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A Fred's-Eye View of Fontana: Kabush goes KABUSH!; Sydor stomps short track; best of the rest tackle DH
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Our friends over at the Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com) have come up with a few definitions for two-time NORBA champion Geoff Kabush’s last name:
1. Kabush
(1) The sound of an explosion
(2) What you say when something explodes
(3) When you are about to f.s.o. up. You show him the finger
A: Kabush!
B: You are about to get kabushed
C: This building exploded and I was like 'Kabuuuuush'
After watching Kabush’s performance at Sunday’s short-track cross-country during the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series opener in Fontana, California, I think they hit the nail on the head. While watching the 20-minute race, I saw all derivatives of the word in action. It was quite the scene.
Kabush came into the short track with the satisfaction and confidence of having won Saturday’s cross-country. But anyone who watched bits of that race knew that the Canadian had two very worthy opponents in Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Todd Wells. JHK and Wells climb better than Kabush, and they were giving him no mercy on the longest, steepest climbs. I saw them drop Kabush twice up the climbs, but the Canadian was always able to claw his way back on the descents. Would Kabush have won had Wells and JHK not crashed into each other short of the line? Well, all I can say is that it would have been an interesting sprint. Judging by how narrow and loose the finishing straightaway was, the pileup could have occurred on the tape instead.
Anyway, when the gun went off and the guys began circling the short-track course, dragging half a mountain’s worth of dust along with them, Kabush simply went to second wheel and stayed there. Barry Wicks, who turned heads on Saturday with his career-best podium finish (third) in the cross country, seemed eager to see if he had some more jump in his legs and drilled it on the front. Kabush waited. Wicks was strong, but eventually redlined, and KABUSH! He slipped to the back of the pack.
Wicks’s teammate Ryan "Treefarm" Trebon was next to get on the gas, driving the pace at the front of the pack for two laps. Trebon managed to separate the cream, but after a strong effort up the course’s climb — which happened to be the mountain-cross course, complete with jumps and berms — Trebon’s engine went KABUSH! And he too retreated.
By this time, the race was a duke-out among Giant’s Carl Decker and Adam Craig, JHK, Wells and Kabush, with Jeremiah Bishop yo-yoing at the rear.
Give credit to Wells for sticking out the race, despite suffering from a badly bruised right arm and hand. He had to walk his bike across the finish line after crashing in Saturday’s cross-country, and thought at first that he might have had a broken hand. With the help of a roll of sports tape and a wrist guard courtesy of Luna manager Waldek Stepnioski, Wells somehow found a way to grip his handlebar and stay in the race.
As Wells and JHK took turns attacking the group through the final two laps, Kabush maintained his second-wheel position. Then, on the final trip through the start/finish, he moved to the front, slowed a tad around the course’s hairpin and KABUSH! He took off like a rocket.
I think JHK and Decker realized the group was about to be KABUSHED, and reacted quickly to the Canadian’s acceleration up the corkscrewing climb. But the slight advantage was all he needed, and Kabush brought it home for his second big W of the weekend. The win was his ninth in short track, and ties him with Roland Green on the career NORBA short-track winning list.
Afterward, Kabush said he had simply waited until the right moment to unleash his fury.
"Well, Wicks and Trebon really wanted to give it. Ryan is always a good sucker to take some strong pulls early," Kabush said. "I think Todd was the main danger guy with three or four laps to go. I was feeling excellent today and the experience of racing so many of these helped out. Half a lap to go there was a really slow, sharp corner, and I just made sure to grab some brake through the corner and then hit it really hard out of it."
Sydor waits, then wails
Like her fellow Canadian, Alison Sydor bided her time in the women’s short track, marking moves by the Luna team and attacking on the final lap to secure her victory. I think it was a much-needed victory for Sydor, who has endured disappointing finishes at the World Cup opener in Curaçao, where she flatted, and at the Sea Otter Classic.
In Fontana, Sydor was on top form for the short track. She and former Trek-Volkswagen teammate Susan Haywood seized the lead from the start and gunned the pace up the first hill. Their efforts caught more than a few riders off guard, including Shonny Vanlandingham, who found herself in the B-rider pack after lap one. But Vanlandingham showed some character and dug deep to bridge up to the front group, which included Sydor, Haywood, Katerina Nash, Willow Koerber, Heather Irmiger and at times Georgia Gould and Kathy Sherwin. As soon as Vanlandingham made contact she gunned it on the front, probably looking to set up either Gould or Hanusova. Sydor stayed close, riding second or third wheel and always leading through the flat start/finish.
You could tell some fireworks were in order on the last lap, as Hanusova and Vanlandingham both punched the "Go" button with authority up the climb. The effort shelled Gould, but did little to faze Sydor. She marked the move and was able to squeeze around at the summit, then led down a rocky descent and into the finishing curves. Recalling her days as a road sprinter, Sydor gunned it through the finish for the win. The perma-grin that she wore for the rest of the day tells you how much it meant to her.
