Race Results For The Golden State Mountain Bike Championship In Fontana

The climb up the steep rocky hill sent a waterfall of sweat down my face. The best shooting location was not always on flat ground. After a short vacation from shooting sporting event, I was back in the saddle shooting a mountain bike event in Fontana - the California Golden State Championship #3 in Fontana, CA on May 15th.

Riding fast down the multi-lap course, the cross county mountain bikers I'd seen before at other races, or at least, most of them. At the top of the hill, a race volunteer advised that most of the mtb riders were walking the steep, uphill portion of the course. Today, I chose to photograph the mountain bikers looking strong on the downhill section of the course.

The baking Fontana sun reminded me that summer was near and that the next SRC race in August would be a lot tougher for these mountain bike riders. Out of four events, this was the third race of the series organized by SRC and major sponsor Kenda.

During the first few laps, many of the mountain bike riders smiled for the camera, but near the end of the race, most had no energy for a pose. The multi-lap course consisted of single track trails and fire roads with one major climb and descent. Near the top, a tight 90 degree turn caused the riders to slow to almost a stop before shooting down the rest of the rocky course.

In today's race, David Santos captured the XC mountain bike race in 1:29:07 with Griffith Vertican and Garnet Vertican earning the 2nd and 3rd place spots in 1:34:07 and 1:41:05, respectively. In the women's division, Heather Rose captured 1st place and a fourth overall finish in 1:53:12.

For the men, the downhiller with the fastest time for the day was David Klaassen VanOorschot with 2nd and 3rd place going to Rich Houseman and Ryan Egusquiza, respectively. For the women's division, Gabriela Williams took 1st place followed by Kelly Damschen in 2nd place.

In the Super D race, Ryan Equsquiza raced again and captured 1st place followed by Eric Bierman in 2nd. The women's XC mountain bike winner, Heather Rose, raced to another win in the women's Super D.