Wednesday, May 12, 2010


West Milford, NJ- May 8th and 9th kicked off Round #1 of the Diablo Gravity Series in Vernon, New Jersey. Saturday morning started off with a 25 minute rain shower which watered the Downhill and Giant Slalom track perfectly for us! Thanks rain! Downhill and GS practice is ripping till about 12:45pm for the GS start.
Our Captain Jason Memmelaar was competing in PRO. Jason had a solid 1st run on his Giant Trance X but wasn't happy with his time. For Jason's 2nd run he opted to give his trusty Giant Glory equipped with his Manitou Dorado a shot at the GS track, bike ripped but still couldn't lay down a top 3 time so Jason took 4th in PRO slalom for the day.
Yuroshek dislocated his thumb during a training accident on thursday evening. Spent friday icing it for the big weekend... Saturday rolled around and he only did about 3 practice runs and was taking it easy, "hurt just holding on to the handle bars" said Yuroshek. No Giant Slalom for him this year, he wants to concentrate on DH instead.
Mihalick showed up a bit late for saturday practice and by the time he showed (1pm) the Winds were so strong they shut the lift down. So no practice for Mihalick on saturday.
Chris Higgerson and Gavin Vaughan spent their weekend up north practicing on local tracks and dialing in their suspension even more for the PRO GRT coming up in the next few weeks at Plattekill Mountain.
Alex Moschitti twisted his right ankle pretty good while doing some DH training runs with Yuroshek on Wednesday afternoon. "My ankle feels pretty good but i want it to be 100% for the PRO GRT and the US Open in a few short weeks" said Moschitti.
Sunday May 9th the riders showed up to a lift that was not running... The Winds were still rippin thru the mountains causing the lift operators to keep the lift off. The parking lots were full of egger bike riders, Diablo's staff told us to sit tight... Around 1pm the winds died and the lift started up. Riders had 2 hours to dial in their race lines since race started at 2:45 sharp! Jason Memmelaar had a clean run and held down another 4th place in PRO. While his Team Manager Dennis Yuroshek came in 9th place PRO. PJ Mihalick got held up in his race run by a lapped rider, luckily the top 5 riders got re-runs. Mihalick took a 5th place and is not to happy about his run, he feels like he should be up on the podium box and not watching from the crowd.

GES Round #1 Massanutten, VA







































May 1st, 2010 was the first round of the Gravity East Series (GES) in Massanutten, VA. It was the first time the whole team got together at a race and for the first time the pits/bikes/jerseys were all put together... We have created a monster team. Everyone on the team gets along amazing and we all have awesome personalities (one of the big reasons why I picked the riders who that I did).
The Bikes worked awesome, besides all the flats that we got this weekend, not just the team but all 263 people that raced. It was great to see all the East Coast racers again and they were all stoked to see Jason and I back on the East Coast where the real racing is at.
Jason Memmelaar took 2nd in pro behind former 2008 national DH Champ Gerrit Baytagh. Jason was lookin fast all weekend coming from his first race at the ProGRT race in Port Angeles WA. Jason finished with a 29th there, not what he had in mind but thats racing.
Gavin Vaughan took a solid 4th place this weekend and really opened peoples eyes! Kid has pure talent dripping off him like the syrup dripping off the trees in vermont. SICK! Be on the look out for this kid, he is going to do big things.
Alex Moschitti and Chris higgerson were looking fast in practice but couldn't lay down a good time come race.
PJ Mihalick took a solid 3rd in the Cat 1 class.
Dennis "Ironman" Yuroshek Raced both OPEN and Pro. In Open He pinch flatted at the top of the course but kept the wheels turning and some how air held till the end for a 1st place finish (17th fastest overall in the day). Pro run was not so hot, went off course and crashed, and just had nothing left in the tank. The 90+ degree heat soaked it all up on him and on everyone else as well.
Overall 4 out of 6 Giant/HBG riders on the podium!
check out some of the pics of the team.
* Alex Moschitti took the front page of Declinemagazine.com
* Jason Memmelaar has pictures on Pinkbike.com and Declinemagazine.com
*Team got GREAT exposure this weekend and we are going to keep it rolling all season.
Thanks to all the amazing people that helped put this stunning team together!