Sam Schultz descends the "Pro Only" downhill in Fontana
The 2010 Triple Crown All Mountain Series includes:
Bonelli Park - San Dimas, California March 13-14
Chalk Creek Stampede - Nathrop, Colorado May 15-16
Massanutten Hoo-Ha - Massanutten Resort, Virginia June 19-20
"We wanted to take into consideration all major UCI events and dates before we released the Triple Crown schedule. After reviewing the Pro XCT calendar which was released on USA Cycling’s website two weeks ago, we felt we have made the public wait long enough for this announcement, comments US Cup Chairman Scott Tedro. “The US Cup has also, as a show of support for the pro riders that are chasing Olympic birth, tentatively agreed to do our part by hosting a UCI category 1 inscripted Pro XCT event at Fontana on March 27-28th, and feel good that we have established this series with minimal impact and overlap of existing events” adds Tedro. “The whole concept of the Triple Crown event is in conjunction with our partner promoters, incorporate 3 top tier venues and offer Pro riders a substantial amount of prize money over $35,000 in cash payouts, not just the top 3 pro riders, but to the top 10, while still making it logistically possible to incorporate it with their existing race schedule”.
“We couldn’t be more excited to work with the great folks at the mountain states cup and Massanutten venues. In our opinion they are some of the top promoters in the country and already have established themselves with the racers and cycling community”, adds Ty Kady US Cup marketing director. “Chris Conroy, Keith and Sarah at MSC have been very receptive of our concept, and of course George Willetts of Massanutten has been running the Hoo-Ha for the last 20+ years and is all over the idea.”
Overhead shots of majestic Massnautten Resort in Virginia
“The Triple Crown All Mountain series will test the rider’s ability in multiple disciplines to declare the Triple Crown All Mountain winner. We have decided to make this series more appealing to the riders, sponsors and media by incorporating Cross Country, Super D and Short Track into the series concept”, continues Kady. “A rider’s best 2 of 3 events will be calculated to crown a winner at each race and ultimately the overall series Champion.”
We are also going to be paying 10 deep in each discipline, plus offer US Cup bonus bucks to the top 10 male and female finishers at each individual event given certain field numbers are met. Then as an added bonus any rider male or female that can sweep all three rounds of the Triple Crown will put an extra $2K in their pocket. This could be a huge pay day for the riders!
“This couldn’t be possible without all the US Cup supporters. Companies like H2O Overdrive, Specialized, Kenda, KMC Chains, GU, John Wayne Cancer foundation and others have all really stepped up their support of US Cup events for 2010”, adds Ty Kady.
In addition the US Cup will continue with its network of Kenda Cup’s, that act as local and regional qualifiers. The Kenda Cup’s feature over 15 locations across the US, from Ashland Oregon to French Lick Indiana. The US Cup Invitational shootout will be on September 11-12, The US Cup will also manage a high level west coast based series that incorporates the Triple Crown opener, Pro XCT race and other California favorite venues.
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U-23 Mountain Bike National Champion Amy Dombroski recently announced she has signed a contract to race on the Luna Women's MTB Race Team in 2010. As reported on MTBR.com, Dombroski has been one of this season's most successful racers after having won National titles in mountain biking, cyclocross, and road cycling.
The petite rider, who lives in Boulder, Colorado, has signed with the most successful mountain bike racing team in the United States. The Luna team is stacked with the biggest names in U.S. mountain bike racing including Georgia Gould, Katerina Nash, and Catharine Pendrel,
It's reported that Dombroski will be focusing on National level cross country events, a handful of world caliber, and a full cyclocross schedule. She may hit some local mountain bike classics like the Iceman Cometh and Breck-Epic stage race.
Robbie Squire has a great future in cycling
At the same time it seems mountain biking may be losing one of it's most promising prospects as US National Team rider and the top American finisher at U-23 World Championships Robbie Squire recently announced he will be racing with the Garmin U-23 Road Team in 2010.
Squire competed in a few road races in 2009 while in Europe with the U-23 mountain bike team and has been recruited by the highly successful Garmin squad for the upcoming season. It is unclear if Squire will compete on the dirt in 2010.
At just 19 years of age, Squire has made a larger impact on the national mountain bike scene than anyone his age has done for years. After winning the Junior National Champion title in 2008, Robbie raced with the U-23 national team in 2009 where he had great success by taking second at the National Championships and had multiple top-20 finishes on the Pro XC Tour.
Squire was a contributer to MTBracenews throughout his fantastic 2009 season and you can read his weekly "Robbie Reports" here.
