2012 USA Cycling ProGRT Schedule

USAC just dropped the 2012 Pro GRT Schedule...

April 26-29  NW Cup — Port Angeles, WA
May 20        Eastern States Cup – Mountain Creek — Mountain Creek, NJ
May 27        Eastern States Cup – Plattekill — Roxbury, NY
June 9-10    Mountain States Cup – Chile Challenge — Angel Fire, NM
June 16-17  Whiteface Pro GRT 5K Downhill — Wilmington, NY
August 3-5   Northstar Pro GRT — Truckee, CA

Colorado Springs, Colo. (February 9, 2012) — USA Cycling announced today the 2012 USA Cycling Professional Mountain Bike Gravity Tour (Pro GRT). In its fourth year, the series has expanded to six races and continues to raise the level of competitive gravity racing across the United States. As the country’s premier gravity calendar, the Pro GRT aims to provide a consistent stage of international-caliber events for elite gravity racers to showcase their downhill skills.

The nation’s top gravity racers will be looking to dethrone 2011 champions Cody Warren (Alpine, Calif./DRD X-Fusion Intense) and Jill Kintner (Ferndale, Wash./Transition Racing) as the downhill-only series visits five states from April to August.

The calendar will begin with a visit to Port Angeles, Wash., for the fourth consecutive year as the NW Cup will once again kick things off, this year April 26-29. The Mountain Creek Bike Park will play host to the calendar’s newest event, the Eastern States Cup in Mountain Creek, New Jersey, on May 20. The series will then head just up the road to Roxbury, N.Y., for Plattekill Mountain’s stop on the Eastern States Cup, May 27.

Things again heat up out west, June 9-10, when the Mountain States Cup – Chile Challenge offers riders a preview of the 2013-2014 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Gravity National Championships venue in Angel Fire, N.M. The nation’s top gravity riders will head back to New York the following weekend for the Pro GRT’s fifth stop, the Whiteface Pro GRT 5K Downhill in Wilmington, N.Y. The only UCI category two event on this year’s Pro GRT schedule, the Northstar Pro GRT will wrap things up in Truckee, Calif., Aug. 3-5.

Each of the six stops will offer series ranking points to top finishers, resulting in overall individual titles for professional men and women. The racers with the most points throughout the six-race series will be recognized as the best gravity athletes competing on U.S. soil.

The highest ranked Americans in the Pro GRT overall rankings (provided he/she are in the top three) as of July 30, 2012, will also be an automatic selection to the United States’ World Championship team. In addition, Pro/Category 1 junior men athletes, racing age 17 or 18, with the fastest finishing time in each round of the USA Cycling Pro GRT Downhill series prior to July 30 will be placed into a world championship selection pool. For more on World Championship selection check out USA Cycling’s Mountain Bike Gravity World Championship selection document. All athlete selection procedures can be viewed on USA Cycling’s Team Selection page.

To view the full calendar, current standings and for more on the Pro GRT, visit www.usacycling.org/progrt.