The Sea Otter Classic!

The Sea Otter Classic is a lot like Christmas. There is a lot of hype before it gets here, lots of fun while it is here and once it is gone, it's gone. All the manufacturers' show off their latest creations, most of the world cup pro racers are in town for the traditional kick-off to the season (not the case this year because the first world cup was the weekend before) and there is just a smile on everyone's face. This year the weather was warm, very warm! Very little wind and temperatures reaching the 90's both Friday and Saturday made it one of the best Sea Otter's ever!

Point One Racing partnered up with Fuel Energy drink and Stone Racing (thanks guys!) to show off their products, along with something new and very special. A lot of hype surrounding these beauties:

Thanks to Jason @ Sicklines for the photo. Details to follow.

Alex Amaral had a lot of momentum coming into Sea Otter, winning three CCCX races, he was definately a podium favorite! Pulling double-duty, he made it to the 2nd round in slalom, but was beat after a small mistake, and a 6th place in DH, barely off the box!

Rick Rasmussen photo.

Graeme Pitts and Evan Turpen are both racing on the same team this year, but that did not keep them from both looking very fast. Graeme is just coming off of a broken arm, but was still able to race. Evan pulled a 2:14.77 and Graeme with a 2:20.73, awesome!


Katie Holden got her new stems and bikes built up just shortly before Sea Otter and was already ripping on them. She pulled an awesome 8th place in Pro Women with a time of 2:35.60, way to go Katie!


Co-founder Scott Orehek was back for another race! He practiced so hard that is fork blew out and had to borrow a bike and still had a great finish in the expert class!

Rick Rasmussen photo.

Chris Lauber had a nasty fall during practice, however that did not keep him from racing, however a couple mistakes in his race fun did keep him off the box, but it did not keep him from throwing style off the hip jump.

Rick Rasmussen photo.

Founder Jimmy Amaral focused only on DH this year. With a lot of training at the CCCX races, he was sure to have a strong finish! A couple small bobbles in his race knocked him down 20-30 spots than where he would have finished. However 79th of 140 is still a terrific finish considering all the talent that comes to Sea Otter.


Jordan Lopez also had a few bobbles and a crash on one of the jumps, he got back on the bike and charged hard, still managed to beat 40 other pros even with the crash.


Full results at SeaOtterClassic.com

Special thanks to everyone for helping, photographers, all our racers, and fans! We will see you next year.