Greg Minnaar had a stellar weekend doubling up his wins in both Dual Slalom and Downhill.


Melissa Buhl bested some of the worlds best women placing 1st in Downhill


Semi Pro Men DH Podium


Pro Women DH Podium


Pro Men DH Podium
 

Early morning practice sessions did wonders for 4X star Ross Milan - he placed 14th in the DH


Current Women's World Champ - Sabrina Jonnier


Dan Atherton held the hot seat early on in the Downhill


Rookie Pro DHer Brad Oien scrubs the hip jump.


Chris Kovarik is on a tear.  2nd place on the day.


Mongoose teammates Eric Carter & Andrew Neethling drop through the log drops & finalize their line selections.


Team Big Crank is on a mission this year!


Bryn Atkinson had a rough start to the weekend, but was looking good, as always, in the DH.


Abby rode to a stellar finish - 5th in Pro Women!
 

Matti Lehikonen's got a new sponsor in Red Bull.


The Leatt Brace trend is starting to pick up with a few more elite riders looking for that extra precation.


Prototype Yeti 303R


Prototype Yeti Slopestyle


Prototype Yeti 303-7


Prototype Fox Shox Rear Shock


'09 Shimano Saint R. Der


'09 Shimano Saint Cranks


'09 Shimano Saint Brake Lever & Shifter


'09 Shimano Saint  Brake

Saturday is synonymous for Slalom when it comes to Sea Otter.  You’ve gotta love it!  I really wish event organizers can realize that Slalom is just waaaaay more popular than MTX.  The field was stacked with riders.  Everyone from new school riders such as Aaron Gwin & Matti Lehikonen (who I believe raced his first ever slalom), to old school boys like Jurgen Beneke & Kirt Voreis.  Slalom is just RAD.  Fun to race, & great to watch!  There is no “first turn winner” and it’s always up in the air on who can win…  it never gets stale!

There were a few riders looking fast going into qualifying.  Brian Lopes always is one to watch for… & everyone had their eyes peeled as this is his first major event on his new frame sponsor IBIS.  Chris Kovarik & Nathan Rennie  were definitely putting the hammer down.  However, there were a few new faces to watch out for.  Sam Blenkinsop is a  young gun, but he was definitely PINNing it & Jared Rando is always a contender.  And let’s not forget the Athertons!  It’s crazy that there are sooo many riders that can easily win the race… just makes the sport that much more exciting.

Into qualifying, the winds started to pick up & the temperatures dropped dramatically.  It was already a bit cold to begin with, but with the winds starting to swirl..  it wasn’t getting to be a lot of fun sitting around.

To no one’s surprise, Brian Lopes took top qualifying spot with Jared Rando sitting in second.  However as you start to look down the seed list, there were a few surprises when the times were tallied up.  Lars Sternberg sat in 3^rd, Sam Blenkinsop in 4^th & Mike Haderer rounded out the top 5!  The top ten sat like this…

MEN
1. Brian Lopes
2. Jared Rando
3. Lars Sternberg
4. Sam Blenkinsop
5. Mike Haderer
6. Nathan Rennie
7. Dan Atherton
8. Rich Houseman
9. Steve Peat
10. Greg Minnaar

WOMEN
1 sabrina jonnier
2 rachel atherton
3 melissa buhl
4 fionn griffiths
5 kathy pruitt

In the finals, temperatures were still on the chill side.  Unfortunately it looked to have pushed away many spectators.  Regardless, racing action was HOT!  Round after round, it was a battle for each & every rider.  Just because certain riders didn’t qualify well, that didn’t mean that they were slow!  A number of slower seeds provided great battles or won their round outright.

It was great having guest announcer Tara Llanes in the house.  She was greatly appreciative about all the support she has been receiving & had a blast calling out the races!

Here’s how the action went down…

Round of 32

MEN
Lopes def lehikonen
Hearndon def leov
Peat def ec
Houseman def wardell
Bangert def haderer
Vories def beneke
Cavalier def boice
Blenkinsop def bryceland
Sternberg def powell
Neethling def g atherton
Kovarik def beytagh
Rennie def hauer
D Atherton def gwin
Minnaar def condrashoff
Strait def warren
Rando def stevenson

Round of 16

MEN
Lopes def herndon
Peat def houseman
Vories def bangert
Blenkinsop def cavalier
Neethling def Sternberg
Kovarik def Rennie
Minnaar def dan atherton
Rando def strait

WOMEN
Jonnier def white
Gatto def Petterson
Pruitt def jarolime
Griffiths def gerrard
Buhl def williamson
Suemasa def holden
Streb def Beerten
Atherton def vogt

Quarter Finals

WOMEN
Jonnier def. Gatto
Griffiths def pruitt
Buhl def suemasa
Atherton def streb


MEN
Peat def lopes
Vories def blenkinsop
Neethling def kovarik
Minnaar def rando

Semi Final’s
Jonnier def griffiths
Buhl def atherton

MEN
Peat def vories
Minnaar def neethling

Finals
Finals
Jonnier def buhl
Minnaar def peat

Consolation
Griffiths def atherton
Neethling def vories

Pro Women Dual Slalom Podium


Pro Men Dual Slalom Podium


It was great to see Tara Llanes announcing the slalom racing!


