Aaron Gwin, Jackie Harmony Qualify Fastest at 2012 U.S. National Champs 14

The officiating will get better when people who are more invested in gravity get involved. I am in touch with usac on enduro to avoid such a situation where the officials don't know the rules as they inevitably.get involved... In cyclocross the people who were mostly motivated by love for the sport got involved early and it has really been a great benefit to the whole scene from jr and beginners to u23 & elites. I strongly encourage people who are dissatisfied with officiating to become officials..., the riders will benefit.

Yeah Sam Pensler, rawk!

definitely probably might win!

YEEEEOOOOWWW!!! LETS GO LUKE!!!

Go Bambi !!!!!

I'm with this dude! Get it Leland!

Yeah Luke!!!!

it's only 1 page of 3 it looks like, so he either didn't race (had a crash in practice early in the week) or just off the back. pretty sure it's just "seeding" not quali. but i donno for sure. hope it's just seeding.

Austin Warren had a big crash over the hip. broke his helmet, but he's fine (just sore).

yeah, no one gets the boot, right? the page says qualifier, but i think you're right JDD, it's seeding.

maybe not.. just heard on facebook from Graeme Pitts mom. this potentially sucks

"JDD - Graeme and Heikki went to the riders' meeting, and that's where they found out that 60 riders would qualify. It was not seeding "

that is weak if true. how many pro guys were there? 65-75 based on the 3 pages count? they couldn't run an extra 5-7 minutes of racing to fit in 10-15 dudes?

There were 65 entrants.

It's funny... the entire event ran SO MUCH BETTER last year when there were 2 officials(one of whom had never been to a mtb race before) versus the 8 I've counted so far this weekend.

I had to go over to my condo to dig up the rule book during amateur DS qualies on Friday because none of the officials had a freaking clue what to do if a rider missed a gate on one of their qualifying runs.
The officials didn't "have" a rule book available to consult so they were just going to DQ the rider. That's not how it works. Idiots.
I haven't lost my cool with an official since the '90s but I almost snapped yesterday. And I didn't even know the dude they were trying to dsq...

Ropelato DNS'd- he mangled his shoulder on Friday morning.

Ethan Quehl had a smoker. He's only been back on the bike for a few weeks after a nasty injury last season.
I guess his much-maligned on the internet Morpheus bike went down the hill just fine.

so mickey, they're really not taking 5 guys who didn't make the DH cut? bummer about slalom and the hiccups, too

Stroked for Strobel! Where's Ropelato?