Team MotionBased

It was busy weekend for local Team Motionbased cyclists Dave Yakaitis, Shane Deal, Celia Graterol, and Olivier and Paula Bock. Starting on a warm and windy Friday morning, the Semi-pro riders Dave and Olivier competed in the XC National Championship race with about 50 other riders from around the country. They did 4 laps of difficult racing with attacks being made all day long, on a course which offered no shelter from the elements and little opportunity for recovery. In the end, both riders finished within the top 15, impressive results for the most competitive Norba XC event for the year. Shane, from New Zealand, was not eligible to compete in any of the National Championship Mtb races, but did register for the simultaneous Cougar Mountain Classic road racing events at the Infineon raceway. He competed on Friday morning as well, joining 24 Cat 5 men for a circuit race, which he considers merely training for his mountain bike racing goals. After launching for the final sprint just a little too early, he still finished with an admirable 5th place, then he arrived at the MB tent in the feed zone to support and cheer on Olivier and Dave for the remainder of their race. Saturday morning brought out more Team MB riders for mountain bike competition. Due to complicated and ever-changing qualification standards for the National Championships, Paula Bock was able to race the Expert XC unexpectedly. After cooking for 10 hours at work the night before and getting 4 1/2 hours of sleep, she lined up against 11 other women in her age group to race for 3 relentless laps in 2 hours and 10 min, then Olivier rushed her home to eat and rest before she went back to work for a Saturday night shift! Celia, was on site as well, with partner Sally and son Alejandro, competing in the DH and Super D Championships. She had her fastest run of the DH course during the finals which made her the National Champion for her category! The Super D race was Open women and she finished with a hot time of 8:01:86. Meanwhile, Dave couldn't get enough of the XC course and decided to race Single speed Saturday morning as well. He held on to a 4th place position for 2 out of 3 laps before getting a flat and having to DNF. Finally, on Sunday morning, Paula wanted to race the Short track in spite of the physical exhaustion endured in the days and nights before. 32 expert women lined up for 25+ minutes of the "hurricane of pain". The course was a combination of fast pavement, grass, mountaincross jumps, and human obstacles (spectator crossings). After starting fast but getting caught behind a crash she hung in there to finish 10th.     Way to go Team MB! All in all, it was a great weekend; check out this summary of our results: Celia Graterol, Sport 40+ DH: 1st Celia Graterol, Open Women 40+ Super-D: 2nd Dave Yakaitis, Semi-pro XC: 13th Olivier Bock, Semi-Pro XC: 15th Shane Deal, Cat 5 Circuit Race: 5th Paula Bock, Expert 35-39 XC: 7th Paula Bock, Open women STXC: 10th Look forward to some dot racing in upcoming posts as other competitors get thier tracks uploaded to the Trailnetwork.