April 17, 2005 (Monterey, CA) — This year SRAM, the official sponsor of the 2005 Sea Otter Classic at Laguna Seca, worked hard to bring world class professional bike racers and local cycling enthusiasts together at an increasingly popular event at the Otter the SRAM Pro Dirt Jump Competition at the SRAM Ride Zone.

For anyone who has ever been to the Sea Otter Classic, the Pro Dirt Jump Competition is bound to be a favorite event. Those lucky few pro riders invited to the competition have a chance to show off their skills and style in front of a roaring crowd. Riders of all ages and skill levels have the opportunity to ride at what can be an exclusive find for Monterey County locals ˆ a creatively developed, well built, and most of all, safe arena to demonstrate their expertise and enjoy themselves.

This season, SRAM gave the honor of designing the course to one of its own professional riders, Jeff Lenosky. Lenosky, a ten year veteran of the sport, worked with local pros and enthusiasts to help the new SRAM Ride Zone come to life. “I definitely couldn’t have pulled it off without the help of a lot of local riders” says Jeff Lenosky, SRAM Ride Zone architect. “There was a whole crew of mountain bike riders from the Santa Cruz and Aptos area that all helped.”

“We’re also going to have Jeff Lenosky there as an instructor to help people have fun,” says SRAM’s Global Communications Manager, David Zimberoff.

This year, SRAM has incorporated two days of Pro Dirt Jump Competition and four full days of freeriding at the new SRAM Ride Zone. SRAM is pleased to offer the new Ride Zone to cyclists at the Sea Otter Classic. One of the advantages of the increased access is that SRAM is investing in the development of the local riders and the future of the sport. “You do get a lot of local riders [at the SRAM Ride Zone] because they’re the guys that come out for the day just to check out the racing and maybe have a little fun. A lot of the local guys in the Ride Zone are riding really good,” says Cameron McCaul, a pro rider from Aptos, CA who will compete at the SRAM Pro Dirt Jump Competition this year, and who helped Lenosky create this year’s SRAM Ride Zone.

The actual SRAM Pro Dirt Jump Competition, completely reformatted, had a qualifying round Saturday afternoon. 25 riders were judged on their runs at the six pack jump by judges who picked one rider to qualify every ten minutes, and two more riders were chosen as “riders’ choice” qualifiers. All ten riders that qualified Saturday will compete for bragging rights and the grand prize at the finals, Sunday afternoon at 3:00.

Finalists:
– Jamie Goldman (Judges’ choice)
– Ben Bokye
– John Jesme
– Cameron McCaul
– Rueul Erickson
– Paul Basagoitia
– Greg Watts
– Aaron Chase
– Kyle Strait
– Chris VanDine