2017 Fontana KMC Winter Series, Round 2

The KMC Winter Series at Southridge Park in Fontana hosted round 2, with dry conditions for Saturday's event and wet conditions on Sunday. Not only did we see the usual suspects, but several top tier pros from around the world showed up to hone their skills and test their setups in the decomposed granite that Fontana is so famous for. Saturday had dry weather and hero dirt with the rainy conditions leading into the first day of competition and practice. In fact, the Golden State has received so much rain and snow it's estimated over 40% of the state has recovered from the drought. I can tell you the dirt was being raved about by everyone. Let's look at how the weekend turned out.

KMC held a prominent position as the title sponsor and their reps were committed to showing product and assisting racers with their driveline needs.

A staple of the Southern California XC scene, and host to several national events in the past, Fontana XC races very rarely disappoint. Even more so, are some of the names that ride the Southridge Hills.


The second round of the series always falls on the same weekend as the Anaheim 2 Supercross race, so I felt it was necessary to pay homage to the legends of moto with a bike check photo of the man himself, Johnny O'mara. He still has plenty of throttle, finishing 1st in the Expert 50-59 Cross Country category.


Saturday's dirt was prime for the XC racers. Here, Fullerton Bicycles rider Turner Conway, leads out the Pro Men category. He would finish 3rd in XC and would turn around and take 2nd in Expert 34 and under in the Enduro that afternoon. Only in Southern California in January can you race in short sleeves and shorts, or spandex if you prefer, as long as the weather cooperates.

The Enduro event followed the XC race. The usual participants raced on the 2 stage course. Stage 1 was all about fitness with plenty of pedaling and flow without a lot of technical sections. Stage 2 was essentially the sport course from round one's DH race, offering some tight corners and rock drops.


While the XC and Enduro events are worthwhile in their own right, they were heavily overshadowed by the presence of some big names from the DH world and prototype testing for the 2017 season. I was told by some of the main teams, they were testing products, but none of those products seemed to be out while my camera was around.


I ran into Jerome Lacote, probably most known for launching the Commencal USA brand. He was spotted with a prototype device attached to his goggle strap during practice Saturday. The "Victorise" allows you to know, in real time if you are ahead or behind your split times.


It does this by way of an led system fed into the inner lens of your goggles which will display different colors based on where you sit on your pace. Lacote says the system is being tested by himself and a few other select riders from the Intense World Cup team. I'm sure we will have more on this in the future.


Moving on to the teams, Commencal USA had a big showing with eight riders under their tent.

Their line-up is as follows: Mason Kroepel age 9, Hunter Kroepel age 11, Jakob Snow age 13, Liam Donohue age 15, Dixie Owens age 13, Steven Walton age 17, Kevin Canoy age 23, Luca Cometti age 21. In a brief chat with team manager Craig Canoy, I was told, Kevin Canoy will race Pro Grt, while Luca Cometti and Steven Walton will race Pro Grt and World cups.


As we headed up to see the teams practicing on the hill, we came across yet another legend in the MTB world. Eric Carter was found scoping lines as he planned on racing the Vet Pro class Sunday. He's always smiling and enjoying life. He would finish second on the weekend.


When we got to the top, Commencal USA's Steven Walton (left) was pushing up with KHS's Bruce Klein. It was great to see these two get picked up at the factory level this year after all their hard work over the past couple of seasons, racing for more development style teams. Both of them were able to see a few world cups first hand in 2016 with more planned for 2017 for sure.


While Walton prepped to drop in, I got a close-up shot of what makes the pivot system different on the new Commencal Supreme DH 4.2.


Speaking of the development team Klein was on last year, Jarod Hanson, Incycle, no longer has a teammate in the Pro category, with Klein's departure to KHS, but that didn't stop him from putting in hard work on Saturday prepping for Sunday's race. He would finish 9th after what he said was a clean run that he just ran out of gas on.

The other big team out on the hill, was trying to do so in less obvious fashion, but it really wasn't working.



That train, is perhaps the brightest train I've ever seen. The new TLD kits begged for attention while at the same time complementing the colors of the team bikes. There was a definite buzz around them this weekend, but how would they finish after Sunday's Final?



Saturday's practice would conclude with Charlie Harrison sending a triple on one of the many rock waterfall sections the Pro course had to offer. It was clear he would be a podium finisher, which comes as no surprise given his roots at Fontana. Harrison has been racing here as long as I've been covering the event.

Sunday morning was cold and wet. The rain moved into the area around 3am and temps dropped to the mid's 30's for a low. The organizer's decided to bump the start time a half hour earlier in an attempt to avoid the heavier rainfall that was coming late morning / early afternoon. It was clear that the weather played a role in some decisions to race, as we saw a few pros that practiced Saturday only to skip Sunday's final.



Luca Cometti warms up under the coverage of the Commencal USA tent with rain coming down. He looked brilliant during practice in the dry conditions on Saturday. Would he have what it takes to finish on top in the Pro Men's Category?


After watching Harrison's practice runs from Saturday, he was obviously on his A game, but it wasn't clear how the rain would play a role in his speed for Sunday's race. He kept a tight line through the wet corner at the bottom of the main waterfall and would finish in first place by nearly two seconds.


With visibility being an issue reliable eyewear was vital to a successful run. Bruce Klein was stoked on his 100% set up for the rain allowing him to stick his lines and finish on the second step in the Pro Men Category.




The Junior Expert Category is always exciting to watch. Many times the top performers rival the Pro Men times and this round was no different. 1st Place Nik Nestoroff would have finished 5th in the Pro Men Category.


Steven "Swaltonator" Walton poses with his brand new Supreme 4.2. He received it Friday, had three runs during Saturday's practice with two of those having flat tires before a full pull. He had two full runs prior to Sunday's race run and finished less than a second off the winner. Craig Canoy, team manager for Commencal USA was extremely satisfied with the results commenting. When asked about the results, Canoy had this to say, "If we were two, three or four seconds off the top then maybe we would have something to worry about, but we weren't. We were less than a second off." The new bike appears to be a contender.




The Jr. Expert Podium grouped up with the number one racer on the day Nik Nestoroff leaving early, likely because the team has not made their official announcements for 2017. Nestoroff finished with a 02:03.32 - Second Place went to Commencal's newest Jr. Steven Walton with a 02:04.28 - Third Place was YT's Trevor Boldi at 02:04.71 - 4th Place was Travis Claypool with a time of 02:10.68 and rounding out the group was Cole Suetos from the Incycle team at 02:11.73.


Despite what this podium photo shows, the field was stacked. Two of the top five were World Cup Racers for Intense Cycles, but they were unable to attend the podium ceremony. First place went to Charlie Harrison, with a time of 01:57.34. Second Place, was KHS Factory Racing's newest addition Bruce Klein at 01:59:11. Third place was Intense Factory Racing's Jack Moir, who finished with a time of 01:59.61. Fourth Place was Cody Johnson at 02:01.02 and Fifth Place was Canada's Magnus Manson with a time of 02:02.91