Riffle, Llannes win US National DH titles

SONOMA, California (USA Cycling) -- Sonoma, Calif. (July 16, 2006)-The 2006 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships brought to you by X-Fusion concluded Sunday as Duncan Riffle (Santa Barbara, Calif./Honda-Iron Horse) and Tara Llanes (Los Alamitos, Calif./Giant) descended to downhill national titles.

Riffle, the 2004 champion, claimed his second-career downhill title, clocking a winning time of 1:54.0. Ryan Finney (San Mateo, Calif./WTB-Fox) finished 0.5 seconds off the pace, turning in a 1:54.5 to place second and Rich Houseman (Temecula, Calif./Yeti-Fox) clocked a 1:54.7 to finish third.

While in the hot seat awaiting the arrival of top seed and defending champion Cody Warren (Alpine, Calif./C-Dub), Riffle watched as Warren crashed at the top of course, virtually assuring Riffle his second championship in three years.

"My run was good, "explained Riffle afterwards. "There were lines where I felt that I wasn't going all that quick, but I found that in qualifying if I took it easy and relaxed a little bit that I could pull it off. I wasn't super-happy with my qualifying run because I was trying to take things a little too fast. So I just brought it down a notch for finals and focused more on accelerating out of the turns."

Cole Bangert (Twin Lakes, Colo./Morewood) and Christopher Herndon (Etowah, N.C./Cane Creek) completed the podium, placing fourth and fifth respectively. Bangert turned in a time of 1:55.5 and Herndon posted a 1:55.7.

In the women's race, the top-seeded Llanes rode a 2:09.6 to unseat defending national champion Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz.) who clocked a 2:10.0.

Marla Streb (Los Osos, Calif./Luna) placed third in 2:11.7. Lisa Myklak (Boulder, Colo./Morewood) took fourth in 2:13.0 and April Lawyer (Bend, Ore./Maxxis) completed the podium in fifth in 2:16.0.

Editor's note: International riders who raced were left off the results. Riffle was, reportedly, 4th in the mens race behind a group of Aussies. Minnaar crashed in both qualifying and his race run.

Posted on Jul. 16 06, 23:10