The St. Francis High School mountain bike team persevered through a hot and hard day of racing at the Hog Canyon Classic in Yucaipa – the second stop on the SoCal League high school mountain bike racing circuit.
Leading up to race day, the Golden Knights thought that the hilly course on the outskirts of Yucaipa would suit the team best and provide an advantage for its well-trained riders. Even though the team did well, most riders found the course extremely challenging and exhausting. Located at the Wildwood State Park, the course featured over 900 feet of climbing per lap, technical descents, and dry and dusty conditions.
Coming away with podium results for the second straight race were Austin Hamilton with a well-earned 5th place finish in the freshman class, and Sean Bird with a sprint finish for 5th in the JV class. Also coming away with top-10 finishes were Daniel Balsam in 7th place in the sophomore race, and Skyler Payne also with a 7th place in the freshman race.
After the team’s best results ever in four-years of competition two weeks ago at Vail Lake, head coach Lee Bird challenged the team to continue working hard and to strive for even better results. “We had 6 riders improve their overall standings compared to the last race. That’s rewarding when you see these students continue to improve week over week. I’m also proud that all 19 of our racers finished another tough race. Our team finds a way to dig deep when the going is tough.” said Coach Bird.
Hard chargers of the weekend were Steven Ayoob, Matt Kubly, and Nick Bedford who all improved significantly over their results at Vail Lake.
The GOLDEN KNIGHTS are back to training for their next race In the SoCal League series in Keyesville on March 25th.
The GOLDEN KNIGHTS mountain bike team are very grateful for the support that they have received from the school and administration, along with their sponsors: Design Imports, Hollandays, VCA Arden Animal Hospital, Merchants Building Maintenance, Bell Helmets, Mountain Pine Shutters, Strategic Law Partners, Nu-Hope, Kevin Martin/UBS, Stratz & Company, Financial Guaranty Insurance Brokers, City National Bank, and JoBesh International.
GO KNIGHTS!
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