Saturday, August 11, 2001 - Sunday, August 12, 2001 -- Massanutten, VA
Massanutten Hoo Ha! - Downhill & Dual Slalom
(iPO Event Id#: 2624)
Story and photos by Dave McKain
[Sunday XC Coverage]
[Details]
[Coverage]
Results:
[Dual Slalom]
[DH Overall]
[DH by Class]
[Pic Set 1]
[Pic Set 2]
[Pic Set 3]
[Pic Set 4]
[2000 Coverage]
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Carving the turns as Massanutten
What started out as a beautiful day at Massanutten quickly turned ugly
as the thunderheads moved in over the mountain. Gravity assisted
competitors were treated to a challenging course that wound through
the woods, over a short road section, and down some technical rock
gardens. Before all of the competitors were able to complete their
runs, the clouds opened up and lightning and thunder rolled from the
skies. In addition to forcing the lift operators to shut down, the
weather quickly turned what was a dry and fast course into a slippery
mess of muck.
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Conditions at the beginning were great - dry dirt
While the weather was good, participants made quite a go at it. In the
Mens Pro/Expert class,
Christopher Herndon (3:17.67) edged
John Gabor (3:17.96) by less than 1/2 second to take the win
while
Cecil Linder (3:21:81) took the third spot. In the
Jr. Expert class,
Derek Phillips (3:28:77) took the
win. Phillips time was also good enough to put him in 8th overall for
the day. Finishing in second in the Jr. Expert class was
Mike
Valash (3:36:48) followed by third place finisher
Cody
Blevins (3:38:01). In the Sport class,
Ben Shaner (3:40.12)
took the win over
Paul Chase (2nd - 3:49:40) and
Chris
McGibbon (3rd - 3:57:67). For the Womens Pro/Expert,
Shauna
Rickerby took top honors with a time of 4:44.22 while
Aileen
Nippens took first in the Womens Sport class, getting to the
bottom of the hill in 4:56:91.
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Slalom racers battle each other and the mud
Besides shutting down the DH race, the rain made for tough conditions
for the dual slalom race later that day. What had been a fast and dry
course now demanded big knobbies to maintain traction. Making it a
double for the day,
Chris Herndon beat out
Juan Ashworth
for first in the Mens Pro/Expert class. In the womens division,
Holly Kuhn took the win over
Ginny Oyhenart. For the
Junior Sport/Experts,
Derek Phillips followed in the footsteps
of Herndon by taking the win and sweeping the class for the
day.
Cody Belvins took the second spot on the podium for the
Juniors.
Even with the rain, the event was quite the success with riders
offered challenging courses and great competition. George
Willetts, Kenny Hess and the rest of the volunteer crew did
a great job of putting together and pulling of both races.