible fill-in rider and we look forward to having him onboard. He’s a talented rider and I think he’ll have a good time on the program.” Said Team Manager Sean Heimdal. “It’s a shame to have Troy sidelined and we hope his recovery goes as planned!”

''Im happy to see Mitch filling in for myself and glad that he will be getting a factory ride at the next world cup rounds to show what talent on a bike he really has!'' says Troy Brosnan.

Mitch Ropelato says: “I'm super excited that I get the opportunity to ride with Sam Hill, work with Jacy and Sean under the Monster/Specialized tent. It’s really just a dream to be able to work with one of the top MTB teams in the world and really thankful that Specialized has lent me this opportunity to work with Monster Team. So, these next two weeks I’m just sitting on Cloud 9 without a worry in the world and just go out and have some fun riding my bike.”

Specialized Bicycles says: “This is a wonderful opportunity for Mitch while Troy recovers. He is a very talented rider and we couldn’t be more excited about the move. At Specialized we strive to develop riders and help them achieve their goals. To have Mitch come from one of our domestic teams and go to our global team is great for the program! We hope this move will be inspirational to other riders out there who have dreams of making it to a professional world cup team.”

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Wednesday

Jun132012

2012 POC Eastern States Cup NH Stop Updates

Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at 6:15AM

The POC Eastern States Cup visited New Hampshire for series races #3 at Attitash, and #4 Pats Peak on the past two weekends. In typical New England fashion, the weather was at two extremes. It was cold, rainy and windy at Attitash, while Pats Peak’s weekend was sunny, hot and dry. Great turnouts at both events prove the hardiness of East Coast racers.

The Course at Attitash was challenging in the wet conditions. Mud, slippery roots and rocks on the steep, tight trails made the descent difficult to get an error free race run in. The racers that made the least mistakes and kept their momentum were on the podium. Congratulations are in order for all racers for battling the elements and making it to the finish line.

Voncooper Racing dominated the men’s pro field at Attitash taking the top two positions. Phil Kmetz and Gavin Vaugn ended up less than a second apart with a 2:56.31 and a 2:56.53 respectively. Australian Matthew Dodd was 6 seconds back with a 3:03.27.Katelyn Parhiala took the women’s pro win in some very difficult conditions.

While Pats peak is not the tallest mountain on the POC ESC calendar, it has a terrific track. It’s plenty steep, and makes the most of the terrain that is available. The track was a solid mix of open slope and technical woods sections. It was full of rock gardens and roots with a few good drops to boot. The weekend weather was exceptionally good. Pats Peak POC ESC stop featured a best of two run format, giving racers a safe, solid run, and an all out run as well.

Track conditions were dry and dusty, amazing considering the deluge that dumped some 7 to 8 inches of rain on New England last week. The course was incredibly physical, having three rock gardens and two moderate drops. Despite it being relatively short, it did a good job zapping energy out of the racers, and was very well received.

Our visitors from Australia had the strongest showing for the weekend, with Matthew Dodd taking the win for the Pro Men with an astonishing 1:57 on his second run, besting his first run by two seconds. Matthew was the only racer to break the 2 minute mark, twice. Ben Moody did some incredible riding this weekend and ended the day with second place with a 2:00 on his second run and 2:04 on his first run. Aussie Jesse Beare took third with a 2:05 on his first run and a 2:00 on his second Run. It was a big weekend for Stephanie Levasque Sowles as she took he first Pro Women win with a 2:42 in both runs.

Another great weekend of POC ESC racing, the event had great atmosphere with the MTB festival. Thanks Pats Peak for all the hard work and fantastic course.

After four straight weekends of racing the series takes this weekend off before ESC #5 Mount Snow. Mount Snow is a racers favorite and the course for this race will be new. For more details on The POC ESC and the Mount Snow race, please visit www.easternstatescup.com

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Monday

Jun112012

Aaron Gwin Extends World Cup Lead After A Nail Biting Finish

Monday, June 11, 2012 at 6:54AM

Fort William is a classic stop on the World Cup tour and the mixed weather and rider fortunes meant it was again a race with drama and varying luck for the top riders. Championship contenders Greg Minnaar and Trek World Racing's Aaron Gwin had qualifying runs they weren't completely happy with Minnaar finishing 7th, and Aaron scoring no points after having two crashes due to front wheel wash outs. Aaron felt he chose the wrong tire for the conditions on Saturday and was disappointed to concede 18 points to Greg, but the main points were up for grabs today.

Because of the qualifying result, Aaron started earlier than the main contenders and took the hotseat with a 4m 48secs. It was difficult to know if this time would hold for the next hour as the top 20 men came down the hill, or would they push towards Marc Beaumont's (GBR) qualifier of 4m 42secs. The lead started to whittle away and was down to 3secs when Danny Hart took to the track and got the gap down to 0.6secs. With Greg Minnaar crossing the line with a drive train mechanical and eventually finishing 6th, it was up to the final two riders from Team GT to knock Aaron from the hotseat, which eventually did not happen. Aaron took his 7th World Cup win from 10 starts for Trek World Racing (and a 100% podium success rate), with hart second and Gee Atherton third. Aaron’s World Cup lead is now 85 points.

Aaron said: "I just rode a smooth run. It was hard to judge but all I knew was that it needed to be smooth. It was pretty nerve wracking watching all the big guys coming down and I started to think a podium w as likely, but the win was a real surprise. I'm glad to have finally conquered this amazing track! The fans here have been incredible all week."

For Justin Leov it was bitterly disappointing after riding at his best level all week and feeling confident of a great run in the final, when a small error in a straight forward section of track cost him valuable time.

Justin said: "It was just a simple mistake but it cost me a lot. I pretty bummed because I know from my riding and what others have said to me that I was on it this week. I just have to push forward and take the positives from my riding this week and head to North America tomorrow as determined as ever." Neko Mulally is back racing with Justin Leov in the Vermont round of the US National Series, at Sugarbush Resort next weekend, and the team will all be back together the following week in Mont-Sainte-Anne for next round of both the XC and DH World Cups.