2012 POC Eastern States Cup

The 2012 POC Eastern States Cup Announces Partners and Challenges

The POC Eastern States Cup Championship Downhill Mountain Bike Race Series has added new features along with bringing back The POC $1000 Team Challenge and the POC Video of the week. The POC ESC in its third year has become the premier regional DH race series in the nation. The series offers a $1600 pro purse at it’s races and a $5000 pro purse at the two Pro GRT National series races at Mountain Creek and Plattekill Bike Parks.

The series has increased Pro and Cat 1 Junior series finals payouts and added a cash payout for Cat 1 19-29 in 2012. Totaled up the series will have over $35,000 cash available to racers.

POC Video of the Week is filmed and produced by Voncooper productions. The videos have been extremely popular with the racing community. They offer a glimpse into what makes the series popular and what makes the racers tick. Voncooper has also produced a DVD based on the 2011 ESC season titled, “East Coast Rocks”. The DVD will be available for purchase at POC ESC events for $8.00. Quantities are limited.

Oliver Racing’s 4^th Place Challenge will reward all 4^th place finishers with a prize pack from their sponsors. The prize pack will include Bureau’s Sugarhouse and Maple Kettle Korn, a regional favorite. If racers don’t finish fourth, Oliver Racing will be selling the gourmet popcorn at the events.

Loeka $1000 Women’s Challenge will pay cash to the top four women in points, regardless of class. In this unique challenge the beginners have as much as a chance of winning cash as the pro women. First place prize will be $400, 2nd is $300, 3rd will collect $200 and the 4^th place woman will go home with $100 cash.

POC $1000 Team Challenge at every POC ESC race the top three results from each registered team will count towards the POC Team Challenge. The team with the most points after the finals in October wins. The challenge will reward the fastest and most consistent mountain bike race teams racing the Eastern States Cup series.

Matt DeLorme will be taking pictures and writing post race features for the series in 2012.  Matt’s pictures and feature articles have been in many national and international magazines and websites. Delorme always brings a fresh perspective on events he covers.

2012 POC Eastern States Race Schedule

May 20 Mountain Creek, NJ.

May 27 Plattekill, NY            

June 3 Attitash, NH

June 10 Pat’s Peak, NH

June 24 Mount Snow, VT

July 15 Windham, NY

July 29, Killington, VT

August 5 Mount Snow, VT

August 12, Plattekill, NY

August 19 Killington, VT 

Sept 2 Plattekill, NY        

Sept 16 Attitash, NH       

Sept 23 Jiminy Peak MA

Oct 7 Plattekill, NY

Trek World Racing Takes 2 Podium Spots In Port Angeles

At the opening round of the US National series for gravity racing, Trek World Racing's 3 Downhill riders took on some of the fastest men in the world, including current World Cup series leader Greg Minnaar and eventual race winner Steve Smith, on the famous Pacific North West track in Port Angeles, in Washington State. Aaron Gwin finished 2nd and Neko Mulally joined him on the podium for 5th.

Last time the team raced here, in 2010, we also picked up a silver medal in the men's category when Justin Leov took 2nd place behind Bryn Atkinson, but this weekend wasn’t going well for the Kiwi. Shortly after the event Justin tweeted: "It wasn't happening for me this weekend, but thanks to all the people up here in the North West! You guys rock!" Justin heads back to New Zealand for a couple of weeks of training at home before hitting the east coast of the US for more American racing.

Neko Mulally is having his best start to a race season yet and after some impressive podiums already this year, he backed it up with yet another podium here, 3 tenths ahead of World Cup leader Greg Minnaar (RSA). After qualifying 8th, Neko put down a great run for the finals and had this to say shortly afterwards:

"I got a lot out of racing this weekend. We did a ton of practice runs which made for good training on the bike. I over-rode my qualifying run and wanted to ride smoother in the final. I managed to get through smoothly and put down a pretty solid run. The suspension was working great and got me safely through the all the deep holes that had developed. I really enjoyed racing h ere in Port Angeles as it's one of my favorite venues."

After qualifying conservatively in 9th, Aaron had a strong race in the finals moving up to 2nd, and thoroughly enjoyed the week of testing, training and racing with his team mates.

"We had an awesome weekend here in Port Angeles. The people up here are super cool and make this race one of my favorites of the year."

The downhillers have a small break now before racing on the US east coast in mid-May.

