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Show Skiers brave bright sunshine in first Town Race for points f 1 L v.iii , , ,,t, V U j . . :..:,"'-:v '' : .V.,; ft ' . x V'.-V; , . " -. - $ .... : " - - .......... a over Dave Klouzer of the E.E. Then came Paul Cooper Coo-per of Ogden Foods in third at 28.94. Then came the last group to start from the dogleg, the killer B's. The women ran a tight race, with less than half a second separating the three top finishers. Renee Vanos of the E.E. popped through the gates for the win at 31.48, with Sue Hillman and Maree Plunkett trailing. In the men's B's there were cries of "Sandbaggers go to Salt Lake for next spring's flooding and get out of the B class" as the three top finishers were far ahead of the rest of the howling mob. Bill Skinner, coordinator coor-dinator of the Town Races, said all three are veteran B class racers, and he was debating whether to bump up the three into the A's. Charley (Mr. Sandman) Blisaray landed the top spot, while Jim Peine and Cody Bonham took second and third respectively. The action intensified at 12:45 when the Vets, A's, and Pros plummeted from the top of Clementine. This was where the large hoardes of racers coagulated 66 in the men's A's alone. And Skinner Skin-ner said the times just keep getting faster and faster. It was the Vets who led off. But don't try to take your sick dog to these Vets because their only qualification qualifica-tion is an age of 30 or older for the women, 35 or older for the men. Mid Mountain Lodge's Karen Korfanta wove her aching legs through the course in 74.30 to take the top spot among the women by almost two seconds over Jill Merrifield in second. Jessie Whitmore was third at 78.89, skiing for Cofer Chiropractic. The growing ruts on the course made the backmenders of Cofer seem like a most timely sponsor of the races. The men Vets were a tight bunch. Dave Brennan of the Ski Service Center snared first at 70.27, then came Steve Morgan of the Mid Mountain Lodge at 70.43, and Adolph Imboden in third at 70.48. In the A group the competition compe-tition was wild and wooly. It was so tough for the women that Iris Gericke and Melan-ie Melan-ie Corey tied for the crown at 76.55. Gericke skied for The Club, but showed no ill effects from New Year's Eve. Connie Brandon took third. Another Clubite, Mark Bender, cruised to first for the A men. His time of 69.30 was only two tenths better than Wolfe's Dave Parker. The U.S. Spudnuts' own Mr. Potatohead, Brad Bubb, took third. Then came the Pros, flying down the rutted course. Here it was Jamie Kurlander Peters who trounced the competition. For Peters, who spent six years on the U.S. Ski Team and the past four racing professionally, the race was the final tuneup before she headed to Okemo, Vermont for the first pro race of the season. Karri Hays, fresh off her cross country victory, took second at 70.63, while Trina Saunders got third at 72.17. For the men's Pros, the Park City Ski Team was the story, as two of the team's members nabbed first and second. Russell Shay, skiing ski-ing for Rightfit Sports, whipped to first at 66.85, while Scott Williams wasn't far back at 67.19 for second. Williams is part of a team which has yet to find a sponsor, sort of like a man without a country. In third was John Jacobs at 67.55. Now a quick rundown of the team results: For the cross country it was the Ski Service Center taking first with a combined time of 84.62. Turner Competition Services was second at 87.42, and Philippe's third at 96.83. The C's were taken by Ogden Foods at 90.89, while the Eating Establishment grabbed second and third. The E.E. rebounded in the B's with a first at 87.04, while the Ski Connection was second at 89.21, and Prairie Green Travel third. The Vets were swamped by the Mid Mountain Lodge squad at 218.96. Cofer Chiropractic Chiro-practic was second at 231.74, but the course ate too many of the other teams, extinguishing extin-guishing the third place spot. It was the Blazing Saddles crew from Heber who took the close A competition with a time of 223.31. In second was the Ski Connection at 224.35, and in third The Club at 225.36. Jamie Kurlander Peters paced the Ski Service Center to their first place Pro win, as the team beat out the Rightfit Sports time of 207.25 by over two seconds. The Team Without A Sponsor took third at 208.20. Skinner encouraged more team sponsors to come forward with teams. But he discouraged would-be crashers from attending the post-race party, saying that race bibs from three years ago do not qualify one to get into the Rusty Nail. Those bibs have to be current models, please, he cried. He said the contract with the sponsors of the race preclude pre-clude any non-racer par-tiers. par-tiers. The next Town Race will be held Jan. 23, with registration on Jan. 21 and 22. Racer Al LaMarre looks like an ad for Yamaha, Marker and Roffe as he whizzes past a gate in Monday's Town Race. by Randy Hanskat While many Park City residents stayed inside, afraid to go out and face the brilliant sunshine which had been almost non-existent in the previous six weeks, 240 local racers took advantage of Monday's clear skies and raced in the second Town Race. It was the first Town Race which counted for points. And although there was some grumbling about sand-baggers sand-baggers in the C and B classes, and about the ruts on the afternoon course, a good time was had by all. The racing began at 9:45 a.m. and continued until a little after 3 p.m. There were some repeat winners such as John Con-nally Con-nally in the men's C class, Brad Makoff in the men's cross country, and Jamie Kurlander Peters in the women's Pros. But there were also many new faces in the finishing places, some of whom may have overslept the first race on Dec. 19. Monday also marked the start of the team competition. competi-tion. Most of the racers are on teams sponsored by area businesses. So, in addition to the individual standings, team results are tallied using the three fastest times (at least one must belong to a woman). After the first results there is a tight battle between the Eating Establishment, the Ski Service Center, and the Ski Connection. Last year it was the Eating Establishment, Establish-ment, a team which dominates domi-nates the B and C brackets, which skied away with the four-foot Michelob Light trophy. The cold morning light greeted the cross country competitors at 9:45, as did the hard-packed Clementine. Clemen-tine. For the women, it was Karri Hays of the Ski Service Center who took first at 29.44. In second came Lea Turner, who also finished second in the women's A's during the Dec. 19 race. Then in third was that skier out of water, Cindy Fish at 31.08. Brad Makoff and Dee Wallace of the Ski Service Center dominated the cross country men's side with first and third places in the close race. Rip Griffith took second. Then came the daring C's, using a variety of snowplow-ing snowplow-ing and other rigid stances to weave through the giant slalom course. For the women Kristin Lamphier of the E.E. broke the timing light at 31.96 to nab first, while Susan Ribas of Philippe's Phi-lippe's was second at 32.33, and Starla Durbin was third at 32.97. For local St. Bernard breeder Val Provencio, the men's C's were a disappointing disappoint-ing start to his racing career, as he could do no better than eighth. Connally took first by half a second |
