This year WORS captured four top spots and 5 second place finishes to lead the MRC with just 17 points. Jake Begley of Spring Street Sports took first in Sport Men 19-24, Nate Jasperson of Performa Cycling, 1st in Sport Men 25-29, Greg Jones of Hayes Disc Brakes, 1st among Sport Men 40-43, and 17 year old Murphy Kate Montee, placed first in all women 12-18, 34 minutes ahead of second place, led the WORS Series this year! Putting an exclamation point on the day, WORS Series Director, Don Edberg, placed fourth in his division.

Ohio’s OMBC Series, for the first time ever, moved ahead of the Michigan Tailwind Series this year and moved closer than ever to the WORS Series by garnering second place with just 37 points. OMBC was led by 18 year old Christopher Spring of Zanesville, racing for Trek Ohio, who capped off his undefeated record in the OMBC Series as the only OMBC representative to win his division at the Iceman his year. However, OMBC benefited from an improved team score, taking many other top ten spots, including second place finishes by Cato Coleman, Trek Ohio, Sport Men 30-33, and, 14 year old rising star Lindsey Prososki, Gary Fisher/Ray’s MTB, in all women 12-18, that helped the series improve its ranking significantly in 2008.

Last year’s battle for second place was between Ohio and Michigan, with victory going to the Michigan Tailwind Series. However, in 2008, the battle was fought for 3rd place between Michigan’s Tailwind Series and Indiana’s DINO Series with just 3 points separating 3rd and 4th place. In the end, Indiana snatched victory by the smallest margin ever, giving DINO its best MRC finish ever!

DINO was led by 33 year old Sonny Morroco of Indianapolis who captured the only 1st place finish for DINO in Beginner Men 30-34. Chad Salla, of Winona Lake, placed 2nd in the Men’s Singlespeed 39 & under. DINO also improved its overall score by seizing three other fourth place finishes that helped the series slip past the former #2 Michigan.

Michigan’s Tailwind Series was led this year by 66 year old Neil Scharphorn Sr. of Cross Country Cycle, who captured Michigan’s only first place finish in All Men 65+. 29 year old David Riemenschneider of Auburn Hills helped his team score by placing 2nd in Beginner Men 25-29 as well as third place finishes by Bryan Underwood, Cycletherapy Racing, in Expert Men 15-18 and Adam Naish, Bloomingdale Construction, in Sport Men 30-33.

Kentucky’s KYMBA Series has struggled each year to send enough representatives to be competitive, however, despite having just 6 of the 10 required minimum representatives resulting in a team penalty of 80 points, 20 for each missing representative, KYMBA improved their score this year led by 23 year old Ray Smith who placed 5th in Beginner Men 19-24 and Mark French who placed 10th in Sport Men 47-49.

Final Standings: Click here for the finish order
1. Wisconsin/Illinois WORS: 17
2. Ohio OMBC: 37
3. Indiana DINO 55
4. Michigan Tailwind 58
5. Kentucky KYMBA 168

Reprinted from www.usmtb.org, official website of the Midwest Regional Mountain Bike Championship.