2013 Pro GRT 2 Fontana
The second round of the 2013 Pro GRT took place this past weekend in Fontana California. The course here is known for having a quarter mile flat sprint to the finish line at the bottom. This caused some concern amongst the "hardcore" downhill enthusiasts. The KHS Factory racing boys had been dominating the winter series aboard 650B AM bikes.
Come practice it looked like most of the Pro field ended up going with a Downhill bike. The trail had two sketchy sections in it giving riders trouble one up high called the Dragons Spine and then one lower down just before the wall called the Shoot.
The course fed riders out of the start and then right after that there was a small rock booter that set riders up for a high speed section before the Dragon's Spine. Riders of all caliber spent a bunch of time scouting the best line over The Spine. Some were trying to ride the right side where it was solid rock and had good traction while others went left for a smoother dirt, dust and rock combo. Going left made the exit a tad bit easier since the right line had a wood feature dropping riders off the rock thus keeping them in the air longer.
After leaving the spiner there was a fade away left hander over a large rock that allowed riders to gain substantial speed. Then riiders came to the only real corner on the course it was a deep bermed left hander cut into the hill. This sent riders across another large rock feature and then another high speed section that set riders up to go through a rock split. After that the riders came to a large boulder and hopped up onto it then off the back side.
This set riders up going into some large loose rocks weaving across the hill just before The Shoot. This seperated the men from the boys and certainly gace favor to the large bike for sure. Gwin did a run on a 26" EVO of some variety on day 1. He settled on the full blown DH sled either because Specialized asked him to or he felt better aboard it. The trail lost a fair bit of elevation here and had rocks scattered throughout it. What made it tricky was the silt covering the rocks made is super slippery. Brake control was paramount and all the riders where skidding and sliding across the boulders here.
This spit riders out onto the fire road and here is the place the AM bikes had a strong advantage over the DH bikes. This is essentially a quarter mile sprint through the backside of a neighborhood. There are just 2 small rock sections here and once past the second its and all out drag race to cross the finishline!
2013 Fontana Pro GRT Results
Pro Men |
Finish Time
|
|||
Mitch Ropelato | Specialized Monster Energy |
792A
|
0:02:02.72
|
|
Aaron Gwin | Specialized Red Bull |
2A
|
0:02:04.03
|
|
Logan Binggeli | KHS |
1A
|
0:02:04.48
|
|
Kevin Aiello | KHS Bicycles |
5A
|
0:02:07.58
|
|
Kyle Sangers | PerformX DH Team |
4A
|
0:02:08.62
|
|
Mike Sylvestri | ARMA Energy Evil |
3A
|
0:02:10.46
|
|
Art Babcock | One Ghost Industries |
6A
|
0:02:11.07
|
|
Waylon Smith | Trek Southridge Racing |
7A
|
0:02:12.37
|
|
Kyle Hogan | Nema Aim Ride School |
778A
|
0:02:12.77
|
|
Cody Johnson |
819A
|
0:02:13.27
|
||
Evan Turpen |
741A
|
0:02:13.45
|
||
Kiran MacKinnon | SPS |
678A
|
0:02:13.59
|
|
Barry Nobles | Airborne Bikes |
720A
|
0:02:14.64
|
|
Nate Furbee | Transition/FoxRacingSHox/E*13 |
700A
|
0:02:14.90
|
|
Joe Picchiottino | Trek Southridge Racing |
816A
|
0:02:15.09
|
|
Gavin Vaughan | VonCooper/NemaNukeproof |
9A
|
0:02:16.79
|
|
Jake Payne | Turner Park Horse |
707A
|
0:02:17.04
|
|
Corey Hatch | Turner Dark Horse Racing |
195A
|
0:02:17.11
|
|
Ryan Paquette | Fly Racing |
41A
|
0:02:17.17
|
|
Dylan Conte | Voncooper/Nema |
681A
|
0:02:17.37
|
|
Chris Higgerson |
735A
|
0:02:17.42
|
||
Cody Kelley | Specailized USA Gravity |
706A
