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2000 CHEVY TRUCKS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES SCHEDULE FINALIZED
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Feb. 7, 2000) -- The 2000 Chevy Trucks NORBA National Championship Series has been finalized and will include five events, the National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA) announced Monday. In addition, the second stop of the Chevy Trucks National Championship Series at Mount Snow, Vt., has been moved from July 1-2 to June 23-25 in order to provide better racing opportunities to riders and teams.
The "To Be Announced" event originally scheduled for April 15-16 has been eliminated from the 2000 schedule. The series kick off will be May 19-21 at Snow Summit Resort in Big Bear, Calif. The decision to go to five events for the 2000 Chevy Trucks NORBA National Championship Series was driven by the lack of promoters willing to take on the operations and meet the standards of the National Championship Series, as well as scheduling difficulties.
"Due to the international schedules in 2000, including the Olympics and World Championships, we were faced with several challenges and available races dates were limited. We wanted to avoid creating too many schedule conflicts with the World Cup and, obviously, the World Championships," said NORBA's Director of Competition Eric Moore.
"As it stands now, the schedule has five solid venues with high-quality courses for all four disciplines -- cross-country, downhill, short-track cross-country and dual slalom," Moore said. "We are committed to the national series and will continue to look at how we can keep it healthy and strong for both amateur and professional racers."
Moore said that one of the enhancements they are looking to make to the national series in the future is a cross-country-only event set in a major city. Although the idea did not come together for 2000, Moore said the project is still in process.
"We were aggressively searching for an urban location for the 2000 national series, however, we were unable to find a promotions group that was ready to do it," Moore said." An urban cross-country event would make an excellent addition to the series. We will continue to put our efforts toward this type of event for the 2001 schedule."
Moore added that the additional money now left over in the national championship series budget will go toward an advertising and promotional campaign for the series.
In response to Mount Snow Resort's withdrawal from the 2000 Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Cup Series, NORBA and Mount Snow have agreed to move the date of the second stop of the Chevy Trucks National Championship Series to June 23-25. The move was in response to team requests to create two consecutive weeks of high-caliber racing.
"The date changes in the UCI World Cup schedule is a positive move for the Chevy Trucks National Championship Series. The Mount Snow national series event will draw more European riders and teams, with the World Cup is the following week in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada," Moore said. "I have confirmation from GT and Volvo/Cannondale that they will bring their full teams to the national series event at Mount Snow. NORBA is listening to the requests of the teams."
The downhill and dual slalom World Cup event originally scheduled for June 24-25 in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada will now take place July 1-2 and will include cross-country, downhill and dual slalom. In addition, the downhill and dual slalom portions that were originally scheduled for Mount Snow, will now move to Maribor, Slovenia, June 2-3. The UCI also announced that round five of the cross-country World Cup Series scheduled for May 13-14 has been moved from Plymouth, Great Britain to Sarentino, Italy.
The premier mountain bike series in the United States, the NORBA National Championship Series consists of five stops nationwide and offers off-road racing to amateurs and professionals cyclists. In 1999, approximately 92,500 spectators looked on as nearly 12,000 competitors vied for prizes and national titles.
NORBA is a member association of USA Cycling, the national governing body for the sport. USA Cycling is comprised of more than 90,000 members competing in mountain bike, BMX, road cycling, track cycling and cyclo-cross. For the most up-to-date information on the Chevy Trucks NORBA National Championship Series and NORBA, visit www.usacycling.org/mtb.
| 2000 Chevy Trucks NORBA National Championship Series |
| May 19-21: Snow Summit, Calif. |
| June 23-25: Mount Snow, Vt. (revised) |
| July 28-30: Deer Valley, Utah |
| Aug. 4-6: Crystal Mountain, Wash. |
| Sept. 8-10: Mammoth Mountain, Calif. (Finals) |
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| 2000 UCI World Cup Schedule |
| March 25-26 |
XC #1 |
Napa, Calif. |
| April 1-2 |
XC #2 |
Mazatlan, Mexico |
| April 29-30 |
XC #3 |
Houffalize, Belgium |
| May 6-7 |
XC #4 |
St. Wendel, Germany |
| May 13-14 |
XC #5 |
Sarentino, Italy |
| May 20-21 |
DH/DL #1 |
Les Gets, France |
| May 27-28 |
DH/DL #2 |
Cortina, Italy |
| June 2-3 |
DH/DL #3 |
Maribor, Slovenia |
| July 1-2 |
XC#6/DH/DL #4 |
Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada |
| July 8-9 |
XC #7 |
Canmore, Alberta, Canada |
| July 15-16 |
DH/DL #5 |
Vail, Colo. |
| July 22-23 |
DH/DL #6 |
Arai, Japan |
| Aug. 12-13 |
DH/DL #7 |
Kaprun, Austria |
| Aug. 26-27 |
DH/DL #8 |
Leysin, Switzerland |
| Sept. 2-3 |
XC #8 |
Lausanne, Switzerland |
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