Mountain Bike Gravity Nationals open with amateur races

The 2011 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Gravity National Championships started Friday in Beech Mountain, N.C. An overnight rain made portions of the course slick and very difficult to race, but as the day continued and sun shone brightly, conditions improved.

Brad Blackwell rode to victory in the men's 19-29 category 3 race. (Photo by Weldon Weaver, www.USACycling.org)

The opening day featured the categories 2 and 3 amateur downhill competition. Six of the 15 winners reside in the host state of North Carolina.

Category 3
In the men’s 15-18 competition, Kyle Supple (Greensboro, N.C.) earned the top prize by 14 seconds over silver medalist Gavin Gargiulo (Colorado Springs, Colo.). In the men’s 19-29 competition, local rider Brad Blackwell (Banner Elk, N.C.) won by just over 30 seconds after riding a cautious, but aggressive ride.

"I tried to pedal everywhere I could in the grass sections,” Blackwell said. “I played it safe in the woods. I hit all of the safe lines. I tried to sprint it in."

Fred Mudd (La Grange, Ga.) completed his ride in 4:58.7 to earn the top prize in the men’s 30-39 contest while Matthew Herdklotz (Banner Elk, N.C.) earned the gold medal in the men’s 40-and-up competition.

Category 2
In the men’s 15-18 race, Kyle Grau (Terrace Park, Ohio) finished his ride 17 seconds faster than his closest competitor. Drew Dickson (Boone, N.C.) narrowly edged Brandon Blakely (Cullowhee, N.C.) to win the men’s 19-24 contest. Jesse Borror (Keyser, W. Va.) and Sean Royall (Boone, N.C.) raced to a tie to share the men’s 25-29 top step. Jeremy Edge (Fltecher, N.C.) barely beat John Shane O’Shura (Morganton, N.C.) in the men’s 30-34 race. Joshua Bagwell’s (Greenville, S.C.) time of 4:35.6 earned him the gold medal in the men’s 35-39 race while Kurt Dressler (Clayton, N.C.) won the men’s 40-49 competition. In the men’s 50-and-up race, Gil Goodrich (Three Rivers, Calif.) was nearly five minutes faster than his competition with a time of 8:57.0.

Heather Cowell (Pittsburgh, Pa.) won the lone women’s category 3 race with a time of 5:44.8. Corrine Miller (Caseyville, Ill.) topped the women’s category 2 19-29 race with a time of 7:10.9. Jennel Santos (Little Falls, N.J.) was only three seconds faster than Elixandria Porru (New Rochelle, N.Y.) to top the women’s category 2 30-39 podium and Gretchen Nelson (Seattle, Wash.) won the women’s category 2 40-and-up race with a time of 5:08.2.

The dual slalom races take center stage during Saturday’s competition.

For information about ancillary events, please visit the Beech Mountain home page.

Visit the official event webpage of the 2011 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Gravity National Championships for more information on the event, including qualification standards and procedures, complete schedule, results, photo gallery and more. Follow the event on Twitter, using hashtag #MTBNats.

USA Cycling 2011 Gravity Mountain Bike National Championships
Sept. 23-25, 2011
Beech Mountain, N.C.

FULL RESULTS

PHOTO GALLERY

Downhill Men Category 2 15-18
1. Kyle Grau (Terrace Park, OH) 03:24.8
2. Kenneth Banner (Oxford, MS) 03:41.5
3. Joshua Coit (Morgantown, WV) 03:43.5
4. Davis Nonno (Massillon, OH) 03:56.6
5. Conner Gabrielson (Park City, UT) 04:10.1

Downhill Men Category 2 19-24
1. Drew Dickson (Boone, NC) 03:26.6
2. Brandon Blakely (Cullowhee, NC) 03:26.6
3. Andrew Ingram (Crossville, TN) 03:58.9
4. Josh Money (Mocksville, NC) 04:21.3
5. Diego Ramirez (Banner Elk, NC) 04:26.4

Downhill Men Category 2 25-29
1. Jesse Borror (Keyser, WV) 03:31.2
1. Sean Royall (Boone, NC) 03:31.2
3. Pat Keller (Asheville, NC) 03:34.5
4. Brandon Olson (Libertyville, IL) 03:35.9
5. Brandon Sbordone (Cheshire, CT) 03:36.1

Downhill Men Category 2 30-34
1. Jeremy Edge (Fletcher, NC) 03:49.5
2. John Shane O'Shura (Morganton, NC) 03:50.3
3. David Huff (Wilder, KY) 05:20.0
4. Scott Besst (Woodstock, GA) 05:24.7
5. Neil Lee (Alexandria, VA) 06:11.8

Downhill Men Category 2 35-39
1. Joshua Bagwell (Greenville, SC) 04:35.6
2. John Haynes (Waterloo, SC) 04:48.4
3. Reid Allred (Hillsborough, NC) 05:01.7

Downhill Men Category 2 40-49
1. Kurt Dressler (Clayton, NC) 03:49.6
2. Michael Dill (Seattle, WA) 04:18.4
3. Doug Tate (Kokomo, IN) 04:31.6
4. Dan Linton (Apex, NC) 04:33.5
5. David Gray (Aberdeen MD) 04:34.8

Downhill Men Category 2 50+
1. Gil Goodrich (Three Rivers, CA) 08:57.0
2. Bruce McCann (Loveland, OH) 13:47.5
3. Scott Branney (Highlands Ranch, CO) 13:49.3

Downhill Men Category 3 15-18
1. Kyle Supple (Greensboro, NC) 04:16.7
2. Gavin Gargiulo (Colorado Springs, CO) 04:30.4
3. Chris Frohsin (Alpharetta, GA) 05:31.1
4. Josh Standish (Murphy, NC) 05:40.8
5. Prather Moorleghen (Johnson City, TN) 06:28.1

Downhill Men Category 3 19-29
1. Brad Blackwell (Banner Elk, NC) 04:08.2
2. Cory Diamond (Ormond Beach, FL) 04:39.1
3. Matthew Schaar (Linden, NC) 04:41.6
4. Nicholas Zinzer (Brewster, NY) 04:44.4
5. RJ Harris (Louisville, KY) 04:46.4

Downhill Men Category 3 30-39
1. Fred Mudd (La Grange, KY) 04:58.7
2. Sean Pepin (Banner Elk, NC) 05:07.5
3. Tommy Francis (Clover, VA) 05:08.0
4. Bryan Morgan (Cameron, NC) 05:09.2
5. David Petutsky (Osteen, FL) 06:38.8

Downhill Men Category 3 40+
1. Matthew Herdklotz (Banner Elk, NC) 05:38.1
2. James Crowley (Zanesville, OH) 06:03.6
3. Sandy Bartlett (Alpharetta, GA) 06:08.7
4. William Miller (Ocala, FL) 06:22.9
5. Jose Olivas (Princeton, NJ) 06:33.7

Downhill Women Category 2 19-29
1. Corrine Miller (Caseyville, IL) 07:10.9
2. Eva Wilson (Kensington, NH) 12:38.6

Downhill Women Category 2 30-39
1. Jennel Santos (Little Falls, NJ) 07:20.0
2. Elixandria Porru (New Rochelle, NY) 07:23.7

Downhill Women Category 2 40+
1. Gretchen Nelson (Seattle, WA) 05:08.2

Downhill Women Category 3 30+
1. Heather Cowell (Pittsburgh, PA) 05:44.8
2. Elizabeth Jones (Baltimore, MD) 10:09.1

This Article Published September 23, 2011 For more information contact: