Bones Over Metal Freeride and Downhill Video Blog

The 08 Sea Otter Classic Dual Slalom went down to the last pedal stroke and lived up to expectations. There wasn’t a dry eye in the spectator gallery. That’s because the wind blew perpendicular to the course all day – through practice, qualifying and the finals. By the end of the event, my eyes were glued together with dust, okay, maybe not glued, but there was way more sand in my eyes than there needed to be. While, every non-goggled spectator and shooter suffered, the riders burned the course up. They seemed to not be affected by the wind. As if their own momentum was more tumultuous then the wind.

There were many powerful displays of riding right from the start of practice at 8AM. Greg Minnaar had impressed me with his strength all festival. In fact, I pick him for the podium on Sunday’s DH. Just a feeling. And Lopes pedaled like he’d eaten a bottle of nitro prior to the race. I think he can pedal in any position. Andrew Neethling pedaled just a bit faster than Lars Sternberg to beat him at the end. Lars had qualified 3rd. Andrew ended up getting 3rd overall. Lars has to feel good about his effort. It was one of the closest match ups of the day. In the match ups prior to theirs Andrew and Lars faced and beat Gee Atherton and Chris Powel, respectively.

The Dual Slalom course at Sea Otter is the real hero of the event. The riders were aptly challenged, the spectators entertained, and as a photographer and rider, I saw so many glory moments – both in defeat and in victory.

After the qualifying the seeding was as follows:
Pro Men:
1) Brian Lopes 2) Jared Rando 3) Lars Sternberg 4) Sam Blenkisop 5)Mike Haderer

Pro Women:
1) Sabrina Jonnier 2) Rachel Atherton 3)Melissa Buhl 4)Fionn Griffths 5)Kathy Pruitt

Semi-Pro Men:
1) Bryan Culp 2)Brandon Sloan 3)Juan Graziosi 4)Nate Lewis 5)Jake Kinney

The final five looked like this:
Pro Men:
1)Greg Minnaar (qualified 10th) 2) Steve Peat (qualified 9th) 3) Andrew Neethling (qualified 19th) 4) Kurt Voreis (qualified 12th) 5) Brian Lopes (qualified 1st)

Pro Men Full Results

Pro Women:
1)Sabrina Jonnier (qualified 1st) 2) Melissa Buhl (qualified 3rd) 3) Fionn Griffiths (qualified 4th) 4) Rachel Atherton (qualified 2nd) 5)Kathy Pruitt (qualified 5th)

Pro Women Full Results

Semi-Pro Men:
1)Joe Buckley (qualified 6th) 2) Jake Kinney (qualified 5ht) 3) Daniel Cortina (qualified 7th) 4) Ryan Kresich (qualified 17th) 5)Brandon Sloan (qualified 2nd)

Semi-Pro Men Full Results

Sabrina Jonnier successfully defended last year’s win at Sea Otter. Brian Lopes may have placed higher and even won if he hadn’t crashed up top. Steve Peat got over his crashing during practice and lost to Greg Minnaar. And Andrew Neethling proved that even though it’s a gravity sport, you only win by pedaling your ass off.