Youth and experience may be the most fitting descriptors to explain the separate paths Cody Warren of Alpine, Calif., and Kathy Pruitt of Santa Cruz, Calif., took in snaring titles at the first leg of the Jeep 48STRAIGHT Mountain Bike Series today at Diablo Freeride Park in Vernon, N.J.
It was the first Jeep mountain biking win for both athletes, including past Jeep King of the Mountain mountain-cross events and this inaugural Jeep 48STRAIGHT dual slalom event, earning the pair a $5,000 cash payout and valuable standings points toward the season championship, where a new 2008 Jeep Grande Cherokee awaits.
Warren, 22, needed a fast start, some fortuitous crashes and a strong finish to bring home the win, especially considering the match-ups he faced in each round of the competition. He began the day against U.S. National Champion Gerrit Beytagh of Fletcher, N.C., winning two straight runs before meeting Chris Van Dine of Park City, Utah, a rider with over 20 titles spanning all disciplines of mountain bike racing. Warren, himself a 2005 U.S. National Champion, swept both races and moved into the semi-finals, where he faced off against current National Mountain Bike Series leader, Petr Hanak of Winter Park, Colo. After dismissing Hanak in both races, he earned a spot in the Championship Heat against young standout J.D. Swanguen of San Diego. Swanguen, only 19 but coming off an impressive win at Crankworx in Whistler, B.C., won the first race of the finals, but in the last race of the afternoon, suffered a crash that opened the door for Warren to coast home with the victory.
“The biggest difference for me from last year to this year has been learning to save my strength, maintaining consistency in each round, and being careful not to push so hard that you get sloppy and crash,” said Warren, who last year finished just off the podium in fourth place at each of the three Jeep mountain bike races. “When I saw Brian Lopes go down early, I knew it was open for everyone in the field. This win is definitely among the best in my career, and I’m happy to be going home with some good money.”
One of the most shocking developments of the day was the crash that knocked Laguna Beach, Calif.’s, Lopes out of the event. The four-time World Champion and nine-time U.S. National Champion breezed by Open Qualifier and 16th seed Lars Tribus of Milford, N.J. in the first race, and it appeared to be just another warm-up round for the veteran. In the second race, however, Lopes took a spill off his bike that allowed Tribus to ease down the racecourse for the win, perhaps impacting the outcome of the entire day’s competition.
Pruitt’s advantage heading into the day was clearly experience, and the 10-year veteran and 2007 U.S. National Champion, used every ounce of it to earn the title. In the first race of the day, she matched up against three-time World Cup winner Fionn Griffiths of Great Britain and advanced with back-to-back wins. In the semi-finals against former U.S. Open Champion Lisa Myklak of Boulder, Colo., Pruitt won the first race but lost the second by a slight margin, moving into the finals thanks to the time differential advantage. There she faced prohibitive favorite Melissa Buhl of Chandler, Ariz., the reigning World Champion and U.S. National Champion who reached the Championship Heat having not lost a single race. Pruitt stormed to a win in a tight first race, and took advantage of a spill by Buhl in the second race to secure the victory.
“I didn’t come here with the intention of winning, but I’m really proud of myself for earning this title,” said Pruitt. “I’m really sorry that Melissa fell, but I’m glad I had a chance to go up against her in the final. We have all had our falls, and that’s the way it is sometimes. She is my buddy and my first reaction was to stop, but I reminded myself that there was $5,000 waiting for me at the bottom of the hill. This is my biggest achievement to date, and now I want to take this momentum to the World Cup circuit and see what I can do.”
Each event of the Jeep 48STRAIGHT summer season will receive national broadcast coverage on CBS Sports, representing the most visibility of any mountain biking event in the sport. The event at Mountain Creek will air on CBS Sports on September 28.
Jeep 48STRAIGHT now heads to The Canyons Resort in Park City, Utah, on September 19-20 for the second leg of the summer tour, with the season finale set for October 24-25 at The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
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