Downhill: Short, but not easy
Fontana’s downhill course was short by NORBA standards — the pro men finished in just over two minutes, with the women some 30 seconds slower, as opposed to the usual three- to four-minute effort.
Still, I was curious to know why so many of the pro downhillers were wearing such grimaces of pain as they finished. More than a few looked like they were choking back the chunks at the line.
As it turns out, the course features a 100-meter flat run-in just before the finish, which forced the downhillers to get out of the saddle and pedal their heavy bikes at full throttle for about 15-20 seconds. Ouch. The section was called "The Wall" because it took riders along a retaining wall that separated the wilderness from a housing development.
NORBA officials were wondering whether to keep the Wall in the race. Apparently more than one voted to nix the section entirely. But when NORBA asked the advice of Rich Houseman, who has raced at Fontana for a decade, the Yeti Cycles pro said he was pro-Wall all the way.
"It’s part of the culture of racing here," Houseman said. "It wouldn’t be the same race without having the Wall."
Houseman didn’t get a chance to race DH this weekend, after a gnarly crash in the mountain-cross finals destroyed his front rim and ripped a big chunk of meat out of his hip. But he was there at the start/finish, cheering on the big boys as they sweated their way across the line.
The day’s top-dog award went to Cody Warren, who DFL’d the qualifying round after flatting. Warren threw down the first run of the day and then weathered the storm in the hot seat as more than 55 riders came across the line. A few guys came darn close to knocking Warren off the seat, including reigning junior world DH champ Amiel Cavalier (Giant) and Jeff Beatty (NRG.com).
South African Joanna Petterson took top honors in the women’s race. Petterson, who got into mountain bikes after seeing an advertisement with Missy Giove on it back in 2001, crossed just ahead of April Lawyer (Maxxis-Puma).
Warren says his primary goal this year is to dominate the NORBA series a la Jared Graves in 2005. Well, like a host of NORBA gravity big boys, Graves missed the first round of the NORBA to compete in the World Cup opener in Vigo, Spain, this past weekend. But you can bet that he will be looking to do some damage when he returns. If Graves and Warren are both going good, this year could produce a gravity gang showdown. Stay tuned.
NORBA National Mountain Bike Series No. 1
Fontana, CA
May 5-7
Short track
Men
1. Geoff Kabush (Can), Maxxis, 26:14
2. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Subaru-Gary Fisher, at 0:01
3. Carl Decker, Giant, at 0:02
4. Todd Wells, GT-Hyundai, at 0:05
5. Adam Craig, Giant, at 0:06
6. Jeremiah Bishop, Trek-Volkswagen, at 0:14
7. Max Plaxton (Can), Rocky Mountain-Business Objects, at 0:20
8. Barry Wicks, Kona-Les Gets, at 0:24
9. Ryan Trebon, Kona-Les Gets, at 0:30
10. Jason Sager, Hotel San Jose, at 0:34
Women
1. Alison Sydor (Can), Rocky Mountain-Business Objects, 26:39
2. Katerina Nash (CZ), Luna, same time
3. Susan Haywood, Trek-Volkswagen, at 0:01
4. Shonny Vanlandingham, Luna, at 0:03
5. Georgia Gould, Luna, at 0:08
6. Willow Koerber, Subaru-Gary Fisher, at 0:17
7. Dara Marks-Marino, Titus/Kenda, s.t.
8. Kelli Emmett, Ford, at 0:18
9. Kathy Sherwin, Ford, at 0:28
10. Heather Irmiger, Subaru/Gary Fisher, at 0:35
Downhill
Men
1. Cody Warren, C-Dub Racing, 2:14.62
2. Jeff Beatty (Can), NRG.com, 2:15.01
3. Amiel Cavalier (Aus), Giant, 2:15.30
4. Jared Rando (Aus), Giant/Michelin, 2:15.46
5. Justin Havukainen, Ironhorse, 2:15.58
6. Curis Keene, Cane Creek, 2:15.66
7. Daniel Umland, 2:15.77
8. Waylon Smith, KHS, 2;16.02
9. Evan Turpen, Ironhorse, 2:16.64
10. Cole Bangert, Morewood, 2:16.88
Women
1. Joanna Petterson (RSA), Morewood, 2:38.00
2. April Lawyer, Maxxis-Puma, 2:46.43
3. Wendy Reynolds, Bequar, 2:46.46
4. Kote Driscoll, Chumbawumba, 2:47.94
5. Jackie Harmony, Brodie, 2:48.03
6. Erin Thain, 2:49.40
7. Anka Martin (RSA), Honda-Ironhorse, 2:50.06
8. Jennifer Whalen, Jenxracer.com, 2:53.81
9. Addie Leper, Harlot, 2:54.85
10. Stephanie Gaudreau, Amp’d Racing, 2:58.46
