Home > news > Santa Ynez Valley Classic

GT News: Santa Ynez Valley Classic

4/27/2009

%caption%

The Santa Ynez Valley Classic was held on April 25-26 in Los Olivos, CA a small town located on California's central coast. It was the second year in a row that this event has taken place. The event consisted of Downhill, Super D and Dual Slalom course. The weather was much cooler than last year which made it much more enjoyable for everyone.
 
 
Dual slalom was held on Saturday with practice and qualifying taking place earlier in the day.  The finals were held the same evening. GT Bicycles Pro Racers Eric Carter and Kevin Aiello were both in attendance and ready to give the crowd some exciting race action. Eric "EC" Carter shows no signs of slowing down as he gets older and validated this by qualifying first and winning the race! Kevin Aiello also had an impressive performance with qualifying fourth and finishing fourth in the finals - just .006 behind third place.
 
 
Downhill was held on Sunday morning and a very fast course provided plenty of excitement for racers and spectators alike. Despite the lack of any difficult technical sections, the racers had to battle high winds while riding and turning at speed. The race was held in a two-run format, combining the two runs to give a final time. EC was the first to come down the hill and ended up posting the fastest time for the first run. Kevin was close behind with the third fastest time. The racers hopped back on the shuttle truck to head back to the top of the hill to complete their final runs. EC came through again posting the fastest time which earned him the win. Kevin was caught by a strong wind gust at the top of the course which robbed a bit of time from him but he still finished a respectable fifth place putting both GT athletes on the podium.
 
 
Kevin's next race will take place in La Bresse, France. It will be the second race of the World Cup circuit. The boys will then head to the U.S. Open at Mountain Creek Resort in Vernon, NJ.
 
 

GT Bicycles and its team are proud to be supported by some of the best sponsors and products to ever be found on a bicycle:

SRAM, Kenda, Champion System, Mavic, UFO, SDG, Funn and e.thirteen

 

Other News