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The Semipro and Junior Expert Cross-Country races highlighted the second day of competition at the U.S. Mountain Bike National Championships at Mount Snow Resort. Weston Schempf (Sinking Springs, PA) earned the Stars-and-Stripes jersey in the semipro cross-country race, while Robbie Squire (Sandy, UT) won his first national championship in the 17-18 Junior Expert contest. Seth Kemp (Campobello, S.C.) earned the 15-16 Junior Expert Cross-Country title and Essence Barton (Thousand Oaks, CA) won the Women Junior Expert race.
 
Things heated up in Southern Vermont Friday morning as nearly seventy riders pulled to the line to start off the day’s competition with the Semipro Cross-Country. Two men riding hardtails, Schempf and Benjamin Portilla (Fort Collins, CO) established themselves up front from the start of the 20 mile race. Silver medalist Portilla was able to hold the winner’s wheel through the first two laps, but fell off the pace as the shade disappeared and the 90+ degree temperatures encroached. Schempf was able to hold off the fading Portilla in the fourth and final lap to post a winning time of 1:56:09.
 
In similar fashion, the duo of Squire and John Bennett (El Cerrito, CA) established and early gap in the 17-18 Junior Expert race and never looked back. After a race long battle and despite a third lap crash,
Squire was finally able to overtake Bennett on a final lap descent. The 23rd place finisher in the junior men’s race at the World Championships in June, Squire brought home his first national title in 1:58:04 over the 20 mile course. Squire took up mountain bike racing only last year.
    
“I didn’t feel so hot when we went off, but John and I were able to get a gap and we battled it out the rest of the way,” said Squire. 
 
After winning the junior expert women’s race in 2005, Barton recaptured the Stars-and-Stripes on Friday, holding off a surging Jill Behlen (Boulder, CO) for the victory. With only 12 seconds separating the two, the junior women’s race proved to be tightest competition of the day.
 
“Essence pretty much took off from the start, but I could see her at the end of the third lap,” explained Behlen. “I almost caught her, but then I crashed at the top of the final descent.”
 
Kemp took home the 15-16 Junior Expert crown with a time of 1:34:47. It was just over five minutes ahead of silver medalist Henry Spreng (Cabot, PA) and third place finisher Ben Sukys (Orinda, CA) in the 15 mile contest. 
 
Also during Friday dual slalom qualifying Christopher Herndon (Etowah, NC) earned the top seed ahead of Eric Carter (Winchester, CA) and Ross Milan (Golden, CO). Recently crowned World Champion Melissa Buhl (Chandler, AZ) was the fastest rider in the Pro Women’s Dual Slalom
qualifying. She earned the top seed ahead of Kathy Pruitt (Lake Almanor, CA) and Darian Harvey (Durango, CO).

U.S. CHAMP'S SEMIPRO XC RESULTS
1. Weston Schempf...C3-Sollay...1:56:09.81
2. Benjamin Portilla...Honey Stin...1:57:35.50
3. Gian Dalle Angelini...2:01:54.83
4. Ryan Leech...visitpa...2:03:52.36
5. Benjamin Moore...UW Madison...2:04:44.36
6. Justin Raynes...Bikes Vian...2:05:50.37
7. Martin Kell...Mountainsi...2:06:05.42
8. Ben Ortt...Ray Indoor...2:06:14.62
9. Brett Nichols...Trek-VW RE...2:06:33.54
10. Troy Adams...The Bike S...2:06:48.30

U.S. CHAMP'S 17-18 JUNIOR EXPERT RESULTS
1. Robbie Squire...Devo...1:58:04.26
2. John Bennett...Whole Athlete...2:01:22.31
3. Seamus Powell...Windham Mt...2:01:27.62
4. Eric Emsky...Rad Racing...2:02:13.02
5. Kerry Werner...Shirks Pre...2:05:37.45
6. Zach Adams...Yellow Bre...2:07:41.70
7. Wes Lamberson...KHS-Kenda...2:08:48.18
8. Russell Finsterwald...Front Range...2:09:10.38
9. Will Curry...Brick Oven...2:09:44.52
10. Daniel Boyes...Soulcraft...2:09:58.30

U.S. CHAMP'S JUNIOR EXPERT WOMEN RESULTS
1. Essence Barton...Devo-NSO...2:03:00.01
2. Jill Behlen...Tokyo Joe's...2:03:12.01
3. Emily Parker...Vantaggio...2:07:32.30
4. Deidre York...Velobum...2:13:50.90

U.S. CHAMP'S 15-16 JUNIOR EXPERT RESULTS
1. Seth Kemp...KHS-Kenda...1:34:47.00
2. Henry Spreng...Dirty Harr...1:39:58.99
3. Ben Sukys...Expert Tre...1:40:10.80
4. William Curtis...Whole Athlete...1:43:06.07
5. Jake Richards...Salsa-Holl...1:46:26.14
6. Payson McElveen...Bicycle Sp...1:49:21.71
7. Ben Chase...1:50:13.25
8. Jonathan...Byrds...1:58:27.95
9. Zane Enders...Autoliv...2:04:56.10
 
U.S. CHAMP'S DUAL SLALOM QUALIFYING RESULTS
1. Christopher Herndon...Specialized-Decline
2. Eric Carter...Mongoose
3. Ross Milan...Yeti
4. Kyle Strait...Oakley-Specialized
5. JD Swanguen...MS-Intense
6. Mike Haderer...FoxShox-Yeti
7. Logan Binggeli...KHS
8. Geritt Beytagh...Morewood
9. Rich Houseman...Yeti-FoxShox
10. Joe Haley...Eastern Bikes-Maxxis
WOMEN
1. Melissa Buhl...KHS
2. Kathy Pruitt...Jamis
3. Darian Harvey...Sobe-Cannondale
4. Jessica Vogt...Turner
5. Allegra Burch...Velo Bella