This past weekend Transcend Magazine team riders travelled to Vernon NJ to compete at the 2009 US Open. This annual event attracts a huge number of competitors along with many of the world's top downhill racers, all chasing that huge $5000 first place prize.
It was the first time this season that all Transcend Team members were competing together at the same event. This year, in addition to the DH race, a Giant Slalom event was also added. Team riders Jamie Biluk and Emmanuel Daoust competed in the DH event while James Jeannet took in the DH and GS events.
In his first ever Slalom event, and riding his new Orange Blood for the first time in competition, James quickly got used to the GS track and managed to qualify in 16th place making it into the Pro Mens final. In the final James lowered his qualfying time by one second to finish with a time of 42.88 seconds, good enough for 15th place in the Pro class.
On to the DH event, where over one hundred competitors were on hand in the Pro class for Saturday's qualifier and where only the top 60 would move on to the finals on Sunday.
For the qualifier, racers were greeted with hot and dry weather making for a dusty and fast track. Both Jamie and James had good race runs and would qualify for Sunday's final, in 22nd and 48th place respectively. Unfortunately Emmanuel had a tougher run and just missed the qualifying cut off by finishing in 64th place.
On Sunday, racers were greeted with the threat of some unsettled weather; thunder storms were in the area, and it was just a matter of time before they would strike.
Then the heavens opened up just prior to the start of the Pro mens category forcing a one and half hour delay. Now the question on everyone's mind was what would the track conditions now be like and should we bring out the spike tires? Many racers appeared apprehensive about racing in the mud after two and half days of pratice in dusty, dry conditions. At least everyone in the Pro class would race in the same conditions so no one would have an unfair advantage.
The now muddy and slick track slowed down most, if not all but the most experienced pros on spikes, by about 5 to 10 seconds. The wide-open sections near the finish were especially treacherous with many riders spinning out on the slick grass within sight of the finish.
Jamie and James did not have clean runs but both still managed to pull off some good times. Jamie would end up in 20th place with a time of 2:47 and James would take 28th spot in Pro with a 2:51, both excellent results, considering the strength of the competition and course conditions.
Overall the whole team enjoyed their experience and are definitely looking forward to next year's US Open.
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