Sunday, October 09, 2005

BELLS take 3 State Titles at Boyne XC State Championships

BELLS TEAM members John Meyers, Mike Simonson, Jim James, Jason Lummis and Dan Kotwicki showed at the MI State Championships at Boyne Mt. Voted best course in MI for like 10 yrs, this race was deep with talent. The BELLS TEAM took 3 1st place awards today The Simonster 1st in Elite (2nd straight State Title), DanK. 1st in Expert 30-39 (2nd staright Title) and Jim James 1st in Expert 40-49 (2nd straight title).

In the Elite race Mike " Simonster" Simonson took the lead from the start and rode everyone from his wheel with a solo victory in 2:04. John Meyers raced well and finished a great 4th place followed by a sick (and shouldn't have raced) Jason Lummis in 8th place. The course was in great shape and about 9.5 miles long. Elites and Experts all did 3 laps respectively. The temps for the start hovered just above 40, the fall leaves just starting to turn. Added to the perfect course and race for all. Thanks to Brent Walk of FUN PROMOTIONS INC for another great race season (www.funpromtions.com)
Results:http://www.funpromotions.com/10-09-05.htm
Here is the SIMONSTERS view of the race:
Oct. 9th Rise and shine at 7:00AM to a frosty windsheild and temps down in the 20's!?!? It was definately the annual state championships at Boyne Mt. After a cold and brisk warm-up to the top of the golf cart path, it was time to head to start line for today's punishment. The plan was to go ballistic off the start line and catch everyone off gaurd which worked perfectly. I snuck around my team mate John Meyers to snag the wholeshot going into the woods. I had a little gap until Russ Tiles and Tom Archer came roaring up and passed me on the first long climb. We rode together for a little while and I managed to pull away again. I made my way onto the paved golf cart path climb and I could see Russ back about 50 yards. Sure enough he bridged on the bottom of the climb. Rolling into the second pitch of the path, I downshifted and gapped Russ once again. He marked my move, but I took one more hard pull at the top of the climb and looked back to notice I had a sizable gap. I burried the rest of the lap, then kind of went on auto-pilot for the second lap. Near the end of the second lap, I could see Russ bridging again at the base of the last descent. That's when I knew I had to ride a hard last lap to fend him off. I burried it through the last lap and finished to take win. The Trek fuel 110 worked great and it was really nice to be able to lock out both the front and rear suspension with a flip of the thumb on that long paved climb. ----Thanks Mike
2 more MTB races left in Michigan--- Cannonsburg (funpromotions) and the Grand Finale ICEMAN....
Keep the rubber side down and put it down---- Bells Beer MTB Team

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