USAC National Champs Recap

Last weekend, the top riders from all over the U.S. gathered at Snowshoe Mountain in the beautiful Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia for an action packed week of racing, which included all disciplines of MTB.

Airborne Factory Pilot Tommy Zula hit the road from our headquarters in Dayton, Ohio early morning on Tuesday to get ready for the big event.

Some rain early in the week, followed by some intense thunderstorms later in the week sure made things interesting for all of the riders.

Friday night was Tommy’s first event. Dual Slalom is a crowd favorite and a very technical course kept the riders on their toes. Straight from practice into qualifying Tommy put down two solid runs landing him in the fourth spot only .04 seconds from third. Tommy made his way into the semi final heat. Tommy was down going into the second round but knew the blue course was faster. He pushed it to the limit and a slight mistake near the bottom of the track ended his day just shy from a shot at a medal and reaching his goals.

There was no time to dwell on Friday evening with Downhill qualifying getting started Saturday morning. Tommy felt great in practice and a smooth and steady run slotted him into thirteenth place leading into the finals. With thunderstorms approaching fast, all of the riders were extremely anxious for Sunday’s showdown.

The riders were shocked to wake up to a dry race course on Sunday morning. This had Tommy very excited for his finals run! Although he was a little fatigued from a big week, Tommy pushed hard in his run and it paid off big with a ninth place finish, eight seconds faster than his seeding run. This is Tommy’s first top-10 finish and his toughest race yet! With some solid World Cup points and confidence in the bank, Tommy’s headed to round four of the GRT series in Tamarack, Idaho.