Pro Grt #2 - Plattekill, NY

Pro Grt #2 is in the history books and Team Geronimo performed exceptionally well against some of the world's best! Stay tuned for more coverage this weekend from the US Open in Vernon, NJ.

Graeme Pitts
The Venue:
Such a pleasure to have arrived at Plattekill mountain in New York State. This resort is definitely legendary, and the antithesis of Gucci - it is a down-to-earth, family-friendly place that makes me want to come back every year. The riding is epic. This year the weather gods were kind and only deposited a sprinkling of moisture the night before the race. Kudos to JDD for a seamless event - the Pro GRTs this year are running like clockwork, turning heads and getting attention from the global racing community.



The Course:
The same course we ran for Jr. World Championships Qualifier '08. Rooty, tight in the trees with a couple of good-sized hucks thrown in for fun. Enough steepness to keep the WC guys happy and enough flat so that it wasn't going to be won on skill alone. I really enjoyed riding and racing the course because it's awesome, technical and requires a fun, playful riding style to be able to hit quickly and ride fast, and a lot of commitment for the hucks. I'm having a particularly great time riding this year with Team Geronimo team mates Michael and Brian Buell, and will be on our way in a few minutes to retrieve Australian team mate Cody Eichhorn, who will make his Team G debut this coming week at US Open.

Qualifying - Sunday morning:
First chance to ride the Plattekill course seriously on the clock. I had been doing timed practice runs throughout the week with the Epic helmet cams, and then JDD/Pro GRT was offering timed runs using their on-site timing system, but it was the first opp I had to run it under pressure since my '08 visit when I was trying to qualify for Jr. Worlds that year.



My qualifying run went smoothly - I went about 95% so that I could really test the course out and myself as well, but still save a little surprise for my competitors. During my run, I had one particular mishap, where I slip a little too far off trail and hit a very small tree with my rear wheel - I hit it so hard that I bent it over and it slapped me in the back of the head!!! Other than that, my run was a success - great fun, went fast and made myself happy. I qualified 16th, so it was going to be a long wait until my start time.

Race Run - Sunday afternoon:
I knew I wanted to really put some power down, because I had seen some other guys get crazy out of the start gate, so I gave it what I had. Had a really solid run with a couple of exciting moments - one where I ever-so-slightly clipped a tree with my handle bar, and another where I flew farther off the snaggle-tooth jump than I had in practice. So I gave it a hard sprint for the finish, and was truly happy with how my run went. Looking at the list of riders who were ahead of me on the results sheet, looks like I've made an improvement in my riding over last year.

Brian Buell
The sun had been shining on Plattekill Mountain all week; the trails were dry and fast. My past experiences at this mountain had been all riding in the wet - this experience proved beneficial as the rain hit race day eve making for an interesting morning of practice. The sun would, however, make an appearance, drying out the track and creating near perfect conditions. After three solid days of practice, my lines had been altered for my qualifying due to a few slick spots on the track. I approached my qualifying run with a conservative mindset as I was not 100% sure of my lines. The slick conditions got into my head a bit after I almost dumped it high on the track - on the brakes a bit, I ended up qualifying just inside top 30, lots of time to improve on the final. The day dragged on some as the final got close, I found myself trying to find things to do to keep my mind off of the race. The juniors made their way down the mountain and I was on my way up to the top. Once up at the start, I got my heart rate up and as the clock hit zero I was out of the gate, ready to attack untill... I clipped a tree on my handlebar not more then 10 seconds into the run. I cought a pedal and was unable to hit the jump. This was the beginning of the end for me and my run. I knew that my hopes for a top 10 result were dashed, but I rode as hard as I could and salvaged a sub-3 minute run, putting me into 26th position in a stacked field. It was a great weekend of riding and it was great to ride and train with the juniors. Time for a little redemption at the US Open at Mountain Creek, NJ!



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When the weekend came to a close, Juniors Teddy Benge and Alec Toney had made the team proud. Teddy qualified 2nd, tasting the possibility of capturing the automatic nomination for Junior Worlds. It was not in the cards, however. Riding so fast that he caught a lot of people's attention, he suffered an OTB (over the bars) and still clocked a reputable time, but not the nomination. Alec qualified 4th in a field of some outstanding juniors.



When the race was over, Graeme Pitts tied for 15th place, with a list of World Cup luminaries besting him - still a result of which the team is very satisfied!