MOUNTAIN BIKES : Juarez, Third, Wins First National Title

BIG BEAR LAKE —  David (Tinker) Juarez knew he had to overcome the dominance of John Tomac to win the NORBA Jeep national men’s professional mountain bike cross-country championship Saturday, but he never got the chance. The mountain got Tomac first.

The United States’ best all-round mountain bike racer finished 33rd in a field of 86, nearly 35 minutes behind Juarez, the hometown favorite whose third place gave him his first national title.

The race winner was 39-year-old Ned Overend, a Durango, Colo. neighbor of Tomac who has won six national titles but was not in position to win this one. Overend’s time over the 32-mile course at the Snow Summit ski site was 2 hours 53 minutes 46 seconds. Paul Willerton of Winter Park, Colo., was second in 2:54:33, Juarez next in 2:57:14. Tomac’s time was 3:32:00.

Juli Furtado, 27, of Durango won her fourth consecutive national title and 26th race in 27 national and World Cup starts over the last two years. She dismounted shortly after the start when her chain got jammed, later fell twice and once thought she was lost when the motorcycle forerunner left to start the men’s race, but she still cruised home 1 3/4 minutes ahead of Ruthie Matthes of Durango in 2:00:52.64 for the women’s 21-mile course.

Tomac, 26, had won three events and led Juarez, 33, 227 points to 225, going into Saturday’s race. The lead already had switched twice between them through five previous races. The tough new course, which reaches 8,132 feet with its 6,000 feet of total climbing, offers a panorama of the lake, but Tomac didn’t appreciate the view.

He was so far behind that the awards ceremonies were starting when he rolled out of the forest, doggedly pumping the last few uphill yards to the finish.

“On the first climb, my heart rate went through the roof,” he said. “I settled down to a steady pace, but they just ran away from me. I just cruised the rest of the way. I really don’t know what the problem was.”

He will try to figure it out before today’s downhill, in which he has a comfortable lead, although not comfortable enough to withstand another 33rd place.

After early pacesetter Tim Gould fell out with a flat tire, Juarez led briefly but gave up the lead to Overend and then second place to Willerton, all the time looking over his shoulder for Tomac.

“That was my main concern,” Juarez said. “I didn’t know where he was and that got me a little nervous. Then I heard the announcer say he was in seventh or eighth place, so I just tried to ride a strong race.”