July 22, 2003 (Whistler, BC) – A national title is a hard thing to capture, and this past weekend, Gears Racing rider Max Plaxton, captured it again for the second year in a row. Right off the bat, Plaxton opened up a gap on his rivals, seemingly effortless, he pulled away with ease. “It was really tough, the rocks, the rough roots, it just kills your body. There's not a lot of time to rest. I felt good and I won and I'm happy.” Plaxton left for Tour d'Abitibi that evening after winning his second national championship title. “I'm off to Quebec for Abitibi, I'll be missing Fernie, and then I'll be coming back for Calgary and the Canada Cup Finals. My main focus has been mountain biking, but I'd like to qualify for the Road Worlds as well.”
Plaxton will be competing for the first time in the Tour d'Abitibi, one of the qualifiers for Canada's junior road worlds team. He finished sixth at road nationals this year and 10th in the time trial, his first ever! “I've got a lot to learn on the road, that's for sure, it's a whole different thing, it's not always the strongest that wins!”
Plaxton has been dominating the Canadian junior mountain bike scene, winning the first three races of the Canada Cup series this season and now the Jr. MTB cross-country title! He was also a member of the winning Gold Medal MTB Team Relay at the MTB World 2002.
Rocky Mountain/Crystal Decisions rider Bradley Fairall rolled across the line in second place. “It's an awesome course, I'm really happy. I had a couple sections where I made some mistakes, but I recovered from them pretty well and I did really well on the climbs.” Fairall rides and trains regularly on the North Shore (of Vancouver) and in doing so, is exposed to a lot of technical riding. Two years ago Fairall was third at nationals, last year he was fifth. After the MTB Nationals Fairall was also heading out to qualify for road worlds at the Tour de l'Abitibi.
Third placed rider James Lamb (CyclePath) from Nova Scotia was back in action on the junior circuit after a serious injury at the Hardwood Hills, ON Canada Cup earlier this season. “My only problem was that I ripped my knee open at Hardwood Hills and this is one of my first efforts since I did that. I had to take two and a half weeks off the bike. Considering that, I'm satisfied. It's an awesome course, I loved it!” Lamb finished second to Max Plaxton at the first Canada Cup of the season in Bromont, QC. He will be attending the next three Canada Cups this summer.
Fourth place rider Andrew Erb (Jolleys/Team Ontario) commented on the tough course and his own ride, “it was wicked, crazy out there. It was really bumpy, the arms, the arms are fried! Ontario is pretty simple compared to this. But, I've also heard that this is simple compared to the rest of BC.”
Results:Junior Expert Men 17-18
1. Maximiliam Plaxton (BC, Gears Racing) 1:43:07.56
2. Bradley Fairall (BC, Rocky Mountain/Crystal Decisions) 1:46.55.50
3. James Lamb (NS, Cyclepath) 1:48.21.36
4. Andrew Erb (ON, Team Ontario/Jolleys) 1:49:16.20
5. Jean-Sebastien Perron (QC) 1:49:43.93
6. Chris Thorpe (ON, Team Ontario/Bay Cycles) 1:49:57.63
7. Mark Batty (ON, Team Ontario/Bay Cycles) 1:50:05.00.56
8. Tervor Mahon (Rocky MTN Bike/Smith) 1:50:15.65
9. Daniel Sessford (YT, Yukon) 1:50:15.65
10. Phil Beitz (MB, Olympia) 1:52:17.82