By Dain Zaffke
Photos by WTB/Forrest Arakawa

Uncrowned: Riders must compete on the same bicycle for both xc and DH. Mark Weir is a Downieville legend.

This year’s Downieville Classic saw some big changes. The event became the inaugural All-Mountain World Championships, the cross-country course gained two more miles of ripping singletrack and, for the first time in years, Team WTB didn’t dominate everything. (Dain is a WTB sales technician.)

The weekend started with a completely sold out field of 800 riders departing Sierra City, CA for the point-to-point XC race. Chris Sheppard and Ross Schnell were the first two riders to crest the 3000
foot climb. At the Downieville Classic, however, the race is won or lost on the rugged descent in to downtown Downieville. The first victim of the rough landscape was Sheppard, who sliced a rear tire while trailing Jason Moeschler through the infamous “babyheads” section.

“I passed Sheppard just before we dropped in to babyheads,” said Moeschler. “I showed him all of my best lines through the rocks and I guess he flatted.” Moeschler expected to catch Schnell in a similar
fashion, but the Trek rider hit the finish line first, with a 2:30 minute gap over Moeschler. Mark Weir crossed the line a minute later in third.

WTB-Santa Cruz teammates Moeschler and Weir spent Saturday evening strategizing how to capture the All-Mountain title. “Schnell proved his strength in the XC,” Weir stated. “I’m normally really careful and conservative in my race run. This year I knew I couldn’t afford to be conservative. It had to be all or nothing.”

Moonscape: Jason Moeschler (shown) placed 2nd overall at 3:29 behind fresh All-Mountain World Champ Ross Schnell.

Weir, the seven-time Downieville DH champ, left the starting gate first with a clear track ahead of him. He hit every split in record time and was ten seconds ahead of last year’s winning pace just two miles into the course. “I’ve never felt so good in my life,” Weir explained. “I kept looking at my times and just got more and more excited. I was on track for a sub 43-minute run.” Last year Weir’s winning time was 46:14.

Disaster struck on the upper section of the First Divide trail-—Weir’s rear tire was going soft. “I rode fully pinned for a couple miles with about 4 p.s.i. pressure, but eventually I had to take the tire off,” he
said. Weir charged past crowds of spectators on a bare rim, still on track to beat last year’s time. When he hit the pavement for the final run into town the rim finally gave out and he was forced to walk.
Because Weir’s bike was incomplete at the finish, he was disqualified. "I haven’t flatted all year,” he said. “And today was my smoothest race run ever. I guess that’s racing, it’s a crap shoot.”

Schnell won the downhill with a time of 44:35. Moeschler finished less than a minute later in second place and Nathan Riddle finished third. Legendary racer Myles Rockwell (Giant-SRAM) came in fourth and four-time World Champion Brian Lopes (Ibis) finished fifth.

In the overall All-Mountain Pro standings, six of the top ten riders were on WTB WeirWolf LT tires, but the title of All-Mountain World Champion went to Schnell. Moeschler claimed the second spot and
Sheppard settled for third.

On the women’s side, Rachel Lloyd swept both stages and easily claimed the All-Mountain Women World Champion title. Susan Haywood took the second overall. Of the women’s pro field, five of the top ten were riding WTB tires.

Mountain bike gold rush: Downieville's 29 mile XC and 17 mile downhill are world renowned.

DOWNIEVILLE AM WORLD CHAMP'S RESULTS
XC...DH...OA
1. Ross Schnell...Trek-VW...1:56:58.1...0:44:35.1...2:41:33
2. Jason Moeschler... WTB-Santa Cruz...1:59:35.6...0:45:27.4...2:45:02
3. Chris Sheppard (Can)...Santa Cruz-
WTB...2:02:15.0...0:48:53.7...2:51:08
4. Mike Vine (Can)...2:03:10.0...0:50:03.9...2:53:13
5. Sean Donovan...Cytomax-KHS...2:05:32.9...0:49:52.0...2:55:04
6. Nathan Riddle...Fluidride...2:10:34.0...0:45:38.1...2:56:12
7. Harlan Price...FitTogether-
IFracing...2:07:58.5...0:49:01.4...2:56:59
8. Dain Zaffke...WTB...2:11:19.7...0:49:08.9...3:00:27
9. Dana Weber...Trek-VW West...2:12:31.8...0:49:40.1...3:02:11
10. Mark Jordan...2:13:55.1...0:48:56.2...3:02:51
WOMEN
1. Rachel Lloyd...ProMan-Paradigm-WTB...2:20:52.1...0:51:05.6...3:11:57
2. Susan Haywood...Trek-VW...2:22:41.8...0:53:37.1...3:16:18
3. Sarah Maile...Ventana...2:41:15.1...1:00:36.0...3:41:41
4. Jamie Stamps...AnotherBikeShop...2:44:46.6...0:59:30.6...3:44:17
5. Maureen Kunz...Lost Coast...2:47:16.3...1:00:09.5...3:47:25
6. Tiffany Allmandinger...DeathStar...2:51:06.6...0:58:08.9...3:49:14
7. Abby Hippely...Yeti...2:55:59...0:56:39.3...3:52:38
8. Jackie Baker...WTB-Giant-FoxShox...2:52:15.5...1:00:45.1...3:53:00
9. Niki Gudex...Oakley-ScottUSA...2:59:21.6...1:01:34.3...4:00:55
10. Corina Bigham...3:02:46.6...1:00:58.3...4:03:44