2017 Fontana KMC Winter Series, Round 3

Super Bowl Weekend found Super Racing in Fontana. The trail and weather conditions were better than prime and the racing action would see some exciting changes for round three for the KMC Winter Series Presented by Southridge USA. Last round we saw the Intense Team and some of the more prominent members of the Commencal USA team as well as a split time notification system that was being tested, so that begs the question, who or what would we see this round?

The campground/parking lot was full Saturday for the Super D and XC races. Many chose to camp with amazing weather in the forecast for the whole weekend.

Cole Fiene, practices stage one which wound through beautiful mustard fields and rock gardens. Weather and terrain were both near perfection for the third round in Fontana.

The Super D contingency was strong this week with over a hundred signed up. The top of stage two afforded everyone a break while the timing was set up. The views from the top were nice too.

Kyle Doyle, quads the doubles at the top of the second stage. Must be the Better Buzz!!

Cole Picchiottino on his way to second in the Pro Men Super D race. His combined time was a short 7:00.41. First place went to his teammate, Evander Hughes at 06:57.10

Blaise Janssen twists through the switchbacks on stage two for Saturday's Super D race. He finished 2nd in Expert Men 34 and Under. First place went to Max Sedlak.

The pro women's category had one contender, Amy Rambacher. It would have been great to see more in the Pro Category. It is worth mentioning that the open women's category had seven contenders, leaving many wondering why they didn't join together in some fashion. With the Super D wrapped up, I started heading home, but as I left the dirt lot, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.


A small crew with shovels and rakes formed some short ruts and bumps and were sessioning them with riders calling each other out for a race to the death. Ok, it wasn't that gnarly, but it was entertaining, so with the light low, I armed myself with a flash and caught one good shot of Cody Johnson vs Steven Walton in a quick slalom race in the sand lot. It was hard to tell who won that race, but the action went on well into the night. The next morning was Super Bowl Sunday and it was super in Fontana for sure. There was a low-lying fog that had settled into the dirt. While the temps were a bit chilly, especially with the morning wind, the dirt was hero, and ready to shred. We arrived early in order to be able to catch as much action as possible. We found the Vendor Village to be pretty slow, which could only mean one thing, everyone was on the trail dialing in their lines and prepping for finals. We shuttled up to the top and found a couple of unique whips while waiting for others to come back up for more fun runs.

This Box equipment full suspension Foes Fat bike caught the eyes of many. Would you race it?

Annabella Hammonds, raced DH on this one-off Supercross full suspension bike. She races BMX on the Supercross Factory Team. Hammonds finished second on the day.


In the junior expert category, Steven Walton was on his way to his 2nd win in junior expert. Walton, easily admitted that Trevor Boldi, who had a crash in the double on one of the rock gardens, may have taken the win. Walton added, "There was a lot of loose corners at the top, so I think I just kind of kept it cool and didn't push it too hard in the corners and I think that's what paid off." Currently USAC ranks Swaltonator #1. Last round he lost to Nestoroff but the Intense team was not in for round three. Look for a great battle between the top three juniors for the remainder of the series, with their times being close to that of the pro racers. As a side note, Walton would have taken third in the Pro category.

Trucker Co Posse rider, CJ Selig, took first place in the pro women's DH category.

Orven Zaragoza racing the vet pro category flying past the spectators to a 3rd place finish.

More excitement in the men's pro DH Category found several of the usuals mixing it up with some newcomers.

Sean Bell, riding for the Santa Cruz team, took fifth in the pro men in his first race back after suffering a broken pinky at Snowshoe and a broken scaphoid and nose at Mont-Sainte-Anne.

Cole Picchiottino backed up his second place finish in Super D Saturday with a fourth place finish in pro men's DH on Sunday.

Cody Johnson, may have had a slight advantage on the pedal sections of the DH course on his trail bike, but he still came up short finishing third in the pro men.

Mike Day, racing DH on the Giant Reign took 2nd place behind his trainee, Bruce Klein, by just about a half a second. The comments in the pits were all about how insanely fast Day was in the corners; no surprise with his BMX background.


Bruce Klein, took the win in the pro men's DH race on Sunday. "Having the KHS program actually has really helped me because they themselves are structured," said Klein. He added, "I've started working with Mike Day... We're kind of working together to figure out a program." Day is helping Klein on the fitness and bike. When asked how he felt about beating his new mentor, Bruce said, "It's pretty cool. I'm sure he's going to put that in my training and make me hurt (extra) for it." That's two wins for Klein this season so far, with a second place finish coming last round with Charlie Harrison finishing on the top step.

Downhill junior expert podium - 1st Place: Steven Walton - 02:07.90, 2nd Place: Tevor Boldi - 02:13.30, 3rd Place: Travis Claypool - 02:13.50, 4th Place: Jonathan DeHart - 02:16.70, 5th Place: Grant Rogers - 02:19.10

Downhill pro women's podium - 1st Place: CJ Selig - 02:53.20, 2nd Place: Dani Johnson - 02:59.20

Downhill pro men's podium - 1st Place: Bruce Klein - 02:01.50, 2nd Place: Mike Day - 02:02.00, 3rd Place: Cody Johnson - 02:05.00, 4th Place: Cole Picchiottino - 02:08.10, 5th Place: Sean Bell - 02:09.50

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