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NORBA national series #3 (NE)

Snowshoe Mtn, West Virginia , June 21-23, 2002

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Day 2 - June 22: Mountain cross

Katrina turns SoBe Mountain Cross into Miller Time, Lopes wins again.

In its debut season as a national championship event, the SoBe Mountain Cross is still being figured out. This four-up, full-contact downhill race is like asking the best students of gravity racing to learn a new subject.

Consider round three of the Chevy Trucks NORBA Nationals held at Snowshoe Mountain Resort to be the mid-term exams. Brian Lopes (GT/Fox) and Katrina Miller (Jamis) presently stand at the head of the class. If anything, Lopes has become the professor.

The Sultan of Spin is so famous for quick starts he has been a listed as a favorite for the 2004 Olympic track squad. Lopes has brought criterium strategy to a downhill event: get to the first turn first and control everything.

The first task towards winning a SoBe Mountain Cross is to qualify well, thereby gaining the right to pick start position in the gate. Lopes and Miller both qualified first.

After boiling down the field to the semi finals in the men’s race, the crowd looked up to see two world-class brackets, lining up full of snort and practically kicking down the start gate. The first bracket: Lopes, Wade Bootes (Trek/Volkswagen), Cedric Gracia (Volvo/Cannondale) and Eric Carter (Mongoose/Hyundai). After a smash-and-grab fight for the first turn, Bootes was bumped wide of a gate to earn a disqualification. Lopes and Gracia qualified.

>From the other bracket came Mike King (Haro/Lee Dungarees) and Thomas Allier (Giant) to set up a U.S.-French final. Lopes knocked down the gate and controlled start to finish to win his third straight mountain cross and ownership of the series lead.

The women’s race saw the continued resurgence of Katrina Miller. A former national champion in other gravity disciplines, Miller’s skillset meshes perfectly with mountain cross. With World Champion Ann-Caroline Chausson (Volvo/Cannondale) in Europe and Missy Giove (Global) on the injured list, the last two Chevy Trucks NORBA Nationals were critical to up-and-comers like Melissa Buhl (KHS/ODI) and BMX transfer Jill Kinter (Intense). But established stars Tara Llanes (Yeti/Pearl Izumi) and Miller guarded the podium.

Those four riders used a single attribute to arrive at the finals: bravery. The women were offered a bailout lane over the final double jump, positioned just before the finish on this crowd-friendly course. They all used the airline over the double to make the finals.

Anchored in the mountain top venue, this course affords the athletes a chairlift to the top and the spectators a rapid-fire turnaround of starts. And in this arena the athletes had to perform.

“This was a particularly athletic course,” said Announcer Tom Simpson. “These guys had to work like dogs to keep up their speed and clean the double jumps.”

Despite the difficult course, the athletes ran a clean race without any major crashes.

Miller punched into first position with Kinter behind. This left Llanes in third, a position she carried to the finish. This secured her leadership of the series over the surprising Buhl.

Results

Men

1 Brian Lopes (USA) GT-Fox
2 Cedric Gracia (Fra) Volvo Cannondale
3 Mike King (USA) Team Haro Lee Dungarees
4 Thomas Allier (Fra) Giant
5 Eric Carter (USA) Mongoose/Hyundai
  Kirt Voreis (USA) Haro Lee Dungarees
  Wade Bootes (Aus) Trek/Volkswagon
  Nathan Rennie (Aus) Yeti/Pearl Izumi
9 Brian Schmith (USA) Mongoose/Hyundai
  Gary Houseman (USA) Team Houseman
  Jared Rando (Aus) Foes/Azonic
  Jeff Evans (USA) Cheeta/Spy/Romic
  John Kirkcaldie (NZ) Maxxis
  Joe Haley (USA) Specialized
  Tim Krentz (USA) Chumba Wumba Bikes
  Richard Lancaster (USA) WTB/Jerricho
 
Women
 
1 Katrina Miller (Aus) Jamis Bicycles
2 Jill Kintner (USA) Intense/Troy Lee Designs/Sharp
3 Tara Llanes (USA) Yeti/Pearl Izumi
4 Melissa Buhl (USA) KHS/Odi
5 Vanessa Quin (NZl) Intense Cycles
  Mio Suemasa (Jpn) Trek-Volkswagen
  Hiroko Inomata (Jpn) Foes/Credit
  Kathy Pruitt (USA) Zeal Optics/Santa Cruz
9 Lisa Sher (USA) Chumba Wumba
  Gale Dahlager (USA) Elite Performance
  Jamie Lilly (USA) Systems Web
  Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Intense
  Diana Marggraff (Ecu) Royal Orange

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