The race, to be held October 25th, in San Luis Obispo, California, behind the Madonna Inn, will include Greg Minnaar, Brian Lopes, Eric Carter, Rich Houseman, Duncan Riffle, Chris Van Dine, Cody Warren, Petr Hanak, J.D. Swanguen, Kyle Strait, Cam McCaul and Cameron Zink, as well as Olympian Adam Craig (the current USA Cycling national champion in both the cross-country and Super D disciplines), and former mountain bike gravity star, Shaun Palmer.
Points leader Cody Warren. (John Ker photo)
Palmer, who reportedly turns 40 this November, is returning to professional mountain biking after having retired from the sport close to a decade ago. Palmer came to professional mountain biking in his late 20's from a stellar snowboard career that reportedly brought him five World Championships and a slew of X Games medals. He was soon recognized as one of the top mountain bike racers in the world, as well, winning major competitions in both dual slalom and downhill. How good was he? Good enough to take a silver medal in downhill at the 1996 Mountain Bike World Championships in Cairns, Australia, losing the gold medal by a mere 0.15 seconds to Nicolas Vouilloz (mountain biking's all-tiime best downhill star).
Palmer was invited to compete in the October 25th race after winning the Jeep 48Straight snowboard race series, shown on CBS television last spring. Palmer reportedly shocked several young Olympic medalists when he beat them in the made-for-TV Jeep 48Straight boardercross series.
Purse money for the October 25th dual slalom race will be huge. First place in the final race of the series will earn $5000, second will get $4000, third will take home $3000, and fourth will receive $2000; the high-payout prize money continues all the way down to 16th place, which is good for $250. The women's purse breakdown is the same. In that race, Melissa Buhl, Kathy Pruitt and Fionn Griffiths are the top competitors going into the finals. In addition to the prize money for this race, the men's and women's series winners will receive keys to brand new Jeep Cherokees, as well as large cash bonuses from Paul Mitchell, the maker of a popular line of hair-care products.
The epic dual-slalom race will be seen on CBS television on Saturday afternoon, November 1, following an NFL football game (check local listings). Look for coverage on the race in the February issue of Mountain Bike Action.