Andrew Neethling at US Open
Vernon, New Jersey
Mongoose’s downhill ace Andrew Neethling spends most of his season meandering around Europe on the World Cup mountain bike tour but one of the most hotly contested downhill events of the season takes place on US soil in of all places, New Jersey. Just because mountains don’t come to mind when you think of New Jersey doesn’t mean that they don’t have some serious elevation drops. The Diablo Freeride Park in Vernon is the home of the US Open of downhill racing and the place is an amusement park for mountain bikes. The hill offers miles of trails that are littered with jumps, berms, ladders, wall rides and rocks and offers trail riding for all abilities. With a hospitable staff, great terrain and mild weather it had the makings for a great weekend of racing.
Andrew had just returned from Lisbon Portugal after competing in the Lisbon Downtown race which is very different from the courses he races on during the season which is good for a little variety but Andrew prefers the gnarly, technical, steep and fast downhill courses.
The US Open is a favorite for many down-hillers as is it is a break from the regular World Cup schedule and has a relaxed and fun atmosphere. Another incentive for Andrew too was to perform well for his sponsors especially the few that made it out to display their wares at the ‘Open. SRAM and e.thirteen components always make an effort to support the US Open and not only do these wonderful sponsors make great products, they are great people to hang out and enjoy the downtime with.
The organizers of the US Open added a dual slalom event to the festivities this year which added to the already intense race action. They kick off the qualifying runs on Friday evening to narrow down the field of competitors. The Pro dual slalom, it was stacked with international competitors who all had a shot at winning it. Andrew ran strong would qualify in 9th place with some strong runs but was still saving himself for later. In the quarter finals Andrew would be paired up with US phenom JD Swangyuen and would have some exciting and close races and found himself losing by only .015 of a second after the second run. Heartbreaking as it was Needles had his sights set on the downhill event.
The semi finals were ran on Saturday to determine the seeding for the finals and narrow down the large field of racers. Andrew has been training hard physically and mentally all off season and has started off the season with a couple of good results and if showed in his qualifying run where he blazed to the 2nd fastest time. The run compounded Andrew’s confidence heading into the finals on Sunday.
The weather held up for the weekend and on Sunday the course had firmed up setting the stage for what would be one of the fastest courses in US Open history. The qualifiers started in reverse order starting with number “100” and going down. Andrew got to the top of the hill early with Mongoose mechanic John Canepa to set up the trainer and start his spin/warm up routine to get the blood pumping prior to his start. Andrew attacked the course with his trademark fluid style making the rock sections look like fun little jumps rather than bone shattering boulders that the average person would have a hard time walking down. Part way down Andrew’s run he felt something move under his feet, it was his cleat for his clipless pedals which put his foot in an irregular position making for tougher time in being comfortable in his run. Needles held on like a champ and tripped the timer in 5th place. A result that most racers would give anything for it wasn’t enough for the determined Neethling.
Next stop for Andrew will be in Vallnord, Andorra for the second World Cup gravity event on May 31st and June 1st then he will be immediately over to Fort William, Scotland for the third World Cup on June 6th and 7th.
Mongoose Bicycles is proud to be sponsored by:
SRAM, Kenda, Champion System, Sun/Ringle, Fly Racing, SDG, Ogio, Funn and e.thirteen.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Enjoyed looking at some of your races. My sister is Lisa Sheffield. She does your travel. She sent me your website. She talks about her bike riders from time to time. Sounds exciting. Good luck in the future with your biking. We will try to keep up on your career.