Mammoth received about 6 to 8 inches of snow right before the start of speed training last weekend. Very high winds (80-90 mph) all day Sunday and into the early morning with cold northeast winds blowing up the face of the mountain cancelled the first day of downhill training on Monday.
Mammoth received about 6 to 8 inches of snow right before the start of speed training last weekend. Very high winds (80-90 mph) all day Sunday and into the early morning with cold northeast winds blowing up the face of the mountain cancelled the first day of downhill training on Monday. Mammoth race crews went into action and course prep and fencing took most of the day. Racers were able to freeski the hill while the race crew worked on fences, plus there was giant slalom training and a gorgeous day for freeskiing. According to Deb Lewis from Mammoth, there wasn’t too much whining about the cancelled training run. Racers had an hour for course inspection in the afternoon on Monday and took two training runs on Tuesday.
     The winds backed down on Monday except at the top of the mountain, and temperatures headed back up into the 40’s after the cold weekend. The outlook is more of the same great weather through the week. Racers enjoyed a gorgeous sunny day with no wind for training on Tuesday. The DH track had some softer snow over a firm layer from before the weekend storm, but held up well for both training runs. Happy faces abounded and people were loving the conditions! Mammoth’s race crew was fantastic — right on schedule for both runs. With a great crew on the hill for maintenance, the course was buffed in the morning for race runs.
     The DH course itself isn’t super difficult. With a relatively flat upper section, it’s important to be a good glider and carry speed. The bottom section is a short, relatively steep pitch (which is also the SL hill), so racers come through a narrow transition road out onto the top of Fascination and have to dive into a big right-foot roundhouse delay turn followed by three high speed turns down the face and then over a final bump to the finish.
     One turn at the top got chewed up for the A/B men, but overall the course conditions were good and held up well. The roundhouse turn onto the final pitch was tricky in training as many racers landed in low-line territory.
     Class 2 Eastern transplant to California, Christopher Probert, posted the fast time of the day for the A group (age 21-44) with a 1:08.93. The Central Division’s Steve Lindemer (M3) laid down a time only seven hundredths off the pace and another Eastern racer Steve Masur rounded out the podium with an age class win only 0.27 off Lindemer.
     Rocky Mountain’s Erik Klemme took Group B (age 45-59) and the race with a time of 1:08.48. Willy Scroggins put up a good fight to follow in second for Pacific Northwest. Local (FW) Joe McGill was third in group.
     Jen Kaufman continued her 2008 speed dominance with a win for the Rocky Mountain division. Racing with a cast on her hand, local Mammoth racer and masters “numbers junkie”/ statistician Deb Lewis flew to a close second overall and another Far West competitor, Linda Crowell followed about three seconds off the pace for a solid third overall for the women.
     As expected, Pepi Neubauer (Eastern) led the older men with a time that put him on the podium with the younger men, second overall behind Klemme. Pacific Northwest’s Knut Olberg was second with Wayne Henderson from Alaska placing third.
     In downhill, there is a thin line between a great run and disaster. Nadine Price had a great run going. She nailed the roundhouse turn onto the final steep pitch of Fascination, and on the middle turn at probably the fastest point, went down and slid through both fences. Price came out of it with a right broken tibia plateau, broken left ankle, ribs that are either bruised or broken, and a bruised clavicle. “Tough lady” is an understatement as Price was in good spirits in the first aid building and returned for the awards party …she’s gotta be hurting. Always the optimist, Price later commented, "Thank God for B netting", as she stopped just past the fence line).
     Lewis commented, “I’m so disappointed for her, and she’s taking it with great class.”
 
Thursday: Super G action
Thursday’s action was headlined by the speed finale — the super G. It turned into a good day of racing as clouds and fog on the upper mountain cleared just as the women and older men started at 10:15 and turned into a sunny day for speed. A moderate breeze kept the temperatures in the high 20s, and the racing surface stayed firm enough to hold up well and stay grippy. With the snow slightly faster than for the DH, and with a slight tailwind, racers hit the final steep pitch of Fascination with serious speed!
     The course set was fast, rhythmic, and fun – enjoyable for a broad range of racers. The men’s course was challenging with a subtle rhythm change of the roundhouse turn and the face of the final pitch catching many racers as they got a bit further behind on each turn.
     After posting fast DH training times and a DNF in the race, Matthew Savage from FW came back and pulled off a group A win as well as an overall win for the men. Toby Chapman and Ryan Ritchie completed the Group A podium. Savage, proudly recognized as an alumni recipient of Far West’s scholarship in his junior racing days, bounced back from stitches for a split lip from a crash on the finish knoll of the DH to top the field.
     With the second fastest time of the day behind Savage, Erik Klemme held off Rick Frongillo, who impressed the crowd by racing in sunglasses — a California look that was plenty fast. Willy Scroggins posted third for group B.
     Never letting up in a speed event, Jen Kaufman, didn’t disappoint, taking another overall title for the women ahead of two Eastern women, Lisa Densmore and New York Masters rookie Megan Thayer.
     The older men are about as fierce as they come. Knut Olberg came back strong after the DH to take the SG title. Pepi Neubauer nudged Intermountain’s Bob Dreyer back to third in group D. The renewal of the Neubauer-Olberg duel highlighted the morning. After Pepi smoked the DH field, Knut rebounded by ripping the SG and wowing with crowd with a one-legged save off the final knoll and shinning the last gate to slide into home holding a narrow 0.2 sec margin over Pepi.
 
National Speed Series
In the National Speed Series standings, the tight battle for the women’s overall went to the Far West’s Linda Crowell, with a fifth overall finish in the ladies, hanging onto her lead by a final margin of just three points over defending champ Jennifer Kaufman.
     Willy Scroggins claimed the Speed Series win for the A/B men, with Rocky Mountain racers Erik Klemme and Don Johnson battling it out for second and third.
     Knut Olberg pounded the Group D (60+) field hauling in five wins and a second place to take the series over Rauli Karjalainen with Neubauer in third overall.
     Complete results can be found at: https://ussamasters.org/2008/nationals

    — Deb Lewis contributed to this story.