Craig third in NORBA final series standings

MOUNT SNOW, Vt. – Adam Craig of Corinth used a fourth-place finish in Saturday’s pro men’s cross country race to clinch third place in the final 2005 NORBA National Mountain Bike Series point standings.

Geoff Kabush of Victoria, British Columbia, won the race and earned his second straight NORBA series championship.

Craig, 24, was the first rider on the attack in Saturday’s season finale and led the four-lap race for the first two laps, but as the field wound its way around for the start of the final lap, Kabush took the lead. Once on the front, Kabush continued to push the pace, eventually finishing first ahead of two-time world champion and countryman Roland Green.

Seamus McGrath completed a sweep of the top three spots for Canada while Craig was the top American finisher in gaining his podium (top-five) finish.

American Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski finished sixth in the race to retain his second-place ranking in the final overall standings, just ahead of Craig.

Craig and the rest of the world’s top mountain bikers now head for Europe for next weekend’s UCI Mountain Bike World Championships at Livigno, Italy.

Craig, one of six Americans entered in the men’s pro cross country division, has had previous success on the Livigno course, having placed seventh in a World Cup stop there last year.