|
0:02:18.48
|
|
Bobby Langin Jr. | Focus Apparel |
726A
|
0:02:18.91
|
|
Chappy Fiene |
771A
|
0:02:18.92
|
||
Scott Countryman |
754A
|
0:02:19.31
|
||
Tim Krentz | Bike Emporium |
769A
|
0:02:19.60
|
|
Bo MacArthur | Auburn Bike Company/Santa Cruz Bikes |
677A
|
0:02:20.00
|
|
Troy D'Elia |
38A
|
0:02:21.16
|
||
Trevor Trinkino | Smith Optics |
695A
|
0:02:21.64
|
|
Mike Day | GT |
660A
|
0:02:21.65
|
|
Lucas Cowan | Intense/TroyLeeDesignsFacotryTeam |
755A
|
0:02:21.72
|
|
Ray Syron | Evil Factory USA |
680A
|
0:02:22.19
|
|
David Seaquist | Gravity Pirates |
171A
|
0:02:22.20
|
|
Anthony Marino |
789A
|
0:02:23.61
|
||
Daniel Brisbon | Arts Cyclery/SloToTheBone |
779A
|
0:02:24.85
|
|
Maxi Dickerhoff |
656A
|
0:02:25.00
|
||
Kellen Lutz | Bike Source |
670A
|
0:02:25.05
|
|
Andrew Slowey | Oliver Racing Specialized Bikes TLD |
745A
|
0:02:25.20
|
|
Scott Gladin | Absolute Bikes |
781A
|
0:02:25.77
|
|
Riley Mueller |
751A
|
0:02:26.73
|
||
Conrad Cullerey |
724A
|
0:02:27.06
|
||
Felip Walker | Scotts Valley Cycle Sport |
679A
|
0:02:28.00
|
|
Matt Condrashoff |
727A
|
0:02:28.05
|
||
Tanner Stephens |
732A
|
0:02:28.74
|
||
Andrew Van Zuyen | Intense Cycles/Troy Lee Designs |
798A
|
0:02:30.46
|
|
Dan Godans | Fly Racing |
716A
|
0:02:31.11
|
|
Josh Nevelson |
39A
|
0:02:32.10
|
||
Micah Van Horn | Broomfield |
672A
|
0:02:37.23
|
|
Geoffrey Ayr | Highland Mtn. Mavic |
714A
|
0:02:57.17
|
|
David K. |
13A
|
0:03:42.27
|
||
Ben Furbee | Transition/e*13 |
702A
|
0:03:50.13
|
|
Vance Bennett | Arts Cyclery |
763A
|
0:04:12.83
|
|
Timmy Mangini | OneGhost/Oneal/Leatt |
651A
|
0:12:00.99
|
|
Mikey Haderer | Zerode/Shimano/Bell/Novatec/Scwalbe |
728A
|
DNF
|
|
Ryan Gagnon |
770A
|
DNF
|
||
Ryan Hockett |
749A
|
DNF
|
||
Ryan Stayskal |
659A
|
DNF
|
||
Michael Daniels |
320A
|
DNF
|
|
Pro Women |
Finish Time
|
||
Robyn Embrey | Shine Riders Co. |
7B
|
0:03:01.74
|
|
Jackie Swider | Shredly/TeamBacoa |
772B
|
0:03:06.87
|
|
Amber Price | Bike Source Gravity Racing |
9B
|
0:03:16.62
|
|
Stephanie Teltscha | SR Suntour-Carver |
657B
|
0:03:31.44
|
|
Eva Wilson | Oliver Racing |
743B
|
0:04:05.42
|
Expert 18 Under Men |
Finish Time
|
|||
Charlie Harrison | ODI/Specialized |
12D
|
0:02:07.68
|
|
Jason Schroeder | ODI/Specialized |
817D
|
0:02:08.06
|
|
Walker Shaw |
704D
|
0:02:08.75
|
||
Luca Shaw |
705D
|
0:02:08.76
|
||
Cole Picchiottino | Trek Southridge Racing |
1D
|
0:02:12.69
|
|
Luca Cometti | Nema/Nukeproof |
2D
|
0:02:13.21
|
|
Dylan Unger | Intense/TroyLeeFactoryTeam |
818D
|
0:02:15.05
|
|
Matthew Parker | Trek Southridge Racing |
6D
|
0:02:21.15
|
|
Kristian Kaekul | Incycle |
208D
|
0:02:21.45
|
|
Brandon Coughlin |
72D
|
0:02:21.71
|
||
Galen Carter |
3D
|
0:02:22.92
|
||
Chase Nelson |
5D
|
0:02:23.32
|
||
Alex Willie |
256D
|
0:02:25.73
|
||
Todd Renwick | Ride Giant Ride Northstar |
652D
|
0:02:26.41
|
|
Jack Illes |
764D
|
0:02:27.06
|
||
Matt Branney | MotoE/Yeti/Bontriger/Shimano/BetterRide |
4D
|
0:02:28.66
|
|
Adrian Valdez |
699D
|
0:02:29.21
|
||
Troy Sladeck |
323D
|
0:02:30.06
|
||
Kyle Kennedy |
9D
|
0:02:30.36
|
||
Hudson Tognetti | Trail Head Cyclery |
717D
|
0:02:30.85
|
|
Niko Kilik | KGE |
689D
|
0:02:30.92
|
|
Matt Moore | Wheels In Motion |
650D
|
0:02:31.98
|
|
Michael Cofield |
786D
|
0:02:32.10
|
||
Tyler Krenek | Supercross/FlyRacing/Profile |
8D
|
0:02:32.53
|
|
Garrett Balthasar | One Ghost Industries |
10D
|
0:02:33.63
|
|
Andras Simon | Simon's Auto Body |
313D
|
0:02:36.10
|
|
Wyatt Freier | Yeti/MotoE |
665D
|
0:02:38.34
|
|
Tanner Hart | Lake Town Bike/ Maxxis |
712D
|
0:02:39.73
|
|
Jack Dean |
654D
|
0:02:39.79
|
||
Bruce Klein | Incycle |
150D
|
0:02:40.96
|
|
Jason Bohl | One Ghost Industries |
725D
|
0:02:44.05
|
|
Ben Nelson |
698D
|
DNF
|
||
Jonathan Simek |
455D
|
DNF
|