Craig repeats with a 2nd national crown Corinth biker wins pro Super D sprint race

SONOMA, Calif. – Adam Craig of Corinth and Bend, Ore., won his second consecutive national championship in the pro men’s Super D sprint race Saturday at the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships at Infineon Raceway.

The format pitted all 28 riders competing on the course together instead of running separately in time-trial format typical of most Super D events. Craig won the 2.39-mile race in a time of 6:13.4, one second ahead of runnerup Ross Schnell of Glenwood Springs, Colo.

A relatively new event to competitive mountain biking, the Super D is essentially an extended downhill course that also includes short flat and uphill sections.

“This is the essence of mountain biking,” said Craig. “Charging hard down a hill is what I do at home when I’m out riding. So does Ross.”

After a frenetic start, the lead changed a few times in the top section of the course before Chris Eatough, 31, of Ellicott City, Md., and Schnell, 26, worked together and led the field through the middle stretches.

Craig, a 24-year-old rider for Giant Bicycles, took the lead after a section of undulations two-thirds of the way through the race and stayed at the front until the finish.

Eatough worked hard to pull Schnell, a Super D specialist, to a point where he could bridge the gap to Craig. Schnell jumped up to the leader as they approached the flat finishing straight in the raceway paddock area.

With Craig close to the fence Schnell attempted to squeeze through the gap, but Craig saw him coming and closed that opening as he launched his drive for the finish line. Schnell attempted to go around the outside but Craig had enough left to claim the win.

“This was one of my very few sprint victories in mountain bike racing,” Craig said. “I need to be on one side so I know he will come around on the other. When I looked around he was already there on the right, so I closed the gap. It’s what you have to do, I’ve never done it before, neither of us have any sprinting experience.

“You always have to have that little extra killer kick. That’s what I like about this sport, it’s a good way to work out the aggression.”

Earlier in the weekend, Craig placed fifth the pro men’s cross country race.

Ryan Trebon of Ventura, Calif., was the surprise winner in 2 hours, 2 minutes, 24.66 seconds, defeating second-place Barry Wicks (2:03:18.78) of Santa Cruz, Calif. by nearly a minute. Jeremiah Bishop of Harrisonburg, Va., (2:03:53.55), Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski of Boulder, Colo. (2:05:14.90) and Craig (2:05.36.64) completed the top five.