Today was the 3rd of five races at Mt Hood.
We were all surprised by the weather this weekend. everyone arrived Sat am to clouds and light sprinkles, with a forcast of HEAVY rainfall expected for Sun. Practice was fun with only a few injuries to report. Everyone seemed eager to get runs in while the conditions were decent. The full course was used this time. I love the Hood course from the upper chair. It has a little bit of everything, so much so that it’s a really hard one to set your bike up for.
The turnout was really good considering Crankworx was opening this weekend as well.
In the Pro mens class we had 7 fast riders, all capable of pulling off a win with a good run. A best of two run format this time allowed you to toss out your slower run, which can end up in some hairball experiences if you blow your first one and have one more chance at victory. Sunday morning proved to be a good sign of the days weather with bluebird skies. We had no idea we were going to race on some of the best conditions I have ever seen at Hood.
Lars had pretty solid first run only to have a dog walker going for a stroll on the bottom part of the race course. Sorry fido that was a close one. (4.04.67) Darryl Young pulled off the big w in the first round besting Lars by .5 sec’s or so. (4.04.08) Nathan Riddle made the trek up from Ashland straight to 3rd place 1sec off first. (4.05.2) Simon had a small interaction with a rock gap and his right crank arm met it’s demise. Zeb had a safe run into 5th or 6th place. Brian crashed out in his first run as well. With a race this tight anything can happen, and you have to be on it knowing that your competitors are right there ready to take it from you.
In the second run Darryl had a decent run with a few minor mistakes to declare but still shaved 2.5 sec’s from his first time. Lars Had a good run with a few minor bobbles, but no dogs this time, and dropped 3.25 seconds form the first run. Just barely enough to take the win. Nathan cut his time by 1.5 good enough to retain 3rd place overall. Simon had some tech issues up top and decided it was safer to run chainless to to the nature of the issues, with a time of 4.24 without a chain I can only speculate how well he would have faired, and it woulda been a good one. Zeb reduced his time by 2 seconds placing him in 5th. Brian stayed up this time and placed 6th. Jerry battled his way into 3rd place in expert.
Overall everyone had a killer time and a big thanks to Petr and co. for putting on these great events.
1st Lars 4.01.26
2nd Darryl 4.01.97
3rd Nathan 4.04.27
4th Kim 4.12.73
5th Zeb 4.16.49
6th Jason 4.16.65
7th Simon 4.24.80
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