Race Report: California Golden State Finals, Fontana CA, October 29-30, 2011
It's official, McKenna is a downhill racer as well as a BMX racer. This past weekend was the Golden State Finals, held in Southridge Park in Fontana, CA. McKenna raced her first ever downhill race and had an absolute blast doing it. She travelled up to Fontana early Saturday morning to sign-on and begin a day of practice. She was somewhat nervous at first, because everything about a downhill race was brand new to her. She had been training, doing runs at her local track for the past few weeks, so she was confident in her ability. She just had to figure out the logistics of it all. Loading her bike on the shuttle truck, and getting a ride to the top was the first step. This was followed by a short push-up to the start house, then getting in line for her turn to practice the course. Luckily she had her new friend, Maxine, to show her the course and calm her nerves. Several runs later, McKenna felt she had the course under control, and was looking forward to the next days race.
The format for racing on Sunday was 2 runs, with the times being combined. McKenna made her way to the start for her first run, and was visibly nervous as the countdown started. 3...2...1, and she was off. Dropping into the first right hand turn, you could tell she got her nerves under control, as she cranked into the first rocky section, getting through this tricky part flawllessly. She rode the entire upper half perfectly, carrying speed everywhere. Her first mistake came mid-course, where she had to traverse a cement drainage culvert, and got hung up, losing valuable time. The only other mistake came right before the finish line on the last rock drop, missing her line and again getting hung up, wasting more time trying to get going again. She sprinted across the finish line with a time of 3:46.
The second round of runs began directly after the first one was completed, so McKenna once again made her way to the top. Being much less nervous this time, McKenna was immediately on the gas when the starter got to ...1. This run was nearly mistake free, except for once again having trouble at the drainage ditch, but not losing as much time. The last rock drop was only a slight hiccup, as McKenna had to put a foot down and correct her line before she dropped down it. She crossed the line at 3:22, taking 24 seconds off her first run!
McKenna was very proud of her first ever downhill race, and very satisfied with her 2nd place finish in her catagory. She wants to say a "huge" thank you to Donny Jackson and the rest of the Southridge crew for being so nice and accomadating to her; to Maxine for doing runs with her and calming her down; and to TR at Marzocchi for the work on her fork prior to the race. McKenna can't wait until the next race at Fontana, November 19-20. Stay Tuned Sports Fans!
