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Top pros rake in Crankworx cash

Local riders keeping up with top names in mountain biking
garbanzo-podium
Garbonzo Podium

Home field advantage definitely helped local riders, but in the end the top pros in the world showed exactly why they’re the top pros.

The second annual Crankworx mountain bike festival wrapped up on Sunday after five hot, dusty days of competitions. Over $20,000 in cash was awarded, as well as thousands of dollars worth of prizes, with huge crowds coming out to watch the more spectator-friendly events at the base of Whistler Mountain.

So far the feedback from the riders, spectators and Whistler Village businesses has been positive, according to John Rae of the Resort Municipality of Whistler and Whistler Events Bureau.

"We are still collecting feedback, but so far the top line is very positive," he said. "There will be lessons learned, but we have every intention of coming back next year. We’ll be looking at ways to strengthen events, but as far as we’re concerned it’s a really good event and a really good format to follow next year."

All of the events, with the exception of the Bikercross, sold out this year, with a record number of juniors and amateur riders. Women’s categories also grew compared to past years.

Jim Beam Air Downhill

Organizers knew it would sell out, but even they were surprised by the last minute demand for spots in the fifth annual Air Downhill. More than 200 riders took part, racing down Whistler’s famed A-Line run.

With bigger jumps and more obstacles to negotiate, the times were slightly slower than previous years, and some riders collapsed at the finish after pedaling the whole way down.

In the Pro Men’s category, Whistler’s Jeff Beatty stunned the crowd when he took the hot seat at the bottom of the course as the 12 th rider on the course, and held onto it for almost 30 riders. California’s Brian Lopes finally bumped Beatty out of the hot seat with fewer than 10 riders left to race, but Beatty held onto fifth overall as the top Canadian rider behind four of the top racers on the World Cup circuit.

First place went to Cedric Gracia of France, who lives part-time in Whistler and knows A-Line well.

"This is my race," he joked. "They should take the ‘A’ out of A-Line and put in a CG."

Gracia had to force himself to settle down after he completely cleared the transition over the first table and nearly lost control. After going through a few corners he started to speed up again, and nearly lost control again when he came in to the GLC drop too quickly and landed to the side in the grass.

"That could have been a big mistake, but I pulled out of it at the last second."

Gracia’s time of 4:15.61 was almost three-quarters of a second faster than Brian Lopes. Steve Peat of Great Britain was third, Nathan Rennie of Australia fourth, and Beatty fifth; just over four seconds back of Rennie with a time of 4:20.89.

"Finishing in the top-five with these guys is pretty much as good as it gets," said Beatty. "There were a lot of good guys out there, a lot of World Cup guys, so I’m pretty excited to be in there with them.

"I wasn’t feeling great this week, but I was feeling pretty good on course and put a lot of effort into my run. There were a few corners I probably could have ridden a little cleaner, maybe gained a few seconds here and there, but I was hitting the transitions really well and pedaling into everything. I’m really happy with my race."

Beatty was the junior downhill champion in 2001, but bowed out of competitive racing the following year to concentrate on school. He returned to competitive racing the following season but was frustrated by injuries and lack of sponsorship. For the last two years he has only raced occasionally, paying his own way as he coached with STORMBC.

This year he has decided to get serious again. He volunteered at Meadow Park for his membership in the off-season, got some support from Orange, Oakley and Dianese, and hit the B.C. Cup circuit. He won the first event of the season, and finished in the top-10 in his other appearances.

"I’m totally back into it," he said after his Air Downhill results. "I got beat by the fastest guys in the world, so I’m pretty pumped. Hopefully my results will get me into a pretty good (sponsorship) program, and I’ll be able to compete nationally."

Beatty was joined in the top-10 by Adam Billinghurst, seventh with a 4:21.48, and Tyler Morland, ninth with a 4:22.84.

The pro women’s race went to Sabrina Jonnier of France in 4:41.78, while Whistler’s Jen Ashton finished second ahead of World Cup riders with her time of 4:47.33.

"I think I have a major hometown advantage on that course, it’s my home trail, but it’s still nice to have a good race and finish on a podium," she said. "I was pretty surprised where I finished actually. I made a few mistakes here and there, but I basically had a good strong run which was all I wanted."

Ashton missed most of last season after breaking her arm in the spring, and only started to race again in the Phat Wednesday downhill series, where she has taken three out of four races.

Although she enjoyed racing against World Cup rides, Ashton says she has no intention of joining the tour. "I’m really enjoying coaching kids in mountain biking, it’s so rewarding to see those guys ride."

Ashton is also contemplating a return to competitive big mountain freeskiing, where she was the world champion for two years running. She thought she was retired until she judged an event last season and "started thinking about getting back up there."

Fionn Griffiths of Great Britain picked up her first podium of the weekend, finishing in third place, edging out Anneke Beerten of The Netherlands.

Whistler’s Claire Buchar was fifth, and happy to be there after being sidelined with injuries for the past six weeks.

