There are many places in the world where the weather is simply too gnarly to even get out of the house, so I suppose on an international level the worst weather in Fontana, California, in the winter is hands-over-fist better than other places this time of the year. The fact is, the wind and rowdy trails made for extraordinary challenges for riders competing in the 2016 KMC Winter Series Round 3 DH Finals, presented by Southridge USA. Here is how the day played out.
The wind was the biggest competitor today, causing issues on the trail and in the vendor village. We watched as this food tent was crippled by a quick strong gust.
CJ Selig in her warm up run this morning, looked good. She finished 3rd in Pro Women.
Essence Barton, Factory Marin Rabobank, battled the winds missing the top step by nine seconds.
Samantha Kingshill came out once again this weekend and didn't let anything get in her way of the first place position. Congrats Samantha!
The always competitive Junior Expert Category once again saw times that would compete with the Pro Men. The times with a few exceptions were all over the place, really proving that the wind had plagued many of the riders during their final run.
We cheered for him and Jacob Jordan finished in 3rd today in the Jr. Expert Category. Jordan has played a pretty good sized roll out in Fontana assisting with course design and representing the Southridge USA team.
Walton was one of only two riders on the day to send the booter over the garden. It was a place where the crowd had gathered to cheer on the favorite riders. Walton's Grandmother can be seen in the far right side of the frame (
with her mouth wide open) You have to wonder if he'd have kept it low, would he have taken first place overcoming the 0.13 gap?
Nik Nestoroff, Factory Intense, staying on his usual smooth lines finished in 1st place. We should certainly mention that both Nestoroff and Walton would have finished 3rd and 4th respectively in the Pro Men Category.
The Vet Pro Category saw the usual suspects. While their wisdom from centuries of riding experience may have given them the confidence to ride, not even the wizards of the sport were able to tame the winds, which would cause a few to have problems.
Quinton Spaulding, Factory KHS team manager, was wide open on the course, in the Vet Pro Category, finishing 3rd.
Chad Hubbard, Scorpion Stands / Intense, came out for round three. As we watched his run, it seemed the winds were not in his favor. He finished in 2nd place in Vet Pro.
Joe Picchiottino leaning into the corner on the granite surfaces of Fontana. He finished in first place with a convincing margin of over eight seconds.
And then there were the elite, the Pro Men Category, which honestly lacked a sizable turn-out. Yesterday's practice session seemed to have several more contenders than that which showed up for finals today. Despite that, those that did show up gave it their all and it was a good show.
Joshua Gibbons, Fullerton Bicycles, had his first podium showing with a 5th place finish for round 3.
Klein seems to always be just shy of the next place up. He finished in 4th today, by a margin of 3/10ths of a second.
As we mentioned in yesterday's practice recap, Johnson was unclear how he would fit on the new XL sized Intense Palmer edition. One thing was for sure, he loved the suspension and his race run was dialed as he got his first podium of the year.
Barry Nobles, Factory Airborne, and obvious BMX legend came out today and was able to finish on the second step. Nobles has some commitments to the BMX world coming up, so he will likely miss the next round but should return in time for the finals.
Words cannot describe this photo and Logan Binggeli, sent it, all the way to a first place finish today. Probably because he wasn't running his visor, making him slice through the high winds. Yeah, that's it!
The unruly, impatient racers were eager to see how they stacked up against their competition.
The results shook out like this -
Pro Women DH Podium - 1st place: Samantha Kingshill 02:53.80, 2nd place: Essence Barton 03:02.92, 3rd place: CJ Selig 03:24.20, 4th Place: Dani Johnson 03:26.69
Jr. Expert Podium - 1st place: Nik Nestoroff 02:21.31, 2nd place: Steven Walton 02:21.44, 3rd place: Jacob Jordan 02:30.47, 4th place: Blake Motley 02:33.84, 5th place: Erik Szayna 02:36.40
Vet Pro Podium - 1s place: Joe Picchiottino 02:53.80, 2nd place: Chad Hubbard 02:34.84, 3rd place: Quinton Spaulding 02:36.50, 4th place: Orven Zaragoza 02:36.50, 5th place: Todd Kobayashi 02:44.80
Pro Men DH Podium - 1st place: Logan Binggeli 02:12.42, 2nd place: Barry Nobles 02:19.87, 3rd place: Cody Johnson 02:22.37, 4th place: Bruce Klein 02:22.67
The parting photo -
Winding down after a 2nd place finish in the Pro Woman's Category, Essence Barton told us she is super excited for a new season with sponsor Marin Rabobank. Barton picked up the factory sponsorship right after her podium results at the 2015 Kamikaze Games. Expect to see her for the remainder of the series and several enduro and gravity events this year.
Keep It Pinned Pinkbikers!
MENTIONS: @calledtocreation /
@khsfactoryracing
Vet Pro Podium - 1s place: Joe Picchiottino 02:53.80, 2nd place: Chad Hubbard 02:34.84, 3rd place: Quinton Spaulding 02:36.50, 4th place: Orven Zaragoza 02:36.50, 5th place: Todd Kobayashi 02:44.80
OMG!!!
s/