On any given day, the Central Coast is riddled with mountain bike riders. They travel up and down the trails in both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties—though not so much in Santa Maria. These are mountain bikers after all, and, well, they don’t call it the Santa Maria Valley for nothing.
Still, the bike culture seeps in, and the result is a lot of good riders who call the Central Coast home. Some of those riders got a chance to prove that they’re among the best at the open qualifiers of the Jeep 48STRAIGHT Dual Slalom event on Oct. 24 at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. It was the first time an open qualifier was held at the race.
The open qualifiers were followed the next day by the main event, the last stop in the 48STRAIGHT Mountain Bike series. There were some local riders in the qualifiers, including Daniel Cortina, Dale Cushman, and Duncan Riffle of Santa Barbara, as well as more than a few riders from San Luis Obispo.
The race was Cortina’s first as a pro rider. He’s been racing semi-pro up till now, traveling all over the West Coast to get experience in slalom races. He found out about the Jeep open qualifiers on a bike website.
“It’s a great opportunity for me to race against some of the racers I’ll be racing against next year,” he said.
Cortina and his fellow riders from Santa Barbara ultimately weren’t among the top 12 men and six women who advanced to the finals on Nov. 25.
But they shouldn’t feel too bad. The winner of that open qualifier was Brian Lopes, past world champion and member of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. He’s also about to be inducted into the BMX Hall of Fame.
“I felt really strong at practice on Friday and came in first in the qualifier, which gave me a lot of confidence heading into today’s race,” Lopes said in a press release.
Other qualifiers included Greg Minaar of South Africa and Kyle Strait from Costa Mesa, both very well known riders on the mountain biking circuit.
“There aren’t many slalom races that pay out,” said Jeff Kendall-Weed, a rider in the qualifier (and former Sun intern). “This one pays so well that people come from all over to compete.”
A purse of $100,000 was at stake, with $5,000 of the total going to the ultimate winner of the race: Lopes. Cash also went to the top finishers through 16th place. Bonuses and the keys to a new Jeep Cherokee went to series winners Eric Carter and Melissa Buhl.
Al Sommers, spokesperson for Jeep 48STRAIGHT, said it wasn’t surprising that a national star like Lopes won the open qualifiers. Sommers explained that race organizers expected local talent to compete, but also knew that the qualifiers would attract top pros.
“Open qualifying is a good thing for us and the sport and the local area where the race takes place,” Sommers said.
Last year, the Jeep race was open to invitees only, with a few spots for local riders given out by race organizers. This years, the spots were given out based on current world and national rankings, and then other riders were given the chance to compete by doing well in the qualifiers.
The qualifiers were only open to pro and semi-pro riders—those who’ve earned enough points through USA Cycling to be called such—but they did feature one surprise star: 19-year-old J.D. Swanguen of San Diego, a virtual unknown before the race.
“J.D. tore it up,” Kendall-Weed said.
Another open qualifier, Mike Haderer of Concord, Calif., pulled off the race’s biggest upset when he took down Cody Warren, a national champion, in the finals on Oct. 25. Overall, the qualifiers did inject some new talent into the event, Sommers said.
“Yeah, I think they did get some new blood in there,” Kendall-Weed said.
The Jeep race is televised, another reason why pros were attracted. Watch it on CBS Sports on Nov. 1.
Sports Editor Sarah E. Thien qualified as a semi-pro cool person. Contact her at sthien@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2008.
