2016 KMC Chain Winter Series, Race #5: Finale

David MacNeill (Sport Men 30-39) found the sweet line around this turn.

Jeff Jacobson (Expert Men 50-59), 2nd today, but 1st overall for the series.

Nic Beechan (Pro Men) pulling some serious Gs around the first turn on the downhill side of the mountain - 1st place today, and 1st place overall in the series.

Pun fun: Ivie Crawford chose to Jet around the dirt and rock on this fine Saturday morning, rather than the pavement.

And, for your viewing pleasure, a little air time from the downhill crowd.

Champions of the 2016 KMC Chain Winter Series were declared on a grey Satrurday, just past noon, at Southridge USA. Often during the coronation ceremonies a single racer surmounted the podium steps, and for at least one race not a single racer was present to claim their trophy; I only saw one podium filled to capacity, that for the Expert Men 50-59. Som of the missing may have been preparing for the Enduro (or Super D) race, but by my quick calculations the numers of riders in the cross country (XC) event were less than half what they were at the beginning of the series.

Was it the Saturday morning cartoons? Was it the warm bed and grey morning sky? Well, realistically, probably not. More likely conflicting schedules with the first round of the Kenda Cup West played the greater part; in some other cases the champions may have already been determined, even with double points on the line, well before anyone took the to the start on this final day of action. But what about all those other placings, 2nd through 5th, all those trophies uncollected? The gaps between racers passing by became so great at times that I, almost, ended up with more photos of flowers and rocks than speeding wheels.

Well, at least the bees had much to keep their time occupied.

Of course lack of numbers don't necessarily equate to lack of action. There was still plenty of racing taking place, and it was actually pretty amazing to see just how quickly Pro champion Nic Beechan could get around the course on each lap; he passed by my spot four times, and with a finishing time of 1:11:00.38, it works out to less than twenty minutes per lap. Is that even possible? Or were three laps official, and the fourth just done for the heck of it, extra training?

Anyway, the 2016 Series champions:
Pro Men: Nic Beechan
Veteran Pro: Michael Hansen
Expert Men U18: Brian Kennedy
Expert Men 40-49: Brian Rails
Expert Men 50-59: Jeff Jacobson
Expert Men 60+: Jonathan Livesay
Open Women: Micah Mason
Sport Men U18: Cody Conde
Sport Men 19-29: Scott Lillis
Sport Men 30-39: Ryan Rebick
Sport Men 40-49: Scot Moga
Sport Men 50-59: Gary Scheidler
Sport Men 60+: Rich Fersch
Sport Women 35+: Isabelle Thompson
Beginner Men 9-10: Mason Kroepel
Beginner Men 11-12: Raulito Gutierrez
Beginner Men 16-18: Kevin Trystad
Beginner Men 30-39: Eder Estrada
Beginner Men 40-49: James Conway
Beginner Women U18: Shelby Kawell
Beginner Women U34: Dixie Owen
Over 200 Club: Paul Shank
Expert Men 65+: John Clemmitt

Here is your link to the Flickr photo album, which includes some XC and some DH. Even though the Winter Series is now a wrap, the racing season has still just begun. See you out there.