Results:

1. Steve Smith (CAN) 2m 30.69secs

2. Aaron Gwin (Trek World Racing) 2m 32.43secs

3. Mick Hannah (AUS) 2m 33.57secs

4. Josh Bryceland (GBR) 2m 33.92secs

5. Neko Mulally (Trek World Racing) 2m 34.73secs

6. Greg Minnaar (RSA) 2m 35.06secs

14. Justin Leov (Trek World Racing) 2m 38.24secs

Follow the team on Twitter @trekworldracing

2012 Pro GRT Round 1 Port Angeles

Colorado Springs, Colo. (April 26, 2012) – The 2012 USA Cycling Professional Mountain Bike Gravity Tour (Pro GRT)kicks off this weekend with the NW Cup in Port Angeles, Wash.
 
Slated to take place at Dry Hill, April 26-29, the NW Cup is the first of six events on the country’s premier gravity calendar for 2012.
 
Last year, the event was won by Danny Hart (Newbury Park, Calif./Giant Factory Off Road Team) and Jill Kintner (Ferndale, Wash./Transition Racing). Kintner went on to win the overall 2011 women’s Pro GRT title while Cody Warren (Alpine, Calif./DRD X-Fusion Intense) topped the standings on the men’s side. This weekend will see the nation’s top gravity racers converge on the Pacific Northwest as they begin their pursuits to dethrone the reigning Pro GRT champs.  
 
Registration is open on-site throughout the weekend with seeding runs taking place on Saturday and finals occurring on Sunday. For a complete schedule, as well as other important information on the NW Cup, please visit the event’s website.
 
After the Pro GRTopens in Washington, it will continue with two Eastern States Cup events in Mountain Creek, NJ and Roxbury, NY, May 20 and May 27. That pair will be followed by the Mountain States Cup Chile Challenge, June 9-10 in Angel Fire, NM, and the Whiteface Pro GRT 5K Downhill in Wilmington, NY, June 16-17. Overall calendar champions will then be crowned after the final event – the Northstar Pro GRT in Truckee, Calif., August 3-5.

2012 Zerode G-1 Images

The 2012 Zerode is now coming anodized with 3 color options.It is now 1.5 pounds lighter as well.

• Black
• Blue
• Silver

Top 10 For All TWR Downhillers At 2012 Sea Otter

Aaron Gwin led the way with a 3rd place, closely followed by Neko Mulally joining him on the podium for 5th. Justin Leov was also in the mix with a 7th showing everyone that on this course our team had the greatest combined horse power of the weekend.

The Sea Otter Downhill course is notoriously lacking in topography and for this reason the riders opted to run their Enduro bikes, the superb Trek Slash 9. We are very fortunate to have committed sponsors who not only helped us with the extra equipment to allow the Trek Race Department to build these bikes up specifically for the Sea Otter event, but Shimano also provided all three riders with the brand new Saint Group-Sets to race on. With the top 5 in the final results including power house riders like race winner Jared Graves (AUS) as well as Mick Hannah (AUS) and Brian Lopes (USA), it was great to see Neko so close to his mentor team mate in that top 5.

Aaron said: "I had an awesome time this weekend. Sea Otter is always one of my favorite races of the year. The atmosphere is always cool and the amount of people who showed up to see us was crazy. I rode my Slash this weekend since the course was pretty flat, that thing is a blast! My race run went pretty good too, times are always tight and the pedaling makes you hurt! Overall it was a fun weekend and solid results for the whole team. Thanks to everyone for coming out!"

Neko said: "I was really happy with how our equipment worked this weekend. The Slash was the perfect bike for Sea Otter's downhill track and the new low knob tires we had from Bontrager m ade the bike incredibly fast. Getting a chance to ride all the components in the new Saint group-set also felt great. I put down a solid run in the final, but I feel the bikes we had helped a lot."

Justin said: "I felt a little off today with my run. My fitness is great I just need a little fine tuning. On the positive side my bike was feeling great all weekend with the new tires and Saint group-set. A noticeably quieter ride with the derailleur and much faster shifting with the new Saint shifter." The team now heads north to Port Angeles, Washington State, for the opening round of the US MTB Grand Prix, where they'll be back on their Session 9.9's.

Full Sea Otter results can be seen here: http://www.seaotterclassic.com/raceresults/index.cfm/2012.htm

More info on Trek's Slash 9 can be seen here: http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/mountain/technical_trail/slash/slash_9/#

Following the team on Twitter @trekworldracing