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2006 NORBA series firing it up in Fontana
The 2006 NORBA National Mountain Bike Series kicks off today at Southridge Park in Fontana, a small city just west of San Bernadino in Southern California’s Inland Empire. Unlike the previous two NMBS openers, which featured solely cross-country racing, the Fontana NMBS hosts the full spectrum of endurance and gravity events: marathon cross-country, cross-country, short-track cross-country, downhill, mountain-cross and super D.
This is the first time the NMBS series will grace the dry, dusty California town, which is also home to the California motor speedway. Fontana has hosted its own mountain-bike racing series (www.southridgeusa.com), called the “Southridge Challenge” for 15 years. That series is still run by original organizer Don Jackson, owner of Southridge Cycles in nearby Riverside.
“The original plan was to have one race in November to promote the shop,” Jackson said. “I’d been riding my bike and playing in the park for 15 years beforehand. We called it the ‘bird farm’ because 30 years ago they used to keep exotic birds in there. The race was about telling people about this place in our backyard that had awesome riding.”
Jackson’s winter race eventually grew into a series, which received a boost in the mid-1990s when PowerBar added sponsorship dollars and renamed the series the “PowerBar B-Ready” series.
PowerBar pulled out after three years, but Jackson continued organizing the series, which draws 400 and 600 athletes to each of its five races.
And they weren’t all weekend warriors, either. Jackson says a smattering of pro athletes used his winter racing series as their off-season tuneup races.
“We got Floyd Landis out here in the mid-1990’s when he was a junior,” Jackson said. “Tinker [Juarez] was a regular and so was [Eric] Carter and Jimena Florit. Shaun Palmer got his start racing out here.”
When Team Big Bear, the company that runs the NORBA NMBS series, first laid out a preliminary schedule for 2006, the company’s goal was to incorporate both gravity and endurance events at the opener. Unfortunately, with Snow Summit ski resort doing away with gravity racing in 2004, the company was left with only a handful of venue choices. The original plan was to split the race — hold the endurance events at Bonelli Park in San Dimas and the gravity races in Fontana, which also hosts the California downhill state championship series.
“They approached me and asked if I was interested in doing the split venue thing and I said I was,” Jackson said. “But I felt awkward about splitting things up. These races are like a big barbecue, and you don’t want to split the kids up just because they play different games.”
Jackson convinced Big Bear that the park, which is owned and operated by the city of Fontana, could serve as a big enough venue for the NMBS event.
“When I first drove up here I was like, ‘Huh, this could be a little strange,’” said Jeff Frost of Team Big Bear. “But then I got to the grounds and it’s pretty unbelievable. There are lots of trees and grass and big open areas. There’s a good vibe about the race going on in town. They even put a huge banner for the race across the main drag.”
The community advertising and urban setting — Southridge Park is in a neighborhood with more than 10,000 houses within a five-mile radius — are a departure for the NORBA NMBS, which traditionally hosts its races at rural ski areas. The urban setting has already translated into boosted numbers for the NMBS. More than 700 riders have already pre-registered for the event.
“We have the largest pre-reg’ since Team Big Bear took over operations for the national series [in 2003],” Frost said. “Usually we get between 300 and 400 pre-registers and then 700 or 800 other people show up and register at the event. We’re looking to have our biggest race in a while here. And we’re in a neighborhood so we’ll probably get some curious onlookers to stop and watch.”
The bigger numbers, not to mention the spectators, are what organizers of the NORBA NMBS have been searching for since numbers began dropping five years ago.
Who to watch
A bunch of NORBA cross-country heavy hitters started the 2006 season out on the wrong foot. Two-time series champ Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) developed an ear infection before the March Commonwealth Games in Australia, and subsequently DNF’d the April 1 World Cup opener in Curaçao. Kabush was also off form at the Sea Otter Classic, where he finished a disappointing sixth in the omnium.
The Canadian took three weeks off and retreated to his hometown of Victoria, Canada, to recover, train and work on his taxes. Kabush said he regained his fitness, dropped some pounds and motivated himself.
“All of the training gadgets I use tell me I’m going pretty fast right now,” Kabush said. “I was really disappointed after Sea Otter. Now I’m really motivated to get back into this second block of racing and show what I can do.”
A score of American men will challenge each other for the win on the 7.5-mile cross-country course, which traverses dusty, rocky clay with a fair amount of climbing. Olympian Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher) is also coming off a bout with sickness, but has been putting in plenty of miles in Colorado, racing the local short-track practice events. Olympian Todd Wells (GT-Hyundai) is hot off a 19th place overall finish at the Tour of Georgia. Adam Craig (Giant) won the short track at Sea Otter, and could very well prevail on Southridge’s short, punchy climbs. Barry Wicks (Kona) took the Firestone Walker cross-country race April 30 in Santa Barbara, California, narrowly beating teammate Ryan Trebon, who is also a major threat. And youngsters Matt Kelly (Subaru-Gary Fisher) and Walker Ferguson (Scott), both back after taking a break from the sport, will be looking to prove themselves against the field.
Also sick at Sea Otter was defending cross-country-series champ Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna). The Coloradan was sick enough with a sinus infection and ear infection after the World Cup opener that doctors forbade her to fly.
“I had to spend about a week in Atlanta recovering before I could get on a plane back to Colorado,” Vanlandingham said. “For two weeks after Curaçao I was basically just lying on my couch and going for hour spins every now and then. Once I finished the antibiotic cycle I got back doing some more intense stuff. I did the local Tuesday-night-world’s group ride and some weekend crits to get the intensity back up.”
Vanlandingham said she would like to win the NORBA opener, but plans to use the event as a fitness test, which could open a door for Dara Marks-Marino (Titus-Kenda), who finished second to the Luna rider in last year’s cross-country standings. Teammates Heather Irmiger and Willow Koerber (Subaru-Gary Fisher) should also be a threat.
Noticeably absent will be the top-seeded North American male cross-country racer, Seamus McGrath, as well as America’s top-seeded World Cup duo of Michael Broderick and Mary McConneloug (Seven-Kenda) who are racing in Europe.
Also on the DNS list will be North America’s best and brightest gravity racers, as the World Cup gravity opener in Vigo, Spain, coincides with the NORBA race. Don’t expect to see last year’s downhill and gated-racing series winner Jared Graves (Yeti), reigning four-cross world champs Jill Kintner or Brian Lopes (GT) or Duncan Riffle (Honda-Turner). Do expect to see top finishes from Americans Cody Warren (Haro), Chris Van Dine and Rich Houseman (Yeti).
NORBA National Mountain Bike Series No. 1
Fontana, CA
May 5-7
Friday, May 5
7:30 a.m.: Marathon cross-country
Saturday, May 6
10:15 a.m.: Super D
12 p.m.: Pro men Cross-country
12:15 p.m.: Pro women cross-country
6:30 p.m.: Pro mountain-cross
Sunday, May 7
12 p.m.: Pro Downhill final
2:30 p.m.: Pro women short-track
3 p.m.: Pro men short-track
