Despite the murmurs about rain heard up and down the course at the Sugar Mountain Ski Resort in Banner Elk, North Carolina, the second leg of this year’s NORBA national mountain bike series got under way Saturday under optimal conditions.

Beginning just after high noon, the pro men took off across the gravelly start for the first of four loops around the 6.6-mile course. But the shape of the race remained essentially static once the riders got to the top of the first lap and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher) launched an attack into the single-track. JHK kept the small gap he had on Geoff Kabush (Maxxis), winner of the season-opener, eventually ballooning his lead to a full two minutes as they entered the last lap. As the clock ticked past the 2.5-hour mark, Kabush and Jeremiah Bishop (Trek-Volkswagen) were still nowhere to be seen as JHK crossed the finish line.

“I felt really good from the start, and I kind of wanted to ride my own race,” Horgan-Kobelski said afterwards. “That was the plan. And I really like these courses with sustained climbing, so it was good for me.”

Kabush, who thought the climb up Sugar might have been a little too long, was a little disappointed that he and Bishop got caught behind some of the female riders on the last lap, even though the pro women had started a full 15 minutes behind the pro men.

The one woman who was definitely not obstructing any traffic was Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna), who cruised to her second consecutive NORBA victory after negotiating the tricky sections in the woods, which were still a bit muddy.

“It was a tough day,” Vanlandingham told the crowd. “I knew it was going to be a long race and during that first lap I think several of us were being a bit conservative. We were all riding together but then it kind of opened up on the second and third lap.”

NORBA National Championship Series
Sugar Mountain Ski Resort
Banner Elk, North Carolina
Men
1 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher)
2. Jeremiah Bishop (Trek-Volkswagen)
3. Geoff Kabush (Maxxis)
4. Ricky Federau (Teamrace.com)
5. Nick Waite (Kelly Benefits Strategies)

Women
1. Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna)
2. Heather Irmiger (Subaru-Gary Fisher)
3. Kiara Bisaro (Teamrace.com)
4. Kelly Emmett (Ford Cycling)
5. Sue Haywood (Trek-Volkswagen)