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griffiths Racing - US Open Race report |
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Tuesday, 27 May 2008 |
The 2008 US Open was a great
success for Griffiths Racing and the Norco World Team. With two 1st
place finishes in both the DH and the Slalom events Fionn was stoked
on her weekends racing.
DH practice on the Friday went well although conditions were extremely
un- predictable. “with the track as rough and rocky as it is here
at Diablo Freeride park, the conditions in practice were unforgivable,
just finding yourself slightly off line in the wet rocks will more than
likely end in tears or at least with a quick nature appreciation visit
to a near buy tree.”
Fionn escaped a fairly big crash on the wet rocks without major injury,
just a couple of bumps and bruises to show for her efforts.
Friday afternoon slalom qualification went as well as it could. Fionn
had good runs on both courses and took the qualification win convincingly.
The 2nd place Kathy Pruitt and 3rd place Joanna
Petterson were both riding well. It was a milestone in events for the
crew here at Diablo Mountain with their first Dual Slalom event being
held here this weekend.
Saturday was literally a whole new day, with Blue skies and a constant
breeze both tracks were drying up quickly. DH qualification went off
without a hitch, and made for some close racing. With a time of 3.13,
Kathy Pruitt nudged Fionn out at the line by 1/10th of a
second for the lead and less than a second from that was the South African
Joanna Petterson in 3rd.
Slalom Finals got underway fairly late in the evening, with the sun
setting it was becoming more and more difficult to see but racing was
tough fought to the line every time. In the semi finals Fionn met Katie
Holden the 4th place qualifier and easily advanced to the
finals where she met Kathy Pruitt. Both Kathy and Fionn charged out
of the gate in hopes of opening a time margin which Pruitt did taking
the win in the first run. Even with Kathy’s time margin it would not
be enough to hold off a frustrated Griffiths in the second. The end
result would turn out to be the same as qualification.
Slalom
1st Fionn Griffiths
2nd Kathy Pruitt
3rd Joanna Petterson
Sundays Downhill event took place in front of large crowds lining the
rock sections of the track and the lower portion of the mountain. With
the Pro’s racing for the top prize of $5000 everyone looked slightly
nervous.
“ I was all good at the start, got focused and went for it out the
gate but in the second turn I noticed Jo walking back up the side of
the track, she had left the start house only one minute before me so
I thought it was kind of weird but carried on anyway. I got maybe another
45 ft before an official jumped into the track and stopped me.” After
having a re -start due to an accident on course it came down to who
could get their head back in the game. Joanna Petterson had a great
run beating the fastest qualifying time from the previous day in 3.12,
but it was not enough to hold off Fionn who followed with a time of
3.03. Fionn anxiously awaited the arrival of Kathy at the finish but
it was not to be Pruitt’s day as she rode in with a time of 3.06.
“The Norco was working really well for me on this rocky track today,
I loved every second of it. I just had fun riding my bike and the rest
came together for me.“
DH
1st Fionn Griffiths
2nd Kathy Pruitt
3rd Joanna Petterson
Next stop is Andora for round two of the World Cup tour.
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