Santa Cruz’s John Hauer wins CCCX downhill race

Santa Cruz resident John Hauer [X-Fusion] won the men’s pro division of the Central Coast downhill mountain biking race at Toro Park in Monterey on Saturday.

Hauer sped down in 2 minutes, 48.42 seconds for the win, with Concord’s Ian Massey [Point 1/WTB] taking second in 2:49.32 and Santa Cruz’s Jeff Kendall-Weed [IBIS Cycles] taking third in 2:49.56.

Other division winners from Santa Cruz County were as follows: Santa Cruz’s James Bradley [unattached] won the men’s Cat 2 45-54 age division in 3:29.21, Santa Cruz’s Elli Freiburn [Spokesman] won the women’s Cat 2 division race in 3:49.24,   and Aptos’ Devin Kjaer [Family Cycling Center] was a double-winner in the junior boys 13-and-under division in 3:15.97 and the junior boys 18-and-under Cat 3 division in 3:17.20. He was the only entrant in the under-18 division.

Results included in this report are from the CCCX website, which has lots of photos of the event.

Saturday’s event was the seventh of the eight-race season. The season finale is scheduled for Aug. 25.

–Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

Santa Cruz’s Jeff Kendall-Weed makes it three Ws in a row in CCCX downhill races

Santa Cruz resident Jeff Kendall-Weed was made for speed. He’s proved as much by winning three consecutive Central Coast Series downhill mountain biking competitions, capped with his most recent pro men’s victory Saturday.

Novato’s Ben Cruz was nipping on his heels, so to speak, but Kendall-Weed pulled off the win in 4 minutes, 31.76 seconds to Cruz’s 4:33.36, according to results released early this week. Aromas’ Kiran MacKinnon, a Soquel High grad who represented the United States at the downhill worlds last year, placed third [4:38.18] on the Toro Park course in Salinas.

With Kendall-Weed’s and MacKinnon’s stellar performances this season, the last couple races of the season will carry a lot of weight for the overall title.

There were just three other Santa Cruz County winners. They were as follows: Santa Cruz’s Scott Chapin [Santa Cruz/Fox/Easton] crossed the finish line of the men’s Cat 1 race in 4:41.77, Scotts Valley’s Joel Van Pykeren [unattached] crossed the finish line of the junior boys 18-and-under Cat 3 race in 5:06.83, and Aptos’ Devin Kjaer [Family Cycling Center/FOX] crossed the finish line of the junior boys 13-and-under race in 5:27.90.

The next Central Coast Series X-Fusion Super-D event is scheduled for March 18 at Toro Park. As always, they have tons of photos up from Rick Rasmusen, so be sure to check those out, too.

– Christina Gullickson, CGullTweets on Twitter.

Santa Cruz’s Jeff Kendall-Weed overtakes pro downhill field at Central Coast cycling event

Through the first three Central Coast X-Fusion Super-D downhill mountain biking competitions of the season, Santa Cruz’s Jeff Kendall-Weed could never quite find that winning groove. He was second, he was third, and he was fifth — and teen Kiran MacKinnion from Aromas appeared to be something of a wunderkind with two consecutive wins in races Nos. 2 and 3.

But now it looks like Kendall-Weed is out to prove a point. Sunday, he won his second consecutive race at Toro Park in Salinas, blowing away the field by crossing the finish line in 3 minutes, 7.03 seconds.

With MacKinnon as a no-show following a third-place finish in the previous CCCX race, the next closest finisher was Frazier Park’s Waylon Smith [Hyper Bicycles, 3:09.64], and John Hauer [XFusion/Tomac, 3:14.32] of Santa Cruz captured third place by just a fraction of a point.

As if the action couldn’t get more exciting, there was also a handful of other Santa Cruz County winners. They were as follows:

Scotts Valley’s Felip Walker [Monster Energy/Scotts Valley Cycle Sport] dominated the junior boys Cat 1 18-and-under division in 3:20.22, capturing the victory with almost a four-second lead over the next closest finisher; Scotts Valley’s Travis Kaschalk [Hit-n-Run Designs] was a beast in the Clydesdale division, finishing in 3:43.47 for more than a five-second lead over the next closest finisher; and Santa Cruz’s Elli Freiburn [ScottChapin.com] finished uncontested in the women’s Cat 3 division [4:25.90].

CCCX always posts tons of photos, so be sure to check those out, too.

–Christina Gullickson, CGullTweets on Twitter.