"I was a little sketchy up top because I haven’t raced in more than a month," she said. "It was cool, I hit a few jumps and it was like ‘ah, I remember how to do this.’ I’m really happy it was so close – not to Sabrina, she killed it, but there was only a second between second and fifth."

Whistler’s James McSkimming finished second out of 73 registered riders in the junior men’s category, with his time of four minutes, 31.29 seconds. He was less than a second back of North Shore rider Ross Measures, who took the gold with a 4:30.41.

McSkimming may have even taken the gold, after being held up by two cyclists he lapped at the bottom after his strong run. "I caught up to them halfway through Hornet," he said. "I’m not sure if I could have raced any faster, I might have lost a couple of seconds, I don’t know. It’s racing, things happen.

"I’m pretty stoked with my race. There’s always places you could have made up time, but it’s impossible to run a perfect race."

McSkimming credited home field advantage for his strong finish, as well as the fact that he rides A-Line almost every single day. "I know every turn and jump on that course by memory, I could almost run it with my eyes closed," he said.

McSkimming has one more year of high school to complete. He is not currently sponsored, only races local events, and isn’t looking to turn pro any time soon. "I’m definitely going to keep riding," he said.

Other Whistler riders in the hunt include Ryan Sullivan in 12 th , Tyler Allison in 15 th , Nicholas Geddes in 25 th and Simon D’Artois in 29 th .

Whistler’s Kelly Walters also won the Master Men’s category in 4:32.92, almost two seconds ahead of the next racer.

Nissan Bikercross

With close to a 100-yard sprint out of the gates into the first table and corner competitors battled it out for the hole shot well into the first turn. If you didn’t make the hole shot there were a couple of risky passing opportunities further down the course, but you had to be on someone’s back wheel to have a shot of making it.

In the Pro Men’s final Brian Lopes took the win ahead of Cedric Gracia, while Bas De Bever of the Netherlands edged out Kyle Strait for third place.

"Cedric got a bit of a bad start, but I knew he was right there waiting for me to make a mistake," said Lopes. "I got through the first turn pretty well, then the second and third turns, then at around the fifth turn I looked back to see what kind of lead I had, saw I had a good little gap, and I just tried to finish with a solid race. There was a little sprint towards the finish, but I didn’t push too hard."

If Lopes had found himself in second place his strategy was to take a different line in the second last turn, "but only if I really needed to – it would be a pretty risky move, and when you’re moving that fast there’s more consequences."

Overall he said the course was a lot better than what he usually sees on the World Cup because of the long straightaway in the beginning. "Usually the race is over after a few seconds, but you really had to hammer it out of the start. You had to be fit and aggressive, and the jumps were really big so you had to have good skills as well," he said.

Michael Hannah of Australia won the consolation final after passing Steve Peat in mid-air on the second-last table, which was easily the riskiest move of the day. "I saw it and I went for it," he said.

In the Pro Women’s category Jill Kinter of the U.S. was untouchable, although Anneke Beerten of the Netherlands gave her a run for her money in the top straightaway. Fionn Griffths of Great Britain was third, while Whistler’s Jenn Ashton, after a bad start and near collision, finished fourth.

Josh Toland of the U.S. took the junior men’s race, followed by Adam McConoghy. Whistler’s James McSkimming was third. Andrew Cho went down near the top, but gave the crowds something to cheer about with a behind the back clap off one of the tables as he rode into fourth.

Crankworx Invitational Slopestyle

Whistler made history in 2003 by hosting the first slopestyle event featuring a mix of dirt jumps and hand-made stunts and setting the top freeriders in the world loose on the course. Now there are two pro slopestyle events in Europe and a Monster Park event in the U.S., creating a kind of freeride World Tour.

This year the competitors kicked it up a notch again. Chris Van Dine broke a new trick, an inverted barrel roll, while several competitors launched huge backflips off the big gap.

But it was Paul Basagoitia, the 2004 Crankworx champion, who put together the best run of the day. The 18-year-old BMX rider from Nevada pulled a 360 in the quarterpipe, and followed up with back-to-back backflips on the dirt jumps. His last trick, a repeat of last year, was a tailwhip off the Giro trailer, with about a 15-foot drop onto the transition.

The best trick of the day belonged to B.C.’s Darren Berrecloth, who finished second in the contest with a huge 360 off the bridge to the road gap. Berrecloth won the first slopestyle in 2003, and every pro slopestyle event of the season.

Third place went to Cameron Zink of the U.S. with a backflip on the first gap, a one-footed backflip on the second jump, and a 360 off the Giro trailer. Zink almost didn’t compete as he was scheduled for knee surgery on Wednesday to fix an ACL tear and damaged meniscus.

Cameron McCaul and Kyle Strait also made it into the final round, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

There’s no word on crowd size, but it is believed that more spectators watched the 2005 event than previous events where the crowds were estimated to be in excess of 5,000.

