Friday, June 20, 2008

2008 CCCX Spring DH Finale Preview

Dusty Downs is back this week to provide us with a preview of this Sunday's CCCX Spring DH Finale

dh_course_series_final2.jpgThe CCCX will contest it's final race of the 2008 Spring/Summer Downhill Series this Sunday June 22 at its usual location of Toro Park near Monterey. The series final will also count as race #3 of Team Bigfoot's NorCal DH Series. Plus, the CCCX DH Series will host it's fund raiser-raffle for the Mark Reynolds memorial fund. This raffle-fundraiser has many prizes to be handed out to those who show up to race and support the cause. Items from many industry names such as Shimano, Fox Racing, X Fusion, as well as items from CCCX Sponsors such as Calabazas Cyclery, and Trail Head Cyclery will be raffled off to build support for the Mark Reynolds memorial fund.

The course looks to be similar to past CCCX Series final courses. The lower part of the course is used only for the series final and features some extremely fast and railing sections of single track, off camber trails, and fire roads. The upper portion of the course will be similar to other CCCX DH races and this portion has some wide open fire roads leading to bermed turns and switch-backs combined with a few drops to test all aspects of riding. The traction is fast, dry, and slick in most sections. So tire choice and air pressure will come into play to produce a riders fastest time.

A few of the division titles in the series will come down to the final run after competitions on 8 different courses during the Spring/Summer campaign. Of note, the Expert 19-34 division has been dominated by Jordan Lopez (WTB/GAMUT/Crank Bros/SDG/661/ODI), however a late season charge by Ryan Randall (SCCCC) has put Randall with a last race chance at the division crown if he pulls off a win and Lopez falters. Don Palermini (Top Dog/Bell Helmets) needs to have a solid run in the Men's Sport 35-44 division to hold off super fast Jason Kent (TieniDuro Jr. Cycling). In the Men's Beg. 19-34 division local boy Bret Wheeler of Salinas has been fighting back and forth with San Mateo's Brett Harmon and their division will come down to the final race. Roxanne Canent (Barf Racing) appears to be the most improved rider by winning the Beg Women's division and making a run to also win the Sport Women's division all in the same season. The best division races are in the Junior categories and the final race in these divisions will determine series champions. Junior Boy's 16-18 has Alex Deich of Santa Cruz tied equally on points with Lucas Nakamura of Concord going into the series final race. While Max Rausch (Carmel Bicycle/Blue Whale Racing) has a slight lead over fast riding Matt Fyten of San Jose in the Junior Boys 14-16 group. These two young downhill speedsters have been racing back and forth trading division wins over the first seven races and the series final will decide the overall outcome between the two. Cody Womack of Granite Bay needs to ride clean to hold off Kevin Saylor of Felton in the Junior 13 & Under division. Lastly and amazingly, Keith DeFiebre (Calabazas/CVC/Oakley/X Fusion) looks set to win four divisions of the series, Expert 35+ Men, HardTail, Single Speed, and Chainless for the 2nd season in a row.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great blog. Thanks!