August 29/05 12:05 pm - NORBA Final

Posted by Editoress on 08/29/05
 

2005 Shimano NORBA National Mountain Bike Series #8 Mount Snow, VT

The 2005 Shimano NORBA National Mountain Bike Series concluded today in New England as Adam Craig captured his first-ever NORBA short track win and Canadian Geoff Kabush took second place on the day to earn his second overall NORBA National Mountain Bike Series title in as many days.

Shonny Vanlandingham also rode to a short track win on Sunday while teammate Katerina Hanusova clinched the overall series title with a second place effort.

Consistently improving and becoming a regular on the NORBA podium in 2005, Craig set the frenetic pace early on in the men's 20-minute timed event on a rain-soaked course. Initially, Kabush and Carl Decker were the only ones to match Craig's pace before it quickly became a two-man competition between Craig and the defending overall series champion.

In search of his first NORBA short track win and up against a formidable opponent, Craig made his move on the final half lap and attacked Kabush on a slippery descent and opened up a slight lead which he managed to hold for the remainder of the race.

In the women's short track, Kerry Barnholt was the aggressor for most of the race as a five-woman selection also included fellow Subaru-Gary Fisher rider Willow Koerber and Luna riders Alison Dunlap , Hanusova and Vanlandingham.

Koerber and Dunlap fell off the pace and left a familiar two-on-one situation in favor of the Luna squad. After staying aggressive and on the front of the lead group for the final laps, Barnholt was attacked first by Hanusova who opened up a slight gap in the closing half lap before Vanlandingham also slipped past on the course's penultimate incline.

The 1-2 finish by Vanlandingham and Hanusova capped off a phenomenal weekend for the endurance riders on the Luna team that also saw Dunlap capture the cross country race on Saturday.

The Luna team's gravity counterpart also closed out the NORBA National series with success as Kathy Pruitt added an overall downhill title to her win in Saturday's dual slalom.

Entering with just a 19-point lead in the overall standings ahead of Bernardita Pizarro Lazo of Chile, Pruitt was in position to claim a series title having only to stay within a couple of places of Lazo in the series finale.

On Sunday, Lazo descended to a win in the women's downhill, clocking a time of five minutes, 10.6 seconds to claim the win, but a second place finish by Pruitt locked up the series title with a slim eight-point margin.

In the men's downhill, Americans Duncan Riffle and Cody Warren pulled a one-two punch to take the top two spots, but third-place finisher Jared Graves clinched the overall series title to go with his mountain cross title.

Riffle clocked a time of 4:28.5 to post the fastest mark by a second and a half over Warren's 4:30.0.

Mount Snow marks the end of the 2005 Shimano NORBA National Mountain Bike Series but the off-road season continues with a handful of major events. On Wednesday, the U.S. National Team will begin the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Livingo, Italy before Mammoth Mountain, Calif. hosts the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships September 15-18.

Pro Women's Short Track

1. Shonny Vanlandingham
2. Katerina Hanusova
3. Kerry Barnholt
4. Alison Dunlap
5. Willow Koerber

Pro Men's Short Track

1. Adam Craig
2. Geoff Kabush
3. Carl Decker

4. Trent Lowe
5. Peter Wedge

Pro Women's Downhill

1. Bernardita Pizarro Lazo
2. Kathy Pruitt
3. Dawn Borque
4. April Lawyer
5. Joanna Peterson

Pro Men's Downhill

1. Duncan Riffle
2. Cody Warren
3. Jared Graves
4. Andrew Neethling
5. Joel Panozzo

2005 NORBA National Mountain Bike Series Overall Champions

Pro Women's Cross Country - Shonny Vanlandingham
Pro Men's Cross Country - Geoff Kabush (Can)

Pro Women's Short Track - Katerina Hanusova (Cze)
Pro Men's Short Track - Geoff Kabush (Can)

Pro Women's Mountain Cross - Katrina Miller (Aus)
Pro Men's Mountain Cross - Jared Graves (Aus)

Pro Women's Downhill - Kathy Pruitt
Pro Men's Downhill - Jared Graves (Aus)

Pro Men's Super D - Mike West
Pro Women's Super D - Jennifer Whalen

Pro Men's Marathon - Chris Eatough
Open Women's Marathon - Monique Sawicki