The 2009 DH race season officially got underway this past weekend in the US Northeast at Plattekill resort in the Catskill mountains of New York.
Team riders Fraser Britton and James Jeannet were on hand to compete in the Pro category. The course was an old favourite used many years ago that featured a wide variety of features from, steep sections, rock ledge drops, pedally traverses across ski trails and a large gap jump near the finish line.
The weather was cool all weekend with a mix of sun and cloud and a litle bit of rain Saturday late in the evening which kept the track nice and tacky for the most part. The course was littered with flat rock slabs which Platekill is famous for, making some corners a little tricky to navigate.
James and Fraser were looking quick during practice and feeling good about the course.
After a an initial delay the race finally got started with James being first out of the gate in the Pro category. James had a clean run and posted a quick time of 2:34 , that time would hold up until about a dozen racers came through. Fraser was the second rider on course and had nice run going until the very end where he came up little short at the last jump and ended up taking a spectactular spill, only to get back up and run his bike across the finish line much to the amazment of the spectators at the finish area. Aside from sore back he came through pretty unscathed in a time of 3:11.
James would end up in 5th place only 3 seconds behind the winner and local favorite Geoff Ulmer and only 1 second from a spot on the podium.
The team now looks forward to the US Open in couple of weeks where all four riders will be competing at Dialblo.
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