Recap: POC ESC East Coast Super Championships at Mountain Creek Bike Park

Well Ladies and Gents, that is a wrap for the 2014 POC Eastern States Cup race season. It's absolutely amazing how fast the season can come and go. The ESC series stretched from May to October, featured 30 events and over 3100 racer starts. I guess time fly's when your having fun, right? This weekend the series headed down to Mountain Creek Bike Park in Vernon, New Jersey for the POC ESC East Coast Super Championships. This race was a new concept by the ESC to bring together the best racers from it's 2 DH series and other eastern series. The top racers from the ESC were "protected", while others had to race their way into the finals through qualifying.



We weren't sure what to expect other then the fact that the end of the track takes you through the infamous Action Park (Mountain Creeks Water Park) before hitting the finish line. We heard rumours that the gnarly track known as Slayer was going to be involved and those rumours were true. The Mountain Creek Bike Park trail crew did an outstanding job building and cleaning up the race track. They spent countless days building wooden bridges, moving thousands of pound of rocks and shaping corners so the season would end with a bang. We are thankful to Mountain Creek and we look forward to coming back for years to come.

Got to the Bike Park pretty late Friday night. Looks like they are gearing up for Halloween .

This might be the only time that the water park is open to Bikers, and I don't mean for a swim. The race track was unique and finished in the water park.

Pro Rider Jason Memmlar in his race rig deciding which goggles he wants to wear.

Looks like Yeti, Fox factory racer Richie Rude is contemplating how he is going to win. Richie had to get through qualifying to make it into the finals.

Pro Riders stoked to get back up to the track.

Danny's Cycles rider Andrew Wegiel heading up for his practice run.

Athletes begin to make their way up to the top for practice.. Heads are down with the worry of how gnarly Slayer is going to be.

MadKats Athlete Isaac Allair and Specialized,100% athlete Jordan Newth wait at the start gate and talk about who is going to lead the first lap.

The start gate before qualifying gets pretty exciting. Who's going to push out who? Only the top ten make the finals in the ESC East Coast Super Championships

MadKats rider Isaac Allaire following Pro Rider Jordan Newth through the first section of the track.

Fly Racing Pro Rider Dylan Conte taking the high line with style.

Titus Nicholson has shown that he will be a major contender in the near future. Taking the lead and showing his friends the fastest way down.

Americas favourite Platty native Ernie Reale flying the stars and strips during his practice runs.

Pro Rider Steve Avery showing that he can find the smoothest line down the track.

Yeti Fox Factory rider Richie Rude Jr. proving why he is the fastest man on the mountain. When your the size of a linebacker, rocks move out of the way for you.

Giant Pro Rider and 2014 POC ESC New England Cup DH Pro Champion Brian Scolforo smiling as always as he takes flight over this small double.

POC athlete Zack Clayton tucked out of the woods to make it into the frame of my camera.

Pro Fly Racing, Cycle Xprezo Athletes Dillon Conte and Tim White having fun as always following each other down the track helping figure out what the best lines are.

Michael Maldonado taking some advice from his dad is one of the happiest kids ever.

Michael Maldonado proving that his dads advice works. Kid is 11 years old and taking the pro lines.

Brendon Looby Practices on his own. Time to push it to the limit.

Transitions bikes, TLD 100% athlete and the 2014 POC ESC Atlantic DH Cup Pro Champion Mauricio Estrada Pulgarin knows this track like no one's business. Mauricio was the 2013 POC ESC DH Champion and was determined to repeat.

Corners can be tough, hope it doesn't rain.

MadKats Pro Rider Isaac Allaire loves the camera, makes his way around corners with the rear end still going sideways.

Its a long way down to a really small turn..

JrX Athlete Josh Ribeiro taking the bridge like a champ.

Josh Tidman rails this corner like he owns it.

Jersey Home Grown rider Jason Fedo taking to the rocks like a champ on this Airborne.

MadKats Rider Isaac Allaire, figuring his lines out before seating run.

Cole Horn, talent beyond belief is on a borrowed bike as he had broken his frame in practice. I think thats number 4 this year.

Danny's Cycles Rider Andrew Wegiel just had a massive crash but still was able to make it down the gnarly rock garden and home in time for supper.

Danny's Cycles Pro Rider Stephanie Sowles shows why she is awesome and takes to the rocks like a vet. This girl has shocked us time and time again with her courage and her desire to push herself.

Pro Rider from Canada Kristen Courtney made her way down the mountain the fastest and her line choice shows why.

Time to make our way into the Water Park.

Views from the top showcase how wild this place is.

Jared Boothroyd using his moto style to make his way around this tree and into the water park.

Pro Yeti Rider Jason Memmelaar Making his way down for a third place finish.

MadKats Pro Rider Alex McAndrew wishing he could ride the slides but chooses to send it off this cheese wedge.

Leland O'connor smoking turns as he pushes to finishing in the top ten.

Pro Giant Rider Brian Scolforo pushing it to the finish, took a few crashes on course but still able to make it to the finish with style.

Jason Memmelaar sitting pretty waiting for two athletes to come down. Will they take him out of the hot seat?

Oh man could he do it? Richie Rude makes his way past the finish line.

Like true professionals, Mauricio Estrada Shakes hand with the East Coast Super Champ Richie Rude Jr, as he takes the win by 4 seconds... What is this kid eating?

The POC ESC East Coast Super Champs brought out a stacked pro field and a very deserving podium. Congrats boys!
1) Richie Rude Jr. 2) Mauricio Estrada Pulgarin 3) Jason Memmelaar 4) Dylan Conte 5) George Ryan

These girls pushed it to the limit and took the top three spots in the pro class. Congratulations ladies.
1) Kristen Courtney 2) Amy Temarantz 3) Stephanie Sowles

A massive thanks goes out to Mountain Creek Bike Park for hosting us this weekend, Thanks for putting on a great race and we look forward to being back with the Spring Classic ProGRT in May and the Super Championships in October 2015.

Till Next year have a great winter and hope to see you all soon.

Full Results.

George Ulmer Cat1 40+ racer and the main contact for the ESC wanted to say, "I would like to thank everyone for a very successful season of MTB racing, the ESC had over 3000 race starts in 2014. Our mission is to bring together racers, venues and sponsors to foster and ensure the future of gravity racing in the east. I feel we accomplished that and much more.

The most fulfilling portion of my job at the ESC is being part of this great community of racers and their families. I want to thank all of them for coming to our events. I want to thank the venues for supporting the ESC mission and opening up their doors to us. Our sponsors this season were great and gave us some cool prizing and support for trophies and plaques. The media guys that helped the ESC to gain worldwide exposure did a terrific job with the Pinkbike reports and videos.

The most important group of all is the ESC volunteers. So many in the racing community reached out and asked if there was anything they could do to help. That was encouraging and fulfilling. I would name each one individually but they are like me and would rather work behind the scenes knowing they were helping a common cause.

Without all theses factors the ESC would not exist. So in closing I’ll speak for the entire ESC community and say THANK YOU EVERYONE for everything that you do.

www.easternstatescup.com