{"id":308494,"date":"2025-08-01T05:56:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/308494\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T05:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:56:12","slug":"dante-silva-and-isabella-naughton-win-elite-dual-slalom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/308494\/","title":{"rendered":"Dante Silva and Isabella Naughton win Elite Dual Slalom\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a02025 USA Cycling Gravity Mountain Bike National Championships<\/a> kicked off in Big Bear, Calif. this week, joining forces with the\u00a0Monster Energy Pro Downhill Series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The best slalom racers in the country made their way to southern California for an exciting evening of pro and amateur racing. Today featured both qualifying and finals for the Elite Men, Elite Women, and Junior Men 17-18 categories. Meanwhile, the remaining Cat 1 and Non-Championship categories raced their qualifying runs and will return for finals tomorrow afternoon.<\/p>\n

Elite Men<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this morning\u2019s qualifying rounds, all 12 riders advanced to the afternoon\u2019s finals. Austin Warren<\/strong> (Alpine, Calif.; Evil Bicycles, Fasthouse, Kenda) was on fire, clocking the fastest times on both runs. Eddie Reynolds<\/strong> (Coronado, Calif.; Fox MTB, Kona, Deity) and Dante Silva<\/strong> (Chula Vista, Calif.; Intense Racing USA \/ Monster Army) rounded out the top three, with less than 0.4 seconds separating them. The top four riders, also including Nikolas Nestoroff<\/strong> (San Marcos, Calif.; Ari Factory Racing), earned byes through the eighth-final round, advancing directly to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

When it came down to the wire, these four proved to be the ones to beat, eventually meeting in the semifinals. The gold medal matchup featured Warren and Silva. Silva took the advantage in the first run, with Warren pushing hard to match his speed in the second. Warren won the second run, but it wasn\u2019t enough to overtake Silva, crowning him the new Elite Men\u2019s National Champion. In the bronze medal match, Reynolds would take the win over Nestoroff.<\/p>\n

Results:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Dante Silva<\/strong> (Chula Vista, Calif.; Intense Racing USA \/ Monster Army)<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Austin Warren<\/strong> (Alpine, Calif.; Evil Bicycles, Fast House, Kenda)<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Eddie Reynolds<\/strong> (Coronado, Calif.; Fox MTB, Kona, Deity)<\/p>\n

Elite Women<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Elite Women\u2019s field was narrowed down to eight riders after the morning\u2019s qualifying.\u00a0McKenna Merten<\/strong>\u00a0(Tempe, Ariz.; KHS Pro MTB) and\u00a0Maylei Leaneagh<\/strong>\u00a0(Frederick, Colo.; Zerode, The Ride Guru, TRP) qualified first and second, with just 0.4 seconds between them. Every round was a battle, but it came down to\u00a0Merten<\/strong>,\u00a0Sophie Allen<\/strong>\u00a0(Woodland Hills, Calif.; Mondraker USA, Worldwide Cyclery),\u00a0Mazie Hayden<\/strong>\u00a0(North Clarendon, Vt.; Wild Rye Racing), and\u00a0Isabella Naughton<\/strong>\u00a0(Flagstaff, Ariz.; KHS Pro MTB Team) in the semifinals.<\/p>\n

Teammates Merten and Naughton gained the upper hand to advance to the big final. Much like the Elite Men\u2019s race, Naughton took the win in the first run, but Merten came back strong to claim the second. In the end, Naughton\u2019s time on the blue lane was enough to secure her first Elite Women\u2019s Dual Slalom National Title.<\/p>\n

Results:<\/p>\n

1. Isabella Naughton<\/strong> (Flagstaff, Ariz.; KHS Pro MTB Team)<\/p>\n

2. McKenna Merten<\/strong> (Tempe, Ariz.; KHS Pro MTB)<\/p>\n

3. Sophie Allen<\/strong> (Woodland Hills, Calif.; Mondraker USA, Worldwide Cyclery),<\/p>\n

Junior Men 17-18<\/strong><\/p>\n

The top four qualifiers in the Junior Men\u2019s race proved to be the ones to beat in the semifinals as well. The final rounds featured\u00a0Ryder Lawrence<\/strong>\u00a0(Murrieta, Calif.; HSC Racing, Monster Army, YT) versus\u00a0Luke Mallen<\/strong>\u00a0(Sandy, Utah; Outlaw Commencal Factory Development) in the championship round, and\u00a0Collier Kee<\/strong>\u00a0(Asheville, N.C.; Kee Mapping) versus\u00a0Max Clark<\/strong>\u00a0(Carmichael, Calif.; Ibis Cycles) in the consolation round.<\/p>\n

Lawrence and Mallen battled back and forth throughout their final runs. As they reached the flat turns near the bottom of the track, both riders slid out in their respective corners but recovered quickly. In the end, it was all Lawrence, who powered through to claim the Junior Men\u2019s 17-18 Dual Slalom National Title.<\/p>\n

Results:<\/p>\n

1. Ryder Lawrence<\/strong> (Murrieta, Calif.; HSC Racing, Monster Army, YT)<\/p>\n

2. Luke Mallen<\/strong> (Sandy, Utah; Outlaw Commencal Factory Development)<\/p>\n

3. Collier Kee<\/strong> (Asheville, N.C.; Kee Mapping)<\/p>\n

Up Next<\/strong><\/p>\n

Downhill practice will continue tomorrow for all categories. Pro Downhill qualifying will start at 2:15pm PT, then Amateur Dual Slalom Finals will close out the afternoon at 3:30pm PT.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a02025 USA Cycling Gravity Mountain Bike National Championships kicked off in Big Bear, Calif. this week, joining forces…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[31473,31474,31477,31479,31475,31481,10936,31480,31483,10996,31482,31476,31487,920,19804,31478,31486,31488,19968,20362,1071,31484,31485,49,978,31490,659,31489],"class_list":{"0":"post-308494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-bicycle","9":"tag-bike","10":"tag-bike-event","11":"tag-bike-mechanic","12":"tag-bike-race","13":"tag-coach","14":"tag-coaches","15":"tag-commissaire","16":"tag-criterium","17":"tag-cross-country","18":"tag-cycling-coach","19":"tag-cycling-event","20":"tag-downhill","21":"tag-events","22":"tag-gravity","23":"tag-mechanic","24":"tag-mountain-bike","25":"tag-national-championship","26":"tag-official","27":"tag-race","28":"tag-racing","29":"tag-road-race","30":"tag-time-trial","31":"tag-united-states","32":"tag-us","33":"tag-us-cycling","34":"tag-usa","35":"tag-usac"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114951971444277953","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}