Peninsula Daily News
STEVENS PASS — Having already locked up a Category 2 overall Northwest Cup championship, Port Angeles’ Matt Mangano tried his hand at a higher Cat 1 at the NW Cup’s final race this weekend in Stevens Pass.
Mangano rode in the Cat 1 0-18 Expert Division and finished fourth out of 13 riders with a time of 2 minutes, 31.03 seconds. Ezra Northern of Port Angeles finished sixth in the same race with a time of 2:35.02.
Mangano had wrapped up the Cat 2 15-18 Division championship for the entire NW Cup series with three first-place finishes, three second-place finishes and a third-place finish. He won races this season at Mount Hood, Stevens Pass (earlier this summer) and Donnelly, Idaho. He came in second and third at the two races this season at Dry Hill, just outside of Port Angeles.
James Gardner, also from Port Angeles took first in the all-around in the men’s cat 2 30-39 category, while Port Angeles’ Ron Riggs took third all-around in in the 40-plus Cat 3 division.
The NW Cup is a series of eight downhill mountain biking races held in Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho.
Other top Port Angeles finishers include:
• Bryan Campbell, Cat 2 men’s 30-39, fourth, 3:27.35.
• James Gardner, Cat 2 men’s 30-39, fifth, 3:30.18
• Talon Northern, Cat 2 men’s 15-18, fifth, 3:19.12.
• Jack Clemens, Cat 3 boys 11-14, sixth, 5:00.43.
• Shannon Mangano, Cat 3 men’s 40+, seventh, 5:10.38.
• Jack Slaczka, Cat 3 boys 11-14, 25th, 6:12.20
The Northwest Cup’s all-around winners for the Cat 2 Mens 15-18 receive their trophies Sunday at Stevens Pass. Matt Mangano of Port Angeles, center, won the overall title with three first-place finishes, three second-place finishes and a third. At left is third-place overall champion Blake Rausch and at right is second-place overall champion Jacob Guthrie.
