CCCX DH #4

After torrential rains forced the cancellation of the original race #4, last weekend inevitably took it's spot. With sunny skies and mid 60 degree temperatures, it became the totally opposite of what was to be race #4 back in December. Running a similar course to race #2, riders were extremely excited with the tacky dirt, berms and jumps. It made for some very exciting and tight racing. With positions determined by hundredths of a second, even the slightest bike modifications would make a difference. Several top contenders in their class made their debut after coming off of injury. Everyone seemed to be in good spirit with the final race looming at the end of the month.

Enjoy a short video re-cap...


Mike Amaral was one of those injured riders. Have done a lot of training over the Holiday break, he was race ready and pulled a podium, seconds off of 1st place.


Ian Massey shown hitting one of the doubles toward the bottom of the course. He narrowly lost by only 0.04 seconds over WTB rider Ben Cruz, it will take you longer to blink your eyes!


Co-founder Scott Orehek made this his first race of the series. Having to ride his little bike on a more of a bigger bike course, he was a bit off the back but still finished strong!


Chris Lauber also rode his small bike, having said he wished he had more travel for some of the rough sections, he still had a fast time and finished in the top 10.


Nathan Podshadley made his series debut while on Winter break from college.


Allen Stoddard also coming off of a broken wrist, raced on a borrowed bike, but unfortunately ended up behind the main pack of pro riders. As his fitness improves, be on the look out once he hits the world cups.


Founder Jimmy Amaral took his brand new Intense 951 and showed just how fast you can go on it. Finishing 5th in pro and just hundreths away from 4th place. Points are starting to tighten up, it will be an all out battle between him, Ian and Alex at the finals.


Jimmy's younger brother, Alex Amaral, is finally starting to show how much it pays off to try and chase your older brother down after all these years. An impressive 3rd place in pro!


Patrick Tidd and the whole family made the trip down from Lake Shasta to race this fun course. Patrick, in typical fashion, won the expert 45+ class, while his daughter Ruby, missed winning her class by less than a second!


Co-founder Tim Lukko had a couple mistakes on the way down and ended up missing the box by a few seconds. A win at the finals will need to be what it takes for an overall title.


Special thanks to Rick Rasmussen for the photos.

Full results can be found here. Stay tuned for the finals January 31st!