PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Rick Baraff
Tel: +1-415-359-0730
EM: rbaraff@o2sm.com
www.norbanationals.com

International Men, US Women Downhillers Stand Out at Infineon Cougar Mountain Classic

Big Bear Lake (CALIFORNIA) -- Aussies took three of the top five men's spots in the Downhill event at the 2006 Infineon Cougar Mountain Classic, July 13-16 in Sonoma, Calif. while Americans dominated the podium on the woman's side.

19-year old Australian Amiel Cavalier (Giant/SRAM) who lives in Nevada City, CA took first place in the men's downhill with a time of 1:51:29 while American Tara Llanes (Giant) of Los Alamitos, CA bombed the woman's field in a time of 2:09:60.

The rest of the men's field included: Australian Jared Rando (Giant/Michelin) of Canberra in a time of 1:52.34, Kiwi Des Curry (ODI/Smith) of Rotorua in a time of 1:53.54, Aussie Ben Bell (Yeti/Fox) of Perth in a time of 1:53.76, and South African Andrew Neethling (Mongoose) in a time of 1:53.86.

US National champion Duncan Riffle (Honda/Iron Horse) missed the top five by less than 2/10ths of a second and settled for sixth place overall.

Rounding out the women's top five were: Melissa Buhl (KHS) of Chandler, AZ in a time of 2:10.05 -- less than 1/2 a second behind winner Llanes, Marla Streb (Luna Chix) of Los Osos, Calif. in a time of 2:11.72, Lisa Myklak (Morewood) of Boulder, CO in a time of 2:13.09, and 18-year old Tracey Hannah (Edge Cycle) of Cairns, Australia in a time of 2:14.02.

The 2003 Downhill World Champion, Greg Minnaar, of South Africa, who rides for the Honda downhill team, spoke highly of the Infineon Raceway course after competing on the national championships weekend - where he rode in a separate category for National Mountain Bike Series points

"Some people told me before I came here that it is not a good course, but in fact it is a very good course here. You could host a World Cup here with a few changes. It is steep, there is easily enough of a vertical drop to make it a challenging course. They have a very efficient system for getting the riders back to the top of the hill, so in practice you can have two runs in an hour, which is more than you can at a lot of world cup venues. With the quality of the venue and the facilities and staff, I would like to see a World Cup race here."

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