Tegan Cruz has his inaugural victory as a pro, while Jakob Jewett reached a podium for the first time this year.
The Sea to Sky mountain bikers broke through on April 16 at the season's first NW Cup downhill race at Dry Hill Bike Park in Port Angeles, Wash. Cruz bested the 55-rider pro men's field in a time of two minutes, 15.64 seconds, and Jewett was just 1.15 seconds behind (2:16.79).
After seven podium results in 2022, 17-year-old Cruz already has a pair in the early going of the present campaign. Back on Feb. 26, the Pembertonian raced to third on the Portugal DH Cup series.
"Couldn’t ask for a better weekend!" said Cruz on his Instagram account after the race. "Cheers to everyone for a good time between the tape! Happy to back up my seeding with my first win in pro.
"Huge thanks to the NW Cup for building a great race track! And as always, [J.T. Evans], let’s keep it coming."
Meanwhile, Jewett was active at Crankworx Rotorua earlier in March. The Squamish native managed four top-10 finishes: fifth in air DH, seventh in the pump track challenge, 10th in dual slalom and 11th in conventional DH.
John Richardson of New Zealand crossed the line in third (2:18.49), and Bodhi Kuhn of Rossland, B.C. missed the podium in fourth (2:21.06). That left another Squamish-based athlete, Coen Skrypnek, to round out the top five (2:21.47).
A third Squamolian, Bailey Goldstone, finished fourth in the pro women's race (2:50.55).
