RACING NEWS 

Mount Snow threw out its usual mixture of rain and shine for the 2007 US National Championships. Although this event is for US citizens only, many riders from all over the country converged on the normally sleepy summer village of West Dover to challenge one of the most grueling Downhill courses on the national circuit. For many of the riders this is the final event to decide if they have a chance of being selected to represent the US at the World Championships and who is staying at home.

Wednesday and Thursday dumped all-night rain on the freshly-cut course so when practice began the rocks became slick with a mud and grass glaze and the parts in between became a morass of mud and water ditches. It was impossible to tell who the riders were at the end of their practice runs as there was not one part of their body or bike not covered with 2 inches of thick clingy mud. Pit crews worked endlessly changing tires to the gnarliest mud spikes possible and debating on how to get these tires that work great in the mud, not to be too sketchy on the wet rocky sections. Clipping the middle spikes off the tires seemed to be the favorite solution. Long lines formed at the bike washing stations as bikes and riders had to be sprayed down and scrubbed before they could be identified.

Fortunately by Saturday the rain had held off and the dual slalom event was held in dry conditions on a short, but screamingly fast course. Team Morewood consisting of Cole Bangert and Geritt Beytagh looked in deadly form as they practiced together - flying in formation as one observer put it. This was backed up by Cole qualifying 2nd fastest behind Eric Carter and Geritt qualifying 9th. The racing was incredibly exciting with only fractions of a second separating the riders. Geritt crashed out early along with Eric Carter and Cole finished 5th after losing out to Rich Houseman by a tenth of a second. The event was won by the popular Chris Herndon, fellow North Carolinian and good buddy, with Houseman second.

The rain held off on Saturday night so the DH course was rapidly drying out, but still with a large number of muddy spots. The debate now became whether to keep the mud spokes on or switch to the less radical Maxxis Minnions or High Rollers. The Morewood riders decided to keep the spikes on for the qualifying run which proved to be the wrong choice. Both riders had a disastrous qualifying run with Cole flatting at the top and Geritt losing it with the spikes on the now dry rocks and crashing heavily and losing his shoe in the process.

I guess it was a case of if the "dress-rehearsal is bad then it'll be okay on the day" . Both Morewood riders started fairly early due to their poor qualifying time with Cole starting off like a man with a serious mission. Geritt started two riders later, also out to prove a point. Both of them had a faultless run with Cole clocking in a full 8 seconds faster than the fastest qualifying time and Geritt a few seconds behind. At this point it was Morewood Riders in 1st and 2nd place with Cole firmly in the hot seat. One by one the top riders clocked in, but none of them managed to beat Cole's time and when the final rider, Duncan Riffle, failed to come through in time the crowd went wild congratulating Cole as the 2007 US National Downhill Champion. The final finish was Cole, Luke Strobel, Chris Herndon, TJ Sharp and Geritt.

It was a great event for Morewood Bikes with Cole and Geritt on the podium and Lisa Myklak getting a 3rd in the women's dual slalom and a 5th in the women's DH.

Once again, Team Morewood would like to thank the great support from their sponsors - Fox Racing Shox, Control Tech, Maxxis, e.thirteen, Industry Nine, Formula, Crank Bros, Mavic, SixSixOne, FSA and Lake Shoes for the their great support.