2012 US Gravity National Championships Day 3 By Dirt Passion

Well, day there is the in the books….. just one more day left and we’ll determine who will wear the stars andstripes on his or her left arm into 2013. The big news of the day (not to many people surprise) was, Aaron Gwinqualified on top of the Men’s field +5.45 secs in front of Luke Strobel. For the ladies it was Jackie Harmony takingthe top seeding position over Melissa Buhl by a blistering 12.54 sec. Of local SE region interest (hey, Dirt Passion isbased out of the Carolinas, we can be proud and let everybody know) local DHer Ethan Quehl of Grayson, GA andwas also the 2010 Junior National Champion, qualified fourth out of a field of 64. Congrats all round! Note: Thefinal qualified list has not yet been posted to the USAC website)

On to the details…. Day Three started out pretty much just like Day Two. Overnight there was a steady rain on thetop of the mountain which lead to what we believe was thicker fog than previously. Riding the lift to the top wecould not see the lift house until, what felt like 50 feet. First up was the Cat 1 group practice which started in thefog and ended in the sunlight as the fog burned off very quickly. By the time the Pros made the way to the coursefor their two hour practice session the sun was a shining. As with Day Two, lots of time was spent dialing in thoselines one last time through the Rock Garden from HELL! Spending any amount of time there, one could tell thatriders did their homework the day before, smoothness and speed where definitely showing their faces today.

12:45 p.m. rolled around and the current USAC recognized National Champion Logan Binggeli of KHS FactoryRacing was the first down the course, followed by the two TWR riders….. the current fastest man in the WorldAaron Gwin and his young team mate Neko Mullaly. After the field of 64 put in their best efforts, it would be AaronGwin over the field. Ladies followed suite and it was Melissa Buhl smashing the field ahead nearly 13 seconds.

With the DH runs done for the day, all attention turned to the old Beech tubing slope and the new/revised/longerDual Slalom course. With almost 6 hours of track time, kicking off with practice, running through amateur raceruns, and proceeding to the Pro’s race runs, in the end it would be Neko Mullaly of Trek World Racing edging outBlake Carney for the “Best in the US” title for Dual Slalom. Congrats Neko!

Tomorrow is the BIG SHOW! First off will be the Juniors, Cat 1 50+ and Ladies 40+ at 10:15a.m., followed by the fullCat 1 field at 11:15a.m., then the main event kicks off at 2:30p.m. Who’s it gonna be? Place your bets!

Last minute addition…… the rain has again started to fall on the mountain (9:45 p.m.). Once again Beech hasdelivered. Should make things interesting on race day.