Sunday, July 29, 2007 -- Beaver, WV / Little Beaver State Park
Little Beaver Chainring Challenge - WVMBA #9
2007: [Photos]
[Details] [Coverage] [Overall Results]
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Story and photos by JR Petsko
For the second time in this racing season a husband and wife duo took top honors in their respective Pro/Expert class in the WVMBA series. The first was Betsy and Gunnar Shogren earlier this year at the Appalachian Classic, but this past weekend it was all about the Riddle's.
The Little Beaver Chainring Challenge was held down south in Beckley, WV, hosted by Ride-N-Slide Sports. Little Beaver State Park is full of tight single-track, a couple of short steep climbs, great rocky sections, and beautiful scenery. In short everything a mountain bike racer could ask for in a course.
The action got started early on with Benji Klimas, Joey Riddle, and Aron Yevuta who were all going at each other for the early race lead. Not far behind the leader on the first lap was series regular J.J. Ford showing off his new elephant horn installed on the handle bars of his bike the week before.
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Going into the second lap in was clear that Klimas and Riddle had a great battle going on between them for the overall lead. Both riders were pushing their single speed bikes as hard as they would go. For the women, Mandi Riddle was out front and looked to be having a great time.
To prepare for the final lap I made my way about one mile into the woods from the finish line. As the first rider approached I could see it was Riddle, (Joey) ringing his bell since he knew he was going to take the overall victory. Klimas was able to hold on to a second overall position after contending with Riddle for the lead all day.
After the race Riddle said, "Man, Benji was really pushing me all day!" From Riddle's words and from what I saw on the trail, I'm certain that these riders are in great form for a late season push in their respective classes. Riddle now sits atop the Pro/Expert class in points after taking his first overall win this 2007 season. Klimas also leads the points in the open single speed class.
For the women it was all about Mandi Riddle. Mandi, like her husband Joey, took her first win of the season. Husband and wife were both riding their Vicious Cycles single speeds.
After the win, Mandi assumed the second place overall in the women's Pro/expert class for 2007. This week the WVMBA series heads to Ohio for a joint series race and will see if the Riddle's can keep up their winning was.
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All and all it was a great time, except for seeing Greg Moore's naked butt as I walked out of the woods from talking pictures (LOL). Thanks to Gary and everyone who showed up to race. Thanks to the great volunteer staff who helped out and made some great food.
