STEVENS PASS — The Northwest Cup downhill mountain bike racing series concluded at Stevens Pass this weekend, with a pair of area winners taking home plenty of trophies.
Winning their classes in the eight-race Northwest Cup were Steven Johnson of Port Angeles and Travis Bear of Sequim. In fact, the whole Bear family did well in the series.
Johnson won at Stevens Pass on Sunday with a time of 5 minutes, 6.37 seconds, his fourth-straight first-place finish. He also had a second-place finish back in May to win the Cat 3 (novice) Men’s 60-plus division with 480 points. That tied the points total of Rick Gale of ZigZag, Ore., but Johnson won more races, the tiebreaker for the title.
Bear won the overall series championship in the men’s Cat 3 40-59 division with 500 points. He finished fifth at Stevens Pass, but had racked up so many points this summer with two first-places finishes, two seconds and three third-place finishes that placing fifth didn’t hurt him. That result was actually thrown out of his overall point total.
Young riders fare well
Finishing second at Stevens Pass in the Cat 2 (intermediate) 15-18 was Talon Northern of Port Angeles with a time of 3:12.65. Northern also finished second overall in this category with 416 points, thanks to a first, two seconds and two thirds this summer.
Connor Bear of Sequim finished second overall in the Cat 3 15-18 division. Connor Bear had two thirds and two fourths this season. He finished fourth at Stevens Pass with a time of 4:51.90.
Matt Mangano of Port Angeles posted his best finish of the year in the difficult Cat 1 (expert) 15-18 division, coming in second at Stevens Pass with a time of 2:27.95. That result garnered him 105 points, helping him leapfrog a rider ahead of him into third-place in the overall standings in his first year in the expert division.
Mangano’s finishes were steadily better over the season, finishing sixth, sixth, fourth, third and finally second during the series.
James Gardner of Port Angeles finished fourth overall in the Cat 1 3-39 division with 288 points. He finished fifth at Stevens Pass and had a third-place and an0ther fifth-place this season.
Among the young riders, Joseph Ritchie of Port Angeles finished fourth overall in the boys 11-14 division. Ritchie.
Ritchie finished with 273 points thanks to a fifth-place finish and three sixth-place finishes this season.
Other young riders who placed well this season were Cash Coleman of Port Angeles (sixth) and Lincoln Bear of Sequim (seventh) in the Cat 3 boys 11-14 division.
Ron Riggs of Port Angeles finished sixth in the Cat 2 men’s 40-49 division this year.
And Shannon Mangano of Port Angeles was eighth in the Cat 3 men’s 40-59.
The Northwest Cup is an eight-race series of downhill races, with two races at Dry Hill outside of Port Angeles, two at Stevens Pass, and four other races in Idaho, Oregon and Montana. It runs from April until September and involves hundreds of riders from the Pacific Northwest and Canada.
Among the women, the best showing locally was by Catharine Copass of Port Angeles. She finished fifth at Stevens Pass with a time of 6:00.22 and third overall in the Cat 3 women’s 40+ division with 119 points.
Local finishes at Stevens Pass include:
• Cat 1 Men’s 0-18 — Mathew Mangano, Port Angeles, second, 2:27.95.
• Cat 1 Men’s 30-39 — James Gardner, PA, fifth, 2:37.90.
• Cat 2 Boy’s 0-14 — Joseph Clemens, PA, 18th, 3:43.28.
• Cat 2 Men’s 15-18 — Talon Northern, PA, 3:12.65; Colby Groves, PA, 36th, 3:57.16; Will Roening, PA, 4:26.69.
• Cat 2 Men’s 19-29 — Josh McElrath, Port Townsend, 13th, 4:10.76.
• Cat 2 Men’s 40-49 — Ron Riggs, PA, eighth, 3:43.19.
• Cat 3 Boys 0-10 — Zephyr Thompson, PA, 18th, 7:32.87.
• Cat 3 Boys 11-14 — Joseph Ritchie, PA, sixth, 4:57.49; Anthony Jones, PA, ninth, 4:58. 19; Lincoln Bear, Sequim, 17th, 5:04.88; Finn Thompson, PA, 21st, 5:11.25; Cash Coleman, PA, 25th, 5:16.48.
• Cat 3 Men’s 60+ — Steven Johnson, Port Angeles, first, 5:06.37.
• Cat 3 Women’s 11-18 — Taylor Coleman, PA, seventh, 5:29.60.
• Cat 3 Men’s 15-18 — Connor Bear, Sequim, fourth, 4:41.90.
• Cat 3 Men’s 40-59 — Travis Bear, Sequim fifth, 4:59.96; Jared Scott, Port Angeles, seventh, 5:03.10; Shannon Mangano, PA, 12th, 5:07.73.
• Cat 3 Women’s 40+ — Catharine Copass, PA, fifth, 6:00.22.
Steven Johnson of Port Angeles, center, won the Northwest Cup men’s Cat 3 60-69 division championship, receiving his trophy at Stevens Pass on Sunday. Johnson won by taking first place in his final four races of the series. Steven Johnson of Port Angeles, center, won the Northwest Cup men’s Cat 3 60-69 division championship, receiving his trophy at Stevens Pass on Sunday. Johnson won by taking first place in his final four races of the series.
