With heavy storms hitting California, the Southridge “Winter Series” was staying true to its name. As we approached the Grapevine on I-5, the reasoning for closing it the previous night was quite evident due to the amount of snow still on the road. Without a hitch we made it down to Fontana and met up with the X-Fusion-WTB riders Ryan Condrashoff and Brad Benedict who had headed out a day early to ride down in Ventura with the guys from Decline.
MOUNTAIN CROSS
Saturday afternoon WTB rider Ryan Condrashoff took part in the Mountain Cross in a stacked field including former world champ Eric Carter. During the semi-finals Ryan and former National 4X Overall Champion Rich “Big House” Houseman collided exiting a berm, with only one spot left to be filled in the finals, Ryan took the opportunity aboard his Prowler SS in the front and Nano Raptor on the rear and ended up taking 4th in the finals.
DOWNHILL
With furious storms on Saturday night, the skies cleared once again just in time for the Downhill finals. Although the pits were filled with small lakes, the DH track held up surprisingly well. WTB rider Brad Benedict looked great on the track all weekend but with a bobble in the gate resulting in a time penalty, he took a respectable 10th place.
To complete an already successful weekend Ryan Condrashoff put up a blistering time just under 3 seconds off the leader Chris Kovarik putting him in third place. “The conditions were great," Condrashoff said. "I was running the Prowler MX up front and the Prowler SS in the back and they suited the track great! My run felt good, I wasn’t as tired as I thought I’d be and knew if I kept it smooth I could put up a good time.”
Stay tuned for updates on the up coming Round 3.
Here are a couple of shots from the drive down,
