king of the Mountain Bikes

Vernon-This past weekend Diablo Freeride Park at Mountain Creek Resort played host to the Second Annual U.S. Open of Mountain Biking. The world's fastest downhill mountain bike racers battled for a $20,000 purse and the U.S. Open Mountain Bike Title. The Men's Pro/Open class was stacked with top contenders from around the globe. Australian ripper Sam Hill threw down the fastest time of the weekend and edged out Rich Houseman by nearly four seconds to capture the men's title and a $5,000 cash payout. David Klaassenvanoorschot snagged third place and the final men's podium spot. "The course was really good. It's challenging, it's fast, it's rocky, it's awesome," said Hill. Kathy Pruitt could be seen ripping the course all weekend long and managed to snake past first place qualifier Marla Streb for the $5000 payout and women's title. "I got here and was really impressed" said Pruitt. "The course had a lot of rocks and this section at the bottom with crazy banked turns." Lisa Sher posted a solid time of 3:34.03 which was enough to round out the top 3 and claim her spot on the podium.