Ride #5
THE SPOTTED OWL DH - January 31, 2004
After A week spent in anticipation and precipitation the Spotted Owl arrived
and drew the best turn out since way back when at Ride One. While some
regulars were absent the field was stacked as always. Race day was
gorgeous, no rain and clear skies, but a week's worth of wet weather had
taken its toll on the technical course. The result was a slip'n slide
trail which challenged all present to ride smooth and consistent. Negotiating
numerous, narrow and slippery, off-cambers as well as countless abrupt water
bars became more and more of a challenge as the day progressed. Slimy ruts
and slick flat corners grew nastier with each run, supplanting strategy with
survival. Indeed the race was to be a mastery of momentum, to see who could
keep it rolling, and the masters had come to play. First round it was
the third rider down the trail, Greg Newkirk , who grabbed the hot seat out
from under the competition. Coming in close on his heels was Matt Snyder,
whose smooth yet cautious run had him sitting in contention. The remainder
of the field sat significantly off the leader, struggling to keep it upright
while Newkirk and Snyder had their way with the Owl. In round two riders
were pushing for lost seconds and times began to slip as a result. But
again it was Newkirk's superior bike handling and confidence enabling him
to clean the course, impressively sliding inside his previous time by two
seconds. Despite much talk of "sub two" Matt Snyder missed a couple
shifts, or something, and was not able to catch Greg. There was no
reeling in Newkirk who, with the two fastest splits of the day, took the
win by a marvelous 20 seconds, blazing in a combined time of 4:20. The
fastest woman of the day was miss Keiko who managed to stay clean while most
of the boys were getting down in the dirt. Junior racers Robbie Rhall
and Joel Graves showed true devotion in what can only be called hard tail
madness. It was Graves, the younger, who claimed the junior victory.
Prizes were awarded and many a Pirate "arrrr" was uttered to confirm
the days success. The chase is on, the music plays, the podium revolves,
where it stops nobody knows.
1
|
Greg Newkirk
|
2:11
|
2:09
|
4:20
|
2
|
Matt Snyder
|
2:13
|
2:27
|
4:40
|
3
|
Justin Graves
|
2:20
|
2:25
|
4:45
|
4
|
Evan Hobart
|
2:29
|
2:25
|
4:54
|
5
|
Brian Hapgood
|
2:38
|
2:20
|
4:58
|
6
|
Hank Matheson
|
2:30
|
2:32
|
5:02
|
7
|
Dave Richmond
|
2:34
|
2:38
|
5:12
|
8
|
Byron Stocum
|
2:40
|
2:38
|
5:18
|
9
|
Ian Heikkila
|
2:48
|
3:01
|
5:49
|
10
|
Jason Reiman
|
2:56
|
2:56
|
5:52
|
11
|
Joel Graves
|
3:12
|
2:58
|
6:10
|
12
|
Jared Kobobel
|
2:54
|
3:17
|
6:11
|
13
|
Keiko
|
3:03
|
3:11
|
6:14
|
14
|
Amos Pole
|
3:32
|
3:25
|
6:57
|
15
|
Zach Coffman
|
3:10
|
3:56
|
7:06
|
16
|
Robbie Rhall
|
3:35
|
4:55
|
8:30
|
17
|
Jason Ford
|
4:37
|
4:59
|
9:36
|
18
|
Christina Reyes
|
6:36
|
4:37
|
11:13
|