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17-year-old Cameron Bob takes first in SMC’s Pennsylvania Gulch Grind

Sebastian Foltz
SFoltz@summitdaily.com
Special to the Daily/Daniel Dunn www.danieldunnphoto.com.
Daniel Dunn |

Threatened with a weather-related cancelation, the Summit Mountain Challenge (SMC) bike-racing series continued Wednesday evening with the Pennsylvania Gulch Grind.

“The story of the night was Cameron Bobb,” said Jeff Westcott, series organizer for Maverick Sports.

The 17-year-old Bobb crossed the finish line first overall, with a time of 1 hour, 8 minutes, 3.2 seconds, beating second-place racer Mike Schilling by a narrow 6.2-second margin. Racing on the 14.5-mile course in the Expert Men 19+ class, Bobb also finished almost a minute ahead of Pro/Elite class rider Joe Howdyshell.



Wednesday’s win was the most recent in what has already been an impressive racing season for the young rider.

Bobb started the SMC racing series, still 16 at the time, by competing in the Junior 16-18 class in the Frisco Roundup, June 5. He took first in his age group that night by finishing five minutes ahead of second place.



Bobb then raced against competitors at least two years older than him in Gold Run Rush, the second race in the seven-race SMC series. He finished first in the Sportsman 19-34 class in that race, four and a half minutes ahead of his closest competition.

Westcott convinced the young racer to compete in the Expert 19-34 class in the next race, the Swan River Rampage, July 10.

Bobb finished an astonishing fifth, within three minutes of the winner.

“He’s had some great tutelage,” said Westcott. “He’s grown in confidence.”

The night also included two sprint finishes that decided podium spots.

Eight-tenths of a second separated Brad Grohusky and Bernie Romero, who finished second and third respectively in the singlespeed class. Mark Thompson finished first in the class, less than four seconds ahead.

In the Sportsmen 19-34 division, only three-tenths of a second separated second-place finisher Duncan Koehn from third place Drew Anderson. Joel Sawyer finished first in the class in 1:15:27.4, a little over a minute ahead of second place.

The racing series continues Wednesday, Aug. 7, with the Soda Creek Scramble.


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