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Jeep King of the Mountain Series #3
Kirkwood, CA, August 24, 2003
The Jeep King of the Mountain (KOM) Series celebrated the final championship race of its new three-part professional mountain bike racing Series today at Lake Tahoe's Kirkwood Mountain Resort.
Eight teams comprised of elite men and women mountain biking racers from around the world came to challenge one another on the one of a kind Jeep "Y" course. Over the three competitions, they have raced for more than $100,000 in prize money and the chance to win a two-year lease on a Jeep Wrangler X.
The "Y" was designed especially for the Jeep KOM Series and is the only competition worldwide that uses the unique track. Riders go head to head on a combination of Dual and 4 Cross mountain bike race courses. In the dual section, more excitement and challenges arose for the competitors with the addition of double cedar log jumps and a combination of tight and open slalom turns. At the end of the dual section of the course, both competitors entered the infamous "Y", forcing riders together with sometimes only four feet separating them at speeds of up to forty miles per hour.
The French entered the third race at Kirkwood Mountain Resort boasting their Paul Mitchell Leader Jerseys. At the first competition at Wintergreen Resort in Virginia, both Cedric Gracia and teammate Sabrina Jonnier were first awarded the leader jerseys after winning individual and team gold medals for France. At Telluride Mountain Village in Colorado, Jonnier won individual gold again, but teammate Gracia ranked seventh. However, their combined points enabled them to retain the Paul Mitchell Leader Jerseys for the third and final championship race at Kirkwood Mountain Resort in California.
Nevertheless, the Aussies again dominated the "Y" and today's race, scoring two individual medals, best team of the day medals, and earned the most points throughout the series, thus ranking first overall for the Jeep King of the Mountain Series. Team France's Sabrina Jonnier and Cedric Gracia each placed third at Kirkwood today, so instead, Team One Australia's Wade Bootes (Trek-Volkwagen) and Katrina Miller will go home with the Paul Mitchell $10,000 bonus and new sound systems. Team France's Sabrina Jonnier, however, proudly takes home the Jeep. Team Holland's Bas de Bever will drive beside Jonnier in his very own Jeep, which he earned after dramatically leaping from fifth to first place in the series ranking after today's race. Another surprise came from Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, who gave both of today's gold medalists, Tracy Moseley and Wade Bootes (Trek-Volkswagen), fantastic Fender guitars.
In total, 16 top mountain bike racers challenged the "Y" on the Kirkwood course in the head-to-head progressive race format. Two runs, one on each course, advanced winners to the finals. The time differential between the two racers in the first run was used to determine the head start time the leader received at the beginning of the second run. Victories were determined by who wins the second head-to-head match up.
