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UtahMountainBiking.com |
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Desert Rampage - St. George, March
1, 2008
It was a great day in St. George. Sunny skies, temperatures around 70. We had our share of bad luck (3 flats, a broken seat-post, a crash with injuries), but our tough team fought its way to a lot of points. A lot of enthusiastic newcomers made their first appearance at this race. We saw first-place finishes by Kyle Jackson, Carlee Hunsaker, Skyler Hancock, and Meri Bruin, with 2nd places by Shane Horton Jim Jackson, Catherine Reay, Jay Griffin, and Mandy Clark. UMB held a free burger-fry for team members and their families after the races. Thanks to Ryan and Jared for the incredible team support! Left:
Brayden (front) and Zachary sprint out in the 10-12 class. |
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| Category 9-and-under: |
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| Joshua Peterson joins the UMB team with this race and finishes 2nd place. |
Another new team member is Shawn |
Jaxon Van Wagoner joins the other |
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Looking |
Looking |
| Mandy Clark makes her first UMB race with 2nd place among the girls, 14th overall. |
Jonah Frederick makes his first
race |
Also racing for the first time is brother |
| Category 10-12: |
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Left: Brayden Nielsen joins the
UMB team in 2008 and grabs a point for the team with the 7th place finish. Right: Another promising young racer
is |
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| Beginner 13-15: |
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| New to UMB this year, Kyle Jackson takes 1st place in his first ICup race. Looking for great things from Kyle... |
Jake Van Wagoner fights up the |
Moving up to a harder, faster |
| Beginner 16-18: |
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Left: Skyler Hancock shows
promise for a great racing year as he powers his way to the 1st-place position in BM 16-18. Right: In his first start as a UMB
racer, |
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| Beginner 19-29: |
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Left: Andrew Youngkin fires out
from the start line in the BM 19-29 class. Andrew tracked off-line on the hairy descent (yeah, you know the one) and slammed a rock. He rode his bloody bike across the finish line to take a ribbon at 4th. And after a CAT scan and some stitches, he's ready for the next race. Right: Waiting for the wife... |
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| Beginner 30-39: |
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Left: In his first start as a UMB
racer, Shane Horton shows what he can do by grabbing 2nd place in BM 30-39. Right: Dale Hutchings powers
uphill on the way |
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Left: Jeff Frederick climbs the
wash on the way to the 8th place position. Right: Gabriel Sermon gets a
great start |
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| Beginner 40-plus: |
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| In his first race for UMB, Jim Jackson fights through to 2nd place. |
Scott Van Wagoner makes the final |
Russ Margetts climbs up the
mountain |
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Left: A new rider for UMB, Jason Sparks
climbs Keyhole Wash with Meri in pursuit. Jason rode to 12th place. Right: Scott Hunsaker
slips between the sides |
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| Beginner Women: |
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| Meri Bruin sprints toward the finish line to capture 1st place in BW. |
Catherine Reay chases Meri up the |
In her first UMB race, Kendra Clark |
| Sport/Expert 13-15: |
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Left: Moving up early to Sport/Expert
13-15, Justin Griffin powers up Keyhole Wash. But on the descent to Rock Wash, Justin had his first flat tire in over 40 races and had to run his bike to finish the lap. After a tire repair, Justin went out for another lap to finish 5th in his category. At UMB
HQ, we had three bike repair-stands, |
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| Sport/Expert 16-18: |
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Left: Danny Van Wagoner also
moved up to a harder category this year. Danny flatted toward the end of his last lap and ran his bike across the finish line for a 3rd place. Right: A true
competitor fights to the end. |
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| Sport Men 19-29: |
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| In Sport 19-29 action, Tyler Margetts knocks off a point for the team with his 7th place finish. |
Ben Hutchings
drops off the slickrock |
Note what Ryan Van Wagoner is
holding |
| Sport Men 30-34: |
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Left: Dan Hutchings climbs
Keyhole Wash as he rides to the 12th place in SM 30-34. Right: In his first start for the
UMB team, |
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| Sport Men 35-39: |
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Left: Rich Bruin gets low in
preparation for the rough rock-drop on the way to the 3rd-place finish in Sport 35-39. Right: Climbing up Keyhole Wash, Denmark
Jensen |
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Left: Moving up from Beginner to Sport, Right: After a long layoff caused by knee |
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| Sport Men 40-plus: |
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| Setting aside coaching and photos, Jay Griffin shocks the pack with a hard-fought 2nd-place win for UMB. |
Brad Sneed moves up to Sport and |
Kris Nosack raises a column of
water |
| Expert Men 30-39: |
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Left: Our only expert-class rider at
this race, Mike Engberson leans into a power turn. Mike came into the race recovering from an illness, faded on his third lap and had to settle for 22nd place. The
mob of sport and expert riders gets |
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| Women 35-plus: |
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Left: Jolene Nosack pilots the
29er up the wash as she takes 4th place in Women 35-plus. Right: Sally Hutchings lowers
into the wind for |
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| Men 50-plus: |
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Right: In the highly-competitive Men
50-plus open division, Stan Larrabee made his first race for UMB. Stan skirts the puddle in Keyhole Wash on the way to an 8th place finish. Left: John Van Wagoner moves
up to the 50's |
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| Men 57-plus: |
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Left: Bruce Argyle rips the
downhill on the way to a 3rd place in Men 57-plus. Right: After a morning spent
wrenching (and saving |
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| Sport
Women: Expert Men
19-29: Expert Men
40-plus:
Clydesdale: Singlespeed: The UMB race team had no riders in these categories at this race. |
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UMB earned 96 team points at St. George,
putting us in great position for the season.
In this race, UMB saw a very promising group of newcomers. Yes it's only one race, but the season looks very good. Our challenge now is to grow in skill and speed as the season progresses. We couldn't be off to a better start. With this race, we welcomed Ryan Allred and Jared Ferguson as team boosters. With Ryan functioning as the team wrench the depth of racer-support for the team is greater than ever. A few disasters were averted through skilled mechanical work. Jared shot some great photos (as you see above, with other racers and family members also contributing pictures), and helped with mechanics and lunch. Burgers wouldn't have been possible without our great new "support crew!" Thanks, everybody. |
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