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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 3rd,
Sam Blenkinsop in 4th & 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
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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!
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Former Sea Otter Slalom Champ Nathan Rennie was looking damn fast...
Sam Blenkinsop might not yet 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.
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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...
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