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Wells and Davison claim US short track titles

Oct 20, 2009
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<p>Specialized Racing's Todd Wells and Lea Davison won their respective elite men's and women's US short track national championship titles on Sunday afternoon in Sun Valley, Idaho.</p><p>
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For Wells, it was sweet revenge to make up for some bad luck due to an untimely flat tire in the previous day's US championship cross country race, in which he finished second. In the short track, Wells rode like a man on a mission, and from the gun, he jumped to the front and set a blistering tempo.</p><p>
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"I was pretty disappointed yesterday after the flat tire," said Wells. "[Sam] Schultz and I had been going back and forth and to not have a chance to race for it at the end sucked. I knew I had good form after last weekend and yesterday, and warming up today I felt like I had good legs."</p><p>
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Wells, who raced onboard his Specialized S-Works Stumpjumper 29er hardtail, was motivated and quickly established a gap that he would steadily grow throughout the 20-minute-plus-three-lap event. Although several riders chased him and tried to bridge up, none could do so.</p><p>
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"This short track does not have much passing and is very dusty so just going out front is a good tactic. Last year, I also had good form and led the whole race until the finish. I wasn't going to do that this year. Once I saw I had a gap, I gave it everything to hold it."</p><p>
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Wells said the short track race was one of only a few he has done this year and called it good training for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. There, he will represent the US team.</p><p>
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"This is more how the London course is - very fast. I wanted to get a good workout in and having these guys chase me around is a great workout. This is only my second short track of the year. I feel like the short track is the closest thing we have in the US to World Cup racing. It's the pace and the style - on and off."</p><p>
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Wells was delighted to collect the third short track national title of his career. His younger teammate Howard Grotts, finished in 12th place in the elite race as the second best under 23 rider of the day.</p><p>
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Davison earns first elite national title</p><p>
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Lea Davison was all smiles after sprinting to victory in her first-ever elite national championships. All season, Davison has been making steady improvements to her form and on Sunday, she topped her more senior rival Georgia Gould.</p><p>
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"I'm so excited to win my first national title," said Davison, who raced her Specialized S-Works Fate 29er in the 20-minute-plus-three-lap contest. "I love short track, and I'm thrilled. It's been a good couple of weeks with a lot of firsts." She recently made her first Olympic team and got career-best World Cup finishes in the past month.</p><p>
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Davison and Gould led most of the race after two other main challengers faded from the lead group. They were on a tight, fast, loose course, and passing opportunities were at a premium.</p><p>
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"We were all seesawing back and forth, but Georgia and I were pretty consistent and mostly at the front. Georgia led more; I maybe led for a lap and a half. We were working together for sure."</p><p>
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"That was an intense last lap. It was a real battle. I tried to get around Georgia going into the last lap. The last three laps I kept trying to figure out where you could pass. This course is so high speed, there aren't many places to pass. I didn't get by in my planned place - I slid on the gravel. Georgia opened it up, but left a line open on the last climb, and that's where I got by."</p><p>
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Davison saw Gould close the gap back on her, but managed to keep her from coming around and passing during the twisty final quarter of a lap.</p><p>
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Davison's win came in the afternoon. Earlier in the day, she had raced to a silver medal in the US super D National Championship. She put in a super D ride that she called "conservative" as she recovered from yesterday's cross country and prepared for this afternoon's short track.</p><p>
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Wells will race next at the US Pro XCT in Missoula, Montana, next weekend while Davison will take some time off racing to focus on training for the Olympic Games.</p>

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