Horner and Rivera Cross Train with Cross Wins

10/25/10 - The long week of rains gave Southern California a dose of real cross racing this week with the 3rd Annual Spooky Cross event, round 5 of the SoCalCross Prestige Series presented by H2O Overdrive. As the skies darkened and the moisture filled the air, the course went from a sticky course of long straights and few technical sections, to a slick mess that challenged racers through the night. As the moon came out so did the freaks of the costume race, smoke machines, and hard-hitting action as elite racers were bouncing off the ground.But, as

The elite women’s race saw the return of Coryn Rivera (Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty12) to the local seen this week as she has taken a little break from the bike after a long road season to recharge her batteries for cross. And it showed once the gun fired. From the first turn it was the youngest in the elite field Alexis Ryan (Team SoCalCross) who took the hole-shot and cranked out the lead pace. Rivera stayed patient in second with Alexis leading the way. There was a strong group of six women together then through the first barrier there was some commotion and the SDG Factory rider Amanda Schaper dropped her chain after being tangled by riders through the hurdles. Alexis held the lead and the group was down to five while Schaper worked hard to get back on.
 
Rivera said, “After the first lap, I had an instinct to take the front, so I attacked and weaved my way around the course.” After a while she finally looked back to see it was just Megan Elliot (Black MTN Cycles) behind her with Kendall Ryan (Team SoCalCross) not too far back. Rivera held her pace and was focused, sprinting out of every corner and carrying her speed through each lap. With 3 laps to go, Elliot took the lead until they passed through the start/finish and Rivera made her move on the road to take the lead again. She was putting the pressure on and all she had to do at this point was make the least amount of mistakes and continue to flow around the course. One to go, Rivera was still on the front and held it for her first race/win of the season. Elliot took a comfortable 2nd, with Kendall Ryan 3rd, Alexis Ryan 4th, and Allison Mann (Rock N’ Road) rolling in to round out the top five.
 
In the elite men’s race, from the start it was the two most talented bike handlers in the field, Sid Taberlay (Sho-Air) and Brian Lopes (Ibis/Oakley), railing their way through the first corner with a large group of hungry riders chasing through the slop. Gary Douville (Platinum) took the lead on the first lap and set the pace for the first two. The crowd was looking for Chris Horner (RadioShack) but the messy conditions left him tangling with riders as he worked his way toward the front. Douville continued his charge leading a group of ten off the front and people were going nuts for junior Morgan Ryan (Team SoCalCross) as he was comfortably riding in the lead group.
 
Taberlay and Lopes passed through the third lap with Brent Prenzlow (Celo Pacific/B&L) in third as Douville dropped back from the huge effort. On lap four, Horner was riding to the front group and he passed Taberley and Lopes for the lead. The effort was impressive, and he did not stop. Horner was continuing to smash the pedals opening a huge gap that stuck to the finish. Taberlay tried to close the gap leading the chase with Lopes in tow. But, Lopes would not leave his wheel as he was holding on for the solid finish as the two rode in for second and third. In the last two laps Brandon Gritters (Rock N’ Road) came off the back of Prenzlow as he attacked on a muddy run up where he was able to hold off Gritters for the remainder of the race, giving Prenzlow fourth and Gritters rounding out the top five.