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Wednesday

Jun132012

2012 POC Eastern States Cup NH Stop Updates

Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at 6:15AM

The POC Eastern States Cup visited New Hampshire for series races #3 at Attitash, and #4 Pats Peak on the past two weekends. In typical New England fashion, the weather was at two extremes. It was cold, rainy and windy at Attitash, while Pats Peak’s weekend was sunny, hot and dry. Great turnouts at both events prove the hardiness of East Coast racers.

The Course at Attitash was challenging in the wet conditions. Mud, slippery roots and rocks on the steep, tight trails made the descent difficult to get an error free race run in. The racers that made the least mistakes and kept their momentum were on the podium. Congratulations are in order for all racers for battling the elements and making it to the finish line.

Voncooper Racing dominated the men’s pro field at Attitash taking the top two positions. Phil Kmetz and Gavin Vaugn ended up less than a second apart with a 2:56.31 and a 2:56.53 respectively. Australian Matthew Dodd was 6 seconds back with a 3:03.27.Katelyn Parhiala took the women’s pro win in some very difficult conditions.

While Pats peak is not the tallest mountain on the POC ESC calendar, it has a terrific track. It’s plenty steep, and makes the most of the terrain that is available. The track was a solid mix of open slope and technical woods sections. It was full of rock gardens and roots with a few good drops to boot. The weekend weather was exceptionally good. Pats Peak POC ESC stop featured a best of two run format, giving racers a safe, solid run, and an all out run as well.

Track conditions were dry and dusty, amazing considering the deluge that dumped some 7 to 8 inches of rain on New England last week. The course was incredibly physical, having three rock gardens and two moderate drops. Despite it being relatively short, it did a good job zapping energy out of the racers, and was very well received.

Our visitors from Australia had the strongest showing for the weekend, with Matthew Dodd taking the win for the Pro Men with an astonishing 1:57 on his second run, besting his first run by two seconds. Matthew was the only racer to break the 2 minute mark, twice. Ben Moody did some incredible riding this weekend and ended the day with second place with a 2:00 on his second run and 2:04 on his first run. Aussie Jesse Beare took third with a 2:05 on his first run and a 2:00 on his second Run. It was a big weekend for Stephanie Levasque Sowles as she took he first Pro Women win with a 2:42 in both runs.

Another great weekend of POC ESC racing, the event had great atmosphere with the MTB festival. Thanks Pats Peak for all the hard work and fantastic course.

After four straight weekends of racing the series takes this weekend off before ESC #5 Mount Snow. Mount Snow is a racers favorite and the course for this race will be new. For more details on The POC ESC and the Mount Snow race, please visit www.easternstatescup.com

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Monday

Jun112012

Aaron Gwin Extends World Cup Lead After A Nail Biting Finish

Monday, June 11, 2012 at 6:54AM

Fort William is a classic stop on the World Cup tour and the mixed weather and rider fortunes meant it was again a race with drama and varying luck for the top riders. Championship contenders Greg Minnaar and Trek World Racing's Aaron Gwin had qualifying runs they weren't completely happy with Minnaar finishing 7th, and Aaron scoring no points after having two crashes due to front wheel wash outs. Aaron felt he chose the wrong tire for the conditions on Saturday and was disappointed to concede 18 points to Greg, but the main points were up for grabs today.

Because of the qualifying result, Aaron started earlier than the main contenders and took the hotseat with a 4m 48secs. It was difficult to know if this time would hold for the next hour as the top 20 men came down the hill, or would they push towards Marc Beaumont's (GBR) qualifier of 4m 42secs. The lead started to whittle away and was down to 3secs when Danny Hart took to the track and got the gap down to 0.6secs. With Greg Minnaar crossing the line with a drive train mechanical and eventually finishing 6th, it was up to the final two riders from Team GT to knock Aaron from the hotseat, which eventually did not happen. Aaron took his 7th World Cup win from 10 starts for Trek World Racing (and a 100% podium success rate), with hart second and Gee Atherton third. Aaron’s World Cup lead is now 85 points.

Aaron said: "I just rode a smooth run. It was hard to judge but all I knew was that it needed to be smooth. It was pretty nerve wracking watching all the big guys coming down and I started to think a podium w as likely, but the win was a real surprise. I'm glad to have finally conquered this amazing track! The fans here have been incredible all week."

For Justin Leov it was bitterly disappointing after riding at his best level all week and feeling confident of a great run in the final, when a small error in a straight forward section of track cost him valuable time.

Justin said: "It was just a simple mistake but it cost me a lot. I pretty bummed because I know from my riding and what others have said to me that I was on it this week. I just have to push forward and take the positives from my riding this week and head to North America tomorrow as determined as ever." Neko Mulally is back racing with Justin Leov in the Vermont round of the US National Series, at Sugarbush Resort next weekend, and the team will all be back together the following week in Mont-Sainte-Anne for next round of both the XC and DH World Cups.