2012 Pro GRT At Northstar

In its fourth year, the 2012 USA Cycling Professional Mountain Bike Gravity Tour (Pro GRT) has expanded to six races and continues to raise the level of competitive gravity racing across the United States. As the country's premier gravity calendar, the Pro GRT aims to provide a consistent stage of international-caliber events for elite gravity racers to showcase their downhill skills.

The six stop series will begin April 26 - 29 in Port Angeles, Washington and wrap August 3 - 5 right here at the Northstar California Mountain Bike Park. Each of the six stops will offer series ranking points to top finishers, resulting in overall individual titles for professional men and women. The racers with the most points throughout the six-race series will be recognized as the best gravity athletes competing on U.S. soil.

Schedule

Wednesday, August 1
10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Open Practice
Thursday, August 2
8:00 a.m.	Registration Opens - Downhill and Four-Cross
8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.	Cat 2/Cat 3/Cat 1 (40 and older) DH Practice
10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Four-Cross Practice (All Categories – Zone Six Live Wire)
12:00 - 2:00 p.m.	Pro & Cat 1 (19 - 39) DH Practice
2:00 - 5:00 p.m.	Pro & Cat 1 Junior DH Practice
5:00 p.m.	Registration Closes
Friday, August 3
8:00 a.m.	Registration Opens - Downhill and Four-Cross
8:00 - 11:00 a.m.	Cat 2/Cat 3/Cat 1 (40 and older) DH Practice
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.	Four-Cross practice (All Categories – Zone Six Live Wire)
10:30 - 11:00 a.m.	Team Manager Meeting - Finish Line
11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.	Pro & Cat 1 (19 - 39) DH Practice
2:00 - 5:00 p.m.	Pro & Cat 1 Junior DH Practice
3:00	Registration Closes - Downhill
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.	Pro & Cat 1 Junior Seeding Runs (Mandatory)
Saturday, August 4
8:00 - 9:30 a.m.	DH Practice (All Classes)
9:30 a.m.	Rider Meeting - Top of the Course
10:00 a.m.	UCI Downhill Race - Boondocks
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Four-Cross Registration - Season Pass Office
3:00 - 5:00 p.m.	Four-Cross Registration - Day Lodge Deck
10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Four-Cross Practice (All Categories – Zone Six Live Wire)
4:30 p.m.	Downhill Awards - Finish Line
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.	Whip Contest - Mid-Mountain (Free to enter, registration will be at start of event)
Sunday, August 5
8:00 - 10:30 a.m.	Four-Cross Practice with Start Gate (All Categories – Zone Six Live Wire)
10:30 a.m.	Rider Meeting - Top of the Course
11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.	Four-Cross Qualifying followed by Heats
3:00 p.m.	Four-Cross Awards - Day Lodge Deck

The Pro GRT entered Tahoe this week on the slopes of Northstar. Trails there are somewhat rocky and have that fine dust in most corners that when pushed hard enough will give way to the harder ground below. This dust also hides sharp rocks and a number of riders crossed the line with flat tires.

Boondocks was the trail being raced on. It has it share of turns, rocks and smaller jumps as it winds down the moutainside. Fast times for the day were in the low 4 minute range and being at decent elevation around 7000 feet,  conditioning could make a difference.

Riders started out facing straight down the mountain and faded left over scattered rocks, drops and smaller jumps into the trees. The trail is slightly off-camber and wound it's way back and forth a few times before riders came to the first big feature. It is a rock about 5 feet tall that sends riders onto pavers that feed into a washed out right hander. People are given the option of a go around or just send the drop. Some of the faster riders were going out about 15 feet off of it.

After the drop the trail continues left through over rocks and some turns. Once through the turn riders go between two boulders. The next feature of note is a large boulder that sends riders down a wooden ramp. There were two routes here and although the boulder was funner to ride it makes you enter the trail again at a harsh 90 degree angle. The faster way to go was the alternate route that turned right before the boulder and fed riders into an s-turn and allowed riders a bunsh more exit speed.

 

Again riders are fed left along Boondocks over soft soil and rock. It fades right and opens up a bit sending you over a small rock section. Once through that the trail goes through some turns and across one that is built out of wood. The trail is wide here and offers many line choices. Here the trail heads right and opens to full fireroad width. I happened to grab an image of Mikey Haderer here as it turns out they would not allow him to race for points because he had only one practice run in.

Once riders left this section they return to the tress and hit a few jumps that are smaller and most riders stayed low over these. Here Boondocks crosses another trail and riders are sent between two trees with a paver take-off. Once you drop between the trees it is almost entirely turns and high speed pedalling to the finish. At the finish there were two wooden ramps the one on the left was about ten feet high and launched riders into the sky while the other kept you low and was about half as tall. You heard many a bike rub the rear tire when hitting the large sender on the way up the ramp.

Overall the Northstar Pro GRT offered riders a very fun course. It was not the most technical but had a few sections to give riders pause while still allowing amateurs and pro riders alike the exact same course to race. Turnout was lower than expected but two other events were happening the same weekend. We will post results once they become available and with also proved a link to images shot at the event later this week.

2012 Northstar Pro GRT Full Results

Pro Men

	1	226.80	Kevin Aiello	Rancho Santa Margarita, CA	04:02.81	245409	23
	2	240.29	Logan Binggeli	Saint George, UT	04:03.48	213148	22
	3	253.77	Graeme Pitts	Nevada City, CA	04:05.33	232939	75
	4		Ricardo Preciado Negrete		04:05.39		36
	5	280.75	Kyle Warner	Chico, CA	04:07.55	303746	71

Cat 1 Junior

	1	295.45	Charlie Harrison	Trabuco Canyon, CA	04:11.07	375880	29
	2	308.25	Cole Picchiottino	Murrieta, CA	04:11.36	351042	24
	3	321.06	Jason Schroeder	Carlsbad, CA	04:15.63	356538	54
	4	333.87	Christopher Ravina	Novato, CA	04:19.31	226976	166
	5	346.67	Logan Mulally	Reading, PA	04:19.99	247832	37

Cat 1 Men

	1	440.16	Bo MacArthur	Davis, CA	04:14.00	320254	170	Bicycle Emporium
	2	446.97	Troy Ford	Truckee, CA	04:20.34	358813	159
	3	453.78	Jason Hillard	Pacifica, CA	04:21.53	304416	194
	4	460.59	Zach Ahleen	Saint George, UT	04:23.76	322610	164
	5	467.40	Cody Chapman	Mill Valley, CA	04:23.77	241360	201

Cat 1 Women

	1	540.00	Ariana Altier	Chico, CA	05:07.04	359327	193
	2	556.67	Jaclyn Paaso	Kings Beach, CA	05:07.33	119543	177
	3	573.33	Heather McFadden	Morgan Hill, CA	05:46.61	269627	192
	4	590.00	Amanda Batty	Park City, UT	05:56.22	316554	153
	DNS		Nichole Christiani	Ventura, CA	DNS	370053	202