Temperatures were painfully cold for the second day of SuperTour racing at Bohart Ranch near Bozeman, MT. But, the approximately 4km loop was in very good shape with good coverage and a firm base, and once again a very strong field showed up ready to go all-out in the fourth SuperTour race of the year, an individual-start 12km/16km freestyle.
The women raced first, led by last year's distance SuperTour winner Caitlin Compton who has been trying her hand at biathlon this year but showed today that her skiing hasn't suffered a bit. Compton finished the challenging, hilly, 3-lap course in 28 minutes, 46 seconds, coming in 17.6 seconds ahead of second place finisher Liz Stephen of the US Development team. The two were miles ahead of the rest of the field, with the next closest finisher, Tazlina Mannix of APU, coming in over a minute behind Stephen.
( Direct link to women's results: http://www.bsfnordic.com/supertour/2007_skate_results_women.pdf )
With the women's race complete, the men got underway. It wasn't long before the race began to take shape, as Garrott Kuzzy floored it from the start, hitting the 2km mark already well ahead in the split times. By the halfway point, Kuzzy had caught CXC teammate Brian Gregg who was holding on and drafting him, and coach Bryan Fish had them in first and second place with Kuzzy leading the field by an incredible 30 seconds. Fischer/Craft skier Andrew Johnson also looked to be skiing very strong and fast, one of only about 3 skiers who chose to V2 the entire climb out of the stadium at the beginning of each lap.
In the end, Kuzzy pulled away from Gregg to come through with a clear 20-second victory ahead of Rossignol skier Zack Simons who put in an excellent effort. Gregg hung on for third place at +44sec., while Maine Winter Sports Center's David Chamberlain got ahead of Andrew Johnson for fourth.
( Direct link to men's results: http://www.bsfnordic.com/supertour/2007_skate_results_men.pdf )
Todays races concluded the Bozeman stop of the SuperTour, with the next events coming up next weekend in Soldier Hollow, Utah, site of the 2002 Olympic races. Pictures from today's races can be found at www.bsfnordic.com . Video footage from the men's race will be coming shortly here on FasterSkier.
