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Enduro Cup rides through Sun Valley

Image courtesy of Park City Soccer Club
Three Park City Soccer Club players will attend a regional Olympic Development Program camp in Idaho this week.

The SCOTT Enduro Cup presented by Vittoria hosted its third race of the season in beautiful Sun Valley, Idaho, in collaboration with the Ride Sun Valley Bike Festival. The two-day enduro stage race drew more than 250 athletes to the rolling mountains for bike racing, live music, a prologue race, good eats, an awards party, raffle and more. Results are in as Stan Jorgensen, 26, of Santa Barbara, California, and Joanna Petterson, 36, of Santa Cruz, California, claimed the fastest times overall for the men’s and women’s pro/open category.

Racers of varying ability level were organized into five categories for both men and women, including pro/open, expert, vet expert (35+), amateurs and juniors (13-18), giving first-time racers the opportunity to share the course with veteran competitors.

At the conclusion of day one, Mason Bond, 23, of Grass Valley, California, finished first in the men’s pro/open category, sitting at 29 minutes, 29.162 seconds. Lia Westermann, 17, of Salt Lake City, who has been a solid competitor at the Enduro Cup this season, landed in first place for women’s pro/open at 33:12.496.

Race day two was fast and rugged as riders charged down stage four and five on raw Sun Valley backcountry trail. A huge disappointment came for Bond, who held onto his positioning by taking first in stage four, but suffered mechanical issues on stage five, finishing the day in 13th place for the men’s pro/open.

SCOTT athlete Jorgensen, who has been fighting for the podium this season, stayed solid, moving from fifth place to first with an overall time of 47:59.991. Jubal Davis, 25, of Waverly, Ohio, who has been racing enduro for one year, used his Midwest motocross experience to move from sixth place into second with a final time of 48:00.004. Aaron Bradford, 31, of Auburn, Washington, finished the weekend with an overall time of 48:08.150.

“Going into today, the times between third and eighth place was only a few seconds, so [it] was really anyone’s race,” Jorgensen explained. “Aaron Bradford and Mason Bond had about a 30-second gap on everyone else so it was definitely a fight for third but somehow I managed to pull it all together and take the overall, so it is really awesome, feels good.

“All season I have been pretty close to the podium,” he continued. “I have had a few mechanicals and small, stupid crashes that have kept me off so this race, my main focus was to keep it smooth and finish without crashing so it feels good to have a smooth race and it goes to show, you keep it smooth and you end up on the box, it’s pretty awesome.”

Petterson, who is a former World Cup downhill racer took home first place at 55:05.108. Porsha Murdock, 24, of Bend, Oregon, who finished in second place at the Angel Fire stop, once again finished in second at 55:12.260. Westermann, who entered day two sitting in first place, finished in third at 55:29.384.

“I raced the resort day blind which I think a lot of people did,” Petterson said. “You know you’re going as hard as you can, going to the edge, and you have to be really careful not to push it too hard and even on the trails that are more physical, you can still overshoot turns, so the resort day was definitely challenging in that way.”

“The backcountry day was pretty dreamy,” she continued. “I am riding and just wishing I could live up there. The terrain was great. I thought it was challenging and technical, good transitions and high speed stages and the views were amazing. ”

New this year, the Vittoria Bolt awarded the fastest downhill time on stage one, day one. Teddy Hayden, 17, of San Rafael, California, blew everyone off the trail, finishing stage one at 03:14.521. Lia Westermann slid in at 03:43.922, beating women’s expert day one winner, Angelica Ramirez (03:43.959), 30, of Snowbird, by milliseconds. Westermann and Hayden were awarded $100 each by Vittoria. This award is featured at each 2016 race.

Podium finishers in the pro/open category shared prize money equally divided between men and women. The podium athletes in the expert, amateur and junior categories received gear from SCOTT Sports and Vittoria. All riders were entered into a raffle, with proceeds going to the Wood River Bike Coalition. Raffle prizes were provided by SCOTT Sports, Sony, Vittoria and Niner, Sturtevant’s and Bliz.

The SCOTT Enduro Cup presented by Vittoria will conclude the 2016 season at a new location, Deer Valley Resort in Park City, on Sunday, Aug. 28.


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