2011 Fontana Winter Series Round #5- Finals

The overall points have been close all series long and anyone could take the overall championship win in the 4X and the DH. Stiff competition and challenging courses have written this series to be one of the closest racing in recent times, and the final did not disappoint in any aspect. Super D results added.This weekend was a crucial weekend to do well at. The weekend's points are double like those of last race. Any mistake in your ranking on the results could be detrimental to your race to the championship. Riders and mechanics were taking extra care in servicing their bikes leaving any chance of a mechanical failure behind.


Saturday 4X Finals

Once the gate was ready riders flooded into practice to get their snap perfect. The usual riders like Jake Kinney, Blake Carney, and Lear Miller were looking fast all practice. Though the course does not change from race to race, the racing gets exponentially faster and closer as the series continues. During practice it was hard to see who was the fastest.


Once the heats started Blake Carney came into his own. He was looking incredibly strong taking every heat. Jake Kinney, Lear Miller, and Alan Hudson were trailing Blake Carney the whole way from start to finish. With a strong gate snap Carney just took off and was never caught. Trailing through the big jump section, through the chicane, then to the rhythm section which led to the finish, Kinney, Miller, and Hudson were battling it out for 2nd.

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Sunday Downhill Finals

The morning started off warm, clear and free of wind. Practice commenced at 8:00AM and the race action began to heat up. Riders were enjoying the quick upper section out of the gate and the middle technical section littered with rocks and steep terrain. The middle section was popular during practice, riders were having a challenging time trying to get the perfect line. It gave us media a lot of chances to get coverage on all the Pro riders. Forecasts predicted for a warm and breezy afternoon and this time the meteorologists keep to their word. 70 degrees Fahrenheit in between the hills of the Southridge Park made for a great setting for the finals.


After some course discrepancy in the middle section, practice was pushed back an extra 30 minutes. Eric Carter spent a lot of time in the middle technical section to get it down to a science, for his final run it seemed to pay off. All of the usual heavy hitters checked out the section for quite a while and were all looking fast. It was anyone's bet who'd win this weekend.


KHS have been having a great start to the season with multiple successes in the Southridge Winter Series. Logan Binggeli and Kevin Aiello are putting in excellent work and it's paying off. Podiums at every single round of the series, two wins, and an overall championship. Watch out, KHS is out on a mission to prove they aren't slackers.


David Klaasen Van Oorschot finally pulled himself out of the slump and put himself in 3rd this weekend. He was able to muscle his way through the rough and get on the gas in the "Wall" section. Jon Buckell had a spectacular weekend. Practice was where he was looking strong and it carried well over into the final runs. Eric Carter killed it with podiums on the Super D and the Downhill. Never count Carter out of the game.





For more results check on Southridge USA

Thank you to all of the staff of the Southridge Winter Series, we appreciate all the work you guys do for the sake of racing and fun! And, thanks to all that came out for this series! See you guys at the California Golden State Series for the Fontana City National on March 25-27!

-Tony "Double T" Tarumoto

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Southridge USA Winter Series Round #5 - Super D race report

The final Super D race of the 2011 Winter Series presented by Shimano saw the largest field of Super D racers to date! Due to popular demand the course from the previous 1.5-mile round #4 was used again. Conditions were much drier than the previous event, which meant some sections were very slippery so it was going to be interesting to see how this was going to effect riders. Usually the Super D course isn’t marked till the day of the race so riders only get a short period of time to dial in the course so it was interesting to see if were riders would improve on their times or if the conditions would slow them down.

After setting the course markers and doing some course clean up I noticed many new faces working their way up the course. I have been trying hard to spread the word about how much fun Super D and I even put together a video showcasing a typical Joe Lawwill/ Southridge USA course, which if missed it, can be found at www.youtube.com/bikeskillssocal. Based on the number of views we received the last couple days shows people are liking what they are seeing and spreading it around. I am not trying to replace downhill racing, but I am optimistic about the potential Super D has if done right. I noticed a few of the downhill regulars giving it a shot, which was great. Everyone I heard from said they were loving the course and planned on doing it again. Riding the Super D's a great way to fine tune both your skills and your fitness as well as get much more time on the bike while at an event.

When it came time to race all-around cycling stud Waylon Smith cleaned up by stomping all of us by almost 7 seconds! The rest of podium, all guys who raced the same course 2 weeks before, all improved their times by a good amount which was surprising considering the course was pretty slick in many places. Good thing for the rest of us Waylon wasn’t here last time or he may have really made us all look bad!

Next Super D event in Fontana is May 21, 2011. Check out www.southridgeusa.com for more info.

-Joe Lawwill
“Bikeskills Instructor”

Winning Pro Time: 5:32.04 Last weeks winning time: 5:46.08
Total Descent: Approx: 900 feet
Total Ascent: Approx: 150 feet
Total Length: 1.5 miles


Photographers shooting the Super D:

Mike Lord
Eric Foltz Photography
Jason Cleghorn
Blue Fire Pictures