Lopes was easily the fasest qualifier, but had troubles in each of his rounds.  Here, Chris Hearndon almost eliminates him.


Peaty is THE MAN!  2nd Place against kids over 10 years younger than him!


He might not be an "official" gravity "racer" anymore... that doesn't mean that Vories doesn't still have skillz!


Sabrina Jonnier dominated the women's class!  She was also a class act by giving her winning paycheck to Tara Llanes!
 

Former Sea Otter Slalom Champ Nathan Rennie was looking damn fast...


Sam Blenkinsop might not be one of the top names you think of when it comes to slalom... but it soon will be!  If it weren't for a crash, we might have seen this young Kiwi on the podium!


Mike Haderer had his best ever qualify against a stacked field, unfortunately a crash would take him out of contention in the first round.


Rachel Atherton had a great day, placing 4th in Slalom.


Kovarik was PINNED in the slalom... a good bet to podium.

Team American's Cody Warren.


Marla Streb surprised more than just a few people when she took out Anneka Beerten in the first round.


Fionn Griffiths


TIGHT racing all around... LONG LIVE SLALOM!


Thanks to a ton of great friends & fans, Tara got some greatly needed money for her medical bills!
www.tarallanesroadtorecovery.com


Chris Van Dine elected not to rent a car or truck this weekend & took the BAD-MO-FO approach...

Unfortunately I missed practice on Wednesday, as I was banging out some last minute helmets for Bryn Atkinson, the newly formed Decline Team America team, as well as spraying up some orange paint on Andrew Neethling’s lid.  So with that said, I didn’t arrive til about mid-afternoon Thursday.  There really wasn’t too much to report on… though it would have been nice to have gotten some shots.  The overall layout of the course was pretty the same In past years.  However they did build up the top jumps a great deal – bigger hits, bigger lips!   There are a few other  new jumps & obstacles to deal with, but in an overall  sense, it’s generally the same course… just vastly improved!

Today’s DH practice was pretty straight forward.  Riders were getting used to their new rides & scoping out the best lines … at least until the thousands of riders get a hold of it… then it’ll be completely different line choice!

As I reported earlier on “The Wire”…  Bryn Atkinson had a good digger splitting open his chin.   He’s  doing just fine, but just had to get about a half a dozen stitches in his chin.  He also scratched up  his new THE helmet painted by Dylan Dean Designs (had to give him a poke abut that since I’ve gotta touch it up! Haha)   There weren’t too many other injuries to speak of (at least not that I know) but riders had their fair share of diggers, trying to attack the course.

One notable absence is Cedric Gracia.  I haven’t looked into it, but this is the first year in as long as I can remember that CG hasn’t been in town for the ‘otter.  Not sure  if he’s just wants to get his wrist 100% for the World Cups, or just elected not to come. 

With Fabien Barel’s departure from Kona to Moonraker, I not a huge shock that his team wasn’t in attendance, but still feels a bit weird not seeing Fabien around either.  Fabien’s constantly on the DH podium, if not winning the event altogether. 

Speaking of Kona, Tracey Moseley is also not in town.  Jared Graves is spending time back home in Australia still preparing his bid for BMX in the Olympics.  Jill Kintner is here at ‘otter, but only as a superfan.

There were a stack of movie premiers happening this weekend, but the one on everyone’s mind was the highly anticipated “F1RST” movie by Clay Porter.  The who’s who of the MTB was there to watch & support the movie.  Although I’ll follow up with a movie review in a feature article down the line, I can’t pass up the opportunity to give props to Clay.  This was one of the finest mtb movies I’ve seen in a while & his filming is phenomenal.  I was actually into the music this go around & the editing has much improved since his last movie (which I was pretty critical about).

Team Yeti / Fox Shox has one of the best looking kits on the race scene (even if I am a little bit biased)


Lars Sternberg


Luke Strobel


Rachel Atherton is a good bet for the women's victory in both DH & Slalom!


Syndicate "Newbie"


The lone Morewood rider - Geritt Beytagh.

Ben Furbee


Dan Atherton


Even as stylish as he is, Neethling got a little razzing from fellow riders for having the #1 plate.


Brad Benedict having a little fun with the crowd




The "Young Gun" on the powerhouse Syndicate team - Josh Bryceland.