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Team Photo Scrapbook 08
2008 Intermountain Cup Mountain Bike Racing Series

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Sundance Spin!  Sundance Resort, North Fork of Provo Canyon  - May 31, 2008
Sundance was very close to the perfect race day. Temperatures were not too cold in the morning, yet still pleasantly cool at mid-day. The trail had enough moisture to keep down the dust and provide great traction in the downhill turns. Our legs may have been hammered from Wednesday's Draper race, but the UMB faithful came to do battle. And it was an outstanding effort!
Darren Stirland, Derek Ransom, Brian Beck, and Joshua Peterson scored first-place wins. Second-place finishers were Jared Muir, Shane Horton, Jim Jackson, Justin Griffin, Jay Griffin, Kendra Clark, and Todd Neumarker. In this race, we edged Mad Dog for the team victory. And we scored enough points to take back the season lead from Revolution.
Category 9-and-under:

Left:  Joshua Peterson edges hard into a corner
as he gets yet another 1st place in his
first race of the day (see below).

Right:  Shawn Nielsen makes a good
sprint to keep ahead of the competition
on the way to a 3rd place finish. 

Left:  Mandy Clark stands to head uphill
on the grass of Sundance and gets
the ribbon with 6th place. 

Right:  A future champion, s ix-year old Sydney
 Nielsen pedals the 9-and-under course with dad
Ryan running alongside. Sydney finished in 13th
place. Next week, she'll be in uniform as an official
team member.

Category 10-12:

Zachary Peterson pedals along the
Boneyard Trail for another great
finish at 4th place.

After taking 1st in 9-and-under, Joshua
Peterson heads to the singletrack and
gets 7th place in the 10-12 category

Brayden Nielsen takes 10th place in
10-12, then heads up to the main race
loop to race the big guys (see below).

Beginner Women:
Left:  In her first race on a mountain bike,
Marsha Sparks joins husband Jason on
the UMB team. Marsha cranks around the
loop to take 5th place in Beginner Women.

Right:  Pre-race hydration at team HQ.

Beginner 13-15:

Left:  Having already raced in the 10-12
category, Brayden Nielsen powers across the
ski slope, racing against the 13-15 age group. 
A final climb up the pavement to close
the 7.6-mile loop, and Brayden has a nice
3rd place finish.

Right:  Ryan Allred repairs a tire to get
another UMB racer ready for the mountain.

Beginner 16-18:

Left:  In his first race with the team, Jared Muir
delivers big with a 2nd place finish. Welcome to
the team, Jared!

Right:  Waiting for the race to start. Some are
warming up, others are hanging out, and others
are making last-minute tweaks to the bike.

Two days before this race, Dylan Tanner (one of our Beginner 16-18 racers) crashed while jumping his bike at Sundance. Dylan broke 5 ribs and punctured his lung. (He should have stuck to pre-riding.) He should be fine, but it looks like he'll miss the rest of the season.
Beginner 19-29:
Left:  Darren Stirland sets the tires and nails
a hard turn as he rides to another 1st place 
win. That's three #1's in a row for Darren.

Right:  Andrew Youngkin powers around
a turn in the aspens and grabs the 4th place
spot. It's a long way from St George for this
dedicated racer.

Beginner 30-39:

 

Derek Ransom fires through the Boneyard
and gets the 1st place finish. Derek's
planning to move up to Sport next week.

Shane Horton sprints across the meadow
under the ski lift. Shane chases Derek
over the line to get 2nd place. 

Brandon Knotts shows his high-speed
turning technique as he rockets toward
the 3rd place spot on the podium.

Dale Hutchings takes air off a bump in
the trees and nails 6th place.

Evan Christensen is back for his first race
this year, grabbing a 7th-place finish.

Ryan Nielsen  cranks out into the meadow
 to round out a great UMB showing at 8th.
Beginner 40-plus:

Brian Beck tips into a tight turn and
speeds to 1st place in his 2nd race.

Jim Jackson flies downhill in the shade
of the firs and takes 2nd  place.

Jason Sparks hits the back half of
the loop, flying downhill to 5th place.

Scott Van Wagoner is carving a hard
turn on his way to 6th place.

Brandon Balkman heads down the hill
and nails 7th place.

Dominic Bria pedals through the trees
to 9th place in this category.
Sport/Expert 13-15:
Left:  Justin Griffin fights to stay ahead
of his competition in Sport-Expert and gets
the 2nd place podium.

Right:  Brian does a little magic with the grill.

Sport/Expert 16-18:
Left:  Danny Van Wagoner cranks out a
little more downhill speed as he hustles
to 4th place.

Right:  In the UMB jerseys, Mandy, Joshua,
and Shawn celebrate their ribbons.

Sport Women:
Left:  Catherine Reay pedals against the
strong Sport Women category and gets
the ribbon and team points at 6th place.

Right:  Liking the odds for UMB. In the BM
30-39 race, our team racers grabbed 6 of the
top 8 spots. They also swept the podium by
taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Way to dominate
the mountain, guys!

Sport Men 19-29:
Left:  Ryan Van Wagoner gets a team point
with UMB's best finish in this tough category
at 7th place.

Right:  Eric Ellis whips the bike around a turn
on the ski slope on the way to 11th place.

Left:  Stephen Brown hits a turn on the first
downhill of the race loop and rides to the 12th
position.

Right:  After experiencing total-body-failure near
 the top of his first lap, Ben Hutchings gets back in
the race and finishes at 13th.

Sport Men 30-34:
     We had no riders in this category at Sundance.

Sport Men 35-39:

Left:  Darren Harris gets a little downhill rest in
the trees as he fights to 10th place in this fast and
tough category.

Right:  Dan Broadbent is a blurred rocket as he
launches out of the trees. Dan grabs 11th place.

Sport Men 40-plus:

Left:  Jay Griffin gives his usual all-out effort
and gets another bow on the podium at 2nd place.

Right:  Lots of beautiful singletrack, then the race
ends with a sprint up pavement. Brian
hits the finish line as Ed calls the action.

Expert Men 30-39:

Left:  The EM 30-39 category features the fastest
racers who aren't professionals. Todd Neumarker 
shows what's possible if you work hard enough
as he gets 2nd place.

Right:  Mike Engberson takes some air on the downhill
as he gets 20th in the finishing order.

Women 35-plus:

Kendra Clark keeps getting faster as
she holds off Jolene to nail 2nd place.

Jolene Nosack makes her usual strong
showing to make podium at 3rd place.

Sally Hutchings speeds down the hill
toward a 7th place finish.
Men 50-plus:
Left:  John Van Wagoner cranks through the
Douglas Fir trees on the Boneyard, taking the
9th place spot in the Men 50-plus Open
category.

Right:  Cat and dog.

Men 57-plus:
Left:  Bruce Argyle tips into a turn near the
bottom of the hill. Two big laps for the over-57
group, same as the Sport riders. Bruce chases
three Mad Dogs across the finish line to come
in at 4th place.

Right:  Kendra and Jolene grab 2/3 of the Women
35-plus podium. Our tough ladies are scoring well
in every race.

We scored 108 points in this contest. Young team members Brayden Nielsen and Joshua Peterson raced twice -- each scoring team points in a tougher category. These two riders gave us the 6 points that was our margin of victory over Mad Dog. Way to go, guys!

Left:   Marsha and Jason hang in the shade as they wait for the awards to start.

More race photos are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/utahmb/Sundance
Clydesdale:   Singlespeed:  Expert Men 19-29:  Expert Men 40-plus:  Expert Women:  Pro:
           The UMB race team had no riders in these categories at this race.
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