PLATTEKILL RACE UPDATEJULY 10,
PLATTEKILL RACE UPDATEJULY 10,
(Photos
Story by Todd Seplavy
The best way for East Coast downhillers to celebrate the July 4th holiday weekend was by racing at Plattekill. The third Plattekill Extreme Series event, the Flood Waters Challenge downhill/slalom, was spectacularly beautiful, and the course was quite easy by Plattekill standards.
Flood Waters Challenge event is named after the Plattekill race of July 1999 that was cancelled by a severe storm. The region was flooded by the storm that dumped several inches of rain. The only road that leads to the mountain was flooded, trapping several hundred racers at the Plattekill lodge for approximately 8 hours.
DUAL
Racing was fast and exciting despite a smaller racer field than usual. The Plattekill dual course can be quite rough. It is like sliding across a cheesegrater without any pads. Lars Tribus, a 2001 Plattekill Dual Series Champion and Pro Rider, promises that there will be some course modifications to challenge the top riders as well as make it safer for beginners.
Pro Men:
1. Tom Oakes (Ellsworth).
2. Dakota Martin (Intense/Fox).
3. Kevin Liebig (Racers Edge)
4. Peter Weir
Women:
1. Holly Kuhn (ZooYork/Racers Edge).
2. Ginny Oyhenart
3. Nielle Hill (Team XXL).
4. Mary Jordan
DOWNHILL
Laszlo Vatjay, race promoter, decided to have all classes of riders (beginner through professional) run on the same course for the 2002 Flood Waters. He was able to create a more challenging, pedal-friendly course than the June event for experts and pro riders. This also allowed beginners and other sports to race on the same course as the top mountain riders. Laszlo also learned how to pick out sandbaggers and recommend upgrades. This made competition fair in future races. Sport and novice riders learned some tricks from the pros about picking lines and how fast they can go through sections.
The course started at the top of the mountain, on a popular Plattekill trail called Jump Trail (or Ledges, depending on who you ask). It then snaked down the mountain connecting fast doubletrack trails to Plattekill’s famous rocky singletrack. Although there were many open areas, the course was well-marked and no cheater lines were found.
Although the downhill course was easy to ride, it was more challenging to race. Race speed on the downhill course caused many good riders to miss their lines and crash during practice. There were many crash stories in the parking lot from top pro and expert riders. Although it seemed that everyone fell on the course at least once, the Cooperstown EMTs had a much smaller caseload than a typical Plattekill race.
Cromwell, CTs Chris Hinman from Gravity Warehouse ended Leif Lorenzens’ (Down Cycles), stranglehold in the Junior X class. Chris’s winning time would have placed Chris 6th in Pro class. It’s not bad for someone who isn’t yet old enough to drive.
The racing in the Pro Mens event was among the best of the season. Many riders had posted times on the
(Nineteen-year-old, Be One Bikes/The Projects George Muffin Ryan celebrates his first DH win alongside Lars Tribus and Derrick Nobman.
Pro Men:
1. George Ryan (Be One Bikes/The Project). Lars Tribus (Racers edge/Intense/Spy). Derrick Nobman (Intense/Racers Edge) 4. Jesse Whitsell (Be One Bikes/The Project). Lee Trumpore (University of Vermont).
Pro Women:
1. Holly Kuhn (ZooYork/Racers Edge).
JuniorX
1. Chris Hinman (Gravity Warehouse). 2. Leif Lorenzen (Down Cycles) 3. Samuel Centolella (Advanced Cyclery) 4. David Flynn (Maxxis/Spy/Hansens) 5. Avery Bush (Evil Bikes).
Sponsors of the Plattekill Extreme series include THE, Kenda and Kool Stop. White Lightning, KHS. Spy & Coca-Cola. Plattekill.com has more information about riding and racing.
Another note: work is underway to install a second lift at Ski Plattekill. The second lift will allow for more terrain to be opened up on the mountain. Plattekill aficionados and locals believe the new terrain is better than the 5-star offering. Since the beginning of this year, freeriders and downhillers in Northeast have eagerly awaited the new lift. Tara Collins, Plattekills Marketing Coordinator, said that we have completed pouring concrete for the top and bottom terminals as well as seven pylons. We still have eight more to go. After a little sandblasting, painting, and then helicopter installation of stanchions, tweaking bearings and bullwheels, cabling and a few billboards, we should be ready to go. We are hopeful that Mother Nature will allow us to do our bidding. They are doing an amazing job. We work when it is dry so that we can put the mud in our forms. We are aiming for a completion in the early fall.
