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ProGRT Plattekill Report and Photos

ROXBURY, New York (derailedonline.com) - Plattekill was host to the second round of the USA Cycling ProGRT. Practice started on Friday under dry conditions - rare for Plattekill. Most of the professional teams arrived Thursday and caught a few rides as they set up in their pits. Courses were all taped off early Friday morning by a host of volunteers in preparation for the weekend.

Saturday rolled around with the pits filling up and more people arriving for the days practice. The Elite/Cat1 course was being talked about all day with high accolades. A few injuries were reported during practice, with one severely separated shoulder from local Geoff Ulmer. Saturday afternoon was filled with some impromptu activities and some organized friendly competitions.

Spooky bikes with assitance from Dieter Ward (previous Gravity East Series directory) and the Fox Suspension technition (Scott Nelson) organized an old school slalom race made of some poles and lines rutted in by Nelson's dirt bike. Everyone was given a single run, timed to the bottom by hand through the DH finish line. Good fun was had by all with winner take all. Spooky sponsored racer Will Collin took the win.

Immediately following the slalom out on the slope, the area in front of the lift was marked off for a friendly competition of footdown. NEMA and Mad March Racing (MMR) sponsored some friendly rounds of competition in the powder circle. For those that may have not know what footdown is, it's a game of throwing everyone into a circle on your bike and trying to stay on your pedals with no dabs. You dab you are out and no the only real rule is you can't use your hands to physically push someone over. Origins of the game are not really known; however, it has been played for years in BMX and also a favorite among fixies.

NEMA and MMR donated a pile of prizes for the event the footdown competition. Over half a dozen rounds of footdown were played. So many prizes were available that it turned into a product toss at the end of the event.

Rain early Sunday morning had some wondering what the day would bring. Amateur classes had practice starting at 7:00am in the morning. That early in the morning the trails were wet and slippery. But by the time practice started for Elite/Cat1 the ground was tacking up well. Dust was down, rocks were dry, and traction had increased - ideal conditions for racing. The professional teams were some of the fastest people on the mountain during practice. Bumping elbows with the pro teams, was the now New York resident and former UCI World Champion (from 1993 - Do the math!) Jürgen Beneke.

Time for qualifying, conditions could be no better. JrX and Elite line up at the top to set the pace for their class. All the top competitors look extremely fast, impossible to tell who would come on top from just watching a single spot on the course. Pressure was surely being felt by all. Competitors were pushing the limit even in one of the hardest parts of the course. Racers came up on the steep drops in the course, some dabbled but still pulled of huge drops, sometimes much to the degradation of their equipments. Bikes where being slammed, suspension bottomed, cranks ground, and pedals slammed into rocks. Enjoy the photos...

Qualifying ended. Bryn Atkinson had the top seat with Andrew Neethling nipping at his heals. Tracey Mosley qualified with a comfortable lead over Melissa Buhl.

The finals. With qualifying times being so close in the top five of Elite men, stress was at a high among the competitors. A single mistake, with split second differences, could mean podium position. Spectators were the most that Plattekill has seen in a long time - great for the competitors. Atkinson, qualifying first, was the last man down in the Elite class. Atkinson crossed the finish line to only grab second place. Andrew Neethling was the victor for the day. A long fought time since Needles has seen the top of the podium. Justin Leov got a respectable third place finish behind Needles and Atkinson. After Leov, Duncan Riffle took fourth place. Kiwi Kieran Benneditt grabbed fifth place. Tracey Mosley repeated her performance in qualifying securing her win by a comfortable margin. Following Mosley was Melissa Buhl for second and Jill Kintner grabbed her a third place podium spot. A great day for Trek World Racing taking both podiums.

The full results can be download here in PDF.

How about some more photos? We have plenty to staisfy. View the ProGRT photo galleries.

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Posted on May 31, 2010 21:00:53 -0400 by Brady.

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