Kona Jump Jam

New to Crankworx, the new Kona Jump Farm at Olympic Station hosted the inaugural Kona Jump Jam on a set of dirt jumps built earlier this season. The field included many of the same athletes as the Slopestyle the night before, including winner Cameron McCaul. McCaul has added a few variations to the backflip, including a corked backflip that other riders are still trying to figure out.

"It’s pretty crazy to be here," he said. "When I started riding I thought it would be a hobby but since I finished high school all I do is ride bikes, it’s my job."

McCaul said it took a few runs to figure out the rhythm of the jumps, and enjoyed the jam format because it gave riders a chance to try and outdo each other with every round. "It’s nice to see what everyone’s doing, because then you know you have to do something better or as good to be in it."

Vancouver’s Ben Boyko finished second, Trond Hanson of Norway was third, and John Jesme and Nate Adams were fourth and fifth respectively.

Garbanzo Enduro Downhill

Cedric Gracia was grinning from ear to ear when he finally crossed the finish line in the Garbanzo Downhill on Sunday, dead last. He flatted his front tire on the first corner of the race, and made it to the bottom of the 10 km, 3,400 vertical foot course by alternatively running, pulling manuals and riding his rim.

"What can you do," he said, "that’s racing. Believe me, this is not a course you want to run down."

As Gracia was the defending champion and was favoured to repeat this year, that left the event wide open for the other racers. UK downhiller Steve Peat had a strong run, but lost a few seconds due to a crash. Nathan Rennie had a good ride, but joked that he wasn’t fit enough for the course after losing time on a short uphill section.

That left the race wide open to Brian Lopes, who was already second in the Air Downhill and first in the Bikercross. He crossed the line in 14:31.67, almost a second ahead of Peat’s time of 14:32.50, and less than two seconds ahead of Rennie’s time of 14:33.15.

"I feel good for some reason, way better than I felt after the A-Line downhill. The difference is that on the A-Line race you can’t pace yourself, while on a race like the Garbanzo you can’t pin it from top to bottom," said Lopes, who still averaged close to 50 km/h.

"I was 10 th in this race last year, and my only goal was to post a better time. I got a little help when Cedric had a flat and Peat-y had a crash, but I’m happy with the win."

Peat said he lost control on some shale coming out of a singletrack section. "Never saw it coming," he said. "There was a rock in the middle of all this loose rock and I hit it pretty good. My handlebars suddenly went sideways and that was it. I got up pretty fast, but I didn’t think I’d still be in the running for second."

Whistler’s Tyler Morland, second in last year’s race, finished fifth with a time of 14:36.36, knocking Jeff Beatty out of the hotseat. Beatty finished sixth with a 14:39.82.

Other locals include Chris Dewar in 15 th , Adam Cook in 19 th and Mike Jones in 22 nd out of a field of 55 pros.

In the pro women’s race, perennial American downhill champion Marla Streb schooled the rest of the field with a time of 16:03.12 – over 37 seconds faster than Fionn Griffiths.

Streb was riding a Santa Cruz bike that was better adapted to cross-country trails with a Fox Float shock in the back, single crown forks and narrow tires.

"I did a downhill race last weekend that was 47 minutes, but it did have some climbs and was more like a cross-country course. This was very much a downhill course, and a great course at that. It would be awesome to have in a World Cup because you need all the skills you have," she said.

As for her bike choice, Streb shrugged. "I’ve been riding a lot more cross-country lately and really like this bike. It felt like a downhill bike," she said. "I also picked my line pretty carefully, not to get too much air and to be as smooth as possible."

This was Streb’s first visit to Whistler, and she only made a few laps of the park before the race. Instead, she chose to ride a few of the local trails.

"I’m so glad I came, I’ve been putting off coming here for so long because I knew I’d be hooked and have to come back. It’s so beautiful and there are so many great trails, it’s really a paradise for mountain bikers. This whole festival was really impressive."

Lisa Mylak of Colorado finished third, while Claire Buchar was fourth by just 0.11 seconds. "I’m really happy with my time," said Buchar. "Obviously Marla Streb put on a show, but I was really close to the podium, and more important than that I felt good out there. It gives me a bit of confidence heading into the end of the season."

Ashley McIvor, who has only dabbled in downhill in the past, finished an impressive fifth while Katrina Strand, who is recovering from an injury, was seventh. Marie-France Roy was 10 th .

In the Junior race Josh Toland took his second win of the weekend with almost a 13 second gap of fellow Californian Shawn Wilson. Kyle Salisbury of Bellingham, Washington was third.

Whistler’s Tyler Allison was fourth, and might have had a shot at the podium but was forced to slam on the brakes during his race to avoid other cyclists that had found their way onto the course.

James McSkimming was sixth, 13-year-old Nick Geddes 12 th , Simon D’Artois 16 th , and Frazer McGaw 21 st .

Complete results for Crankworx events are available online at www.crankworx.com and www.myresults.com.