5-8-07 // Online Exclusive: 2007 NMBS #3 in Fontana, California

Geoff Kabush leads out the men's XC field

Although the neighboring suburbs, debris piles and graffiti don’t exactly scream out “mountain bike race” the third stop of the NMBS series at Southridge Park in Fontana, California always has a healthy dose of racing action and excitement. Moreover, the Fontana event is the first stop of the ‘07 NMBS to include gravity events as well as cross-country races. Since it’s located only about 45 minutes from Los Angeles or Orange County, it’s very accessible for anyone living in Southern California. We spent the weekend in Fontana, watching all the racing unfold, talking to the people, and shooting a bunch of photos. If you missed the event here are the top–ten professional results and a brief description of what went down. A gallery of photos for all of these races can be found HERE. For all other Fontana results go HERE.

Cross Country
Geoff Kabush and Georgia Gould have both won the cross-country events at the Nova Classic NMBS, Sea Otter Classic and Santa Ynez NMBS races so it should be no surprise that they maintained their dominating ways to win the XC in Fontana. Gould ran away from the field from the get go in the women’s race leading from the very beginning and was only challenged by her Luna teammate Katerina Nash. Nash fought to hang onto her teammate’s wheel, but in the end yielded nearly three minutes to the hard charging National Champion.

Kabush didn’t run away from the field in nearly the same fashion. Geoff appeared to be faltering on the climbs, but managed to just hold onto the back of the lead pack consisting of Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Ryan Trebon, Todd Wells and Barry Wicks—who mounted a stunning early solo attack on the first lap. Smart tactics—letting the other riders pull the pack, allowed Geoff to reserve some energy for the final sprint and take the win at the end of the last lap.

Women
1.Georgia Gould (Luna), 1:44:29
2.Katerina Nash (Luna), 1:47:10
3.Willow Koerber (Subaru-Gary Fisher), 1:48:23
4.Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna), 1:48:52
5.Susan Haywood (Trek-VW), 1:49:20
6.Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain), 1:50:34
7.Catherine Pendrel (Norco), 1:50:57
8.Jamie Whitmore (Cannondale), 1:51:27
9.Wendy Simms (Kona), 1:52:15
10.Heather Irmiger (Gary Fisher-Subaru), 1:52:51

Men
1.Geoff Kabush (Maxxis), 2:02:40
2.Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Gary Fisher-Subaru) 2:02:49
3.Ryan Trebon (Kona), 2:03:04
4.Todd Wells (GT), 2:03:13
5.Barry Wicks (Kona), 2:04:48
6.Adam Craig (Giant), 2:06:09
7.Kris Sneddon (Kona), 2:06:31
8.Max Plaxton (Rocky Mountain), 2:06:58
9.Jeremiah Bishop (Trek-VW), 2:07:10
10.Alan Obye (Jamis), 2:08:51