Winter Series Final April 24th, 2005 Hoopa, CA

Scene Shots
"Yeah, it's pretty muddy out there, pretty slippery..." H. Matheson

Despite being the most rushed of all this winter's events, the afterthough DH final in Hoopa generated an amazing buzz.  Online voting selected an epic combination of two trails, the 801 and Red Tail.  As race day approached more and more talented riders RSVP'd, and with the points chase super tight, it was anyone guess who would claim the day and the overall honors.
Riders were greeted with blue skies as the arrived in Hoopa Sunday morning.  Weather forecasts had called for showers, but the posse collectively crossed their fingers and prayed that the clear skies would hold.  Casual practice runs began and participants were stoked on the new sections of single track, built by TRP, off of the 801 fire road.  Having had brief showers the day before the soil was moist, tacky, and breaking in perfectly as over thirty cyclist hit up the hill.  The course could be broken down into four sections; starting on the 801 riders descended on super fast fire road for about a minute where it was all about grabbing tall gears and getting tucked, then riders shot into wooded single track with moto flow requiring good rythm and serious commitment to diving into the deeply rutted corners, following this was a brief fire road transition and climb, cresting the climb put riders on top of the Red Tail a super fast trail consisting of every obstacle the DHer's heart desires.  With such divese terrain it was hard to tell what shape of rider would do well, the large guys were holding incredible speed on the open sections, smaller riders were shredding the tight off cambers, but it was clear that fitness woulld be important to clean the six minute run.
Had race organizer Justin Graves been running sign ups rather then doing practice runs the race may have started on time and during clear skies.  But as it played out the first race shuttle rolled up the hill as the heavens opened and dumped on Big Hill for a half hour, turning the trail into a puddled, slippery , slopfest.  Visibility was a huge factor, goggles would become caked with in seconds of ripping down the 801, so riders had to resort to rapid blinking to maintain somewhat clear vision.  In the first round the bar was set with fast times by race favorites Jared Delong and John Bonham with times of 6:03 and 6:02.  Much talk of foregoing the mandatory second run, as the format was two runs combined, circulated as muddied riders crossed the finish line.  But the enthusiasm of Justin Graves to get on the clock got the first shuttle loaded and headed back up the hill.  Unbeknownst to the would be leaders, a new fast time had slipped under everyones radar.  Lennon Jones had cleaned the course to put down an impressive 5:46, taking over the hot seat.
As riders arrived at the top of the course for tun two hopes were shattered as the crowd discovered a miscommunication had resulted in the start clock being reset.  After minutes of trying to raise the finish line by phone to re-synch the timing, an alternative plan was developed.  A second watch was donated and set with the start clock.  Sacrificing his shot at official glory that day Justin volunteered to run the watch to the bottom and set up for the following riders.  He shredded down course and had things arranged in plenty of time to catch Jed Olson crossing the line dudded up as a true pirate, complete with shredded pants, floppy white shirt, eyepatch, and sound effect sword.  As racers shot down the hill it was clear that times were falling as continued rain and traffic had torn up the course.  Sixth place finisher, and pirate overall leader, Jeremy Rollins gave a scare as he swapped toward the finish and nearly fell a tree at the line.  His wrist was sore, but nothing compared to the gapping hole he left in the stout timber.  Joe Joerger of Auburn consistently slid into fifth.  Local lad Robbie Rhall rode impressively well against a stacked field of adults to claim fourth , with a fast run of 6:22.  Battiling to the last were Delong and Bonham, seperated by only two seconds on their final run.  While Bonham had bested Jared by one second in the first round, Delong put two seconds on the Santa Cruz WTB rider to claim second position by one second over two runs.  Looking very impressive across the line was Lennon Jones, whose remarkable times went unnoticed until final calculations were made off the hill.  His second run of 6:03 gave him a decisive victory on what was unarguably the most demanding course of this years winter series.

Final Point Totals

Place	Rider	Run 1	Run 2	Total
1	Lennon Jones	5:46	6:03	11:49
2	Jared Delong	6:03	6:24	12:27
3	John Bonham	6:02	6:26	12:28
4	Robbie Rhall	6:22	6:43	13:05
5	Joe Joerger	6:51	6:44	13:35
6	Jeremy Rollins	6:46	6:50	13:36
7	Hank Matheson	6:42	7:14	13:56
8	Jed Olson	6:39	7:21	14:00
9	Joel Graves	6:45	7:55	14:40
10	Shady Shane	7:16	7:36	14:52
11	Aaron Memmer	7:40	7:42	15:22
12	Shawn Cole	7:03	8:29	15:32
13	Mark Mathews	7:44	8:53	16:37
14	Jason Reiman	8:03	8:35	16:38
15	Jake Todd	6:23	DNF
16	Matt Snyder	6:41	DNF
17	Jason Marciano	6:50	DNS
18	Eddie Kemper	7:39	DNS
19	Arik Mitschang	7:54	DNS
20	Justin Claassen	8:23	DNS
21	Dave Richmond	8:46	DNS
22	Curtis Lonn	9:18	DNS
23	Carol Hesselein	13:20	DNS
24	Martin Stebbins	DNF	DNS
25	Peter Geren	Dropped Time	DNS
26	Chad Mitchell	DNS	DNS
27	Daniel Arbuckle	DNS	DNS
28	Ken Gayodos	DNS	DNS
Unofficial*	Justin Graves	DNS	6:12

Clarification In Graves' Log