March 25, 2012 (Craftsbury, Vermont) – Kris Freeman (Team HomeGrown/USST) didn’t let a recent illness or the rainy conditions at the Craftsbury Outdoor Centre get in the way of victory in Saturday’s men’s 15km mass start classic race at the USSA Super Tour Finals.

While today’s field was a virtual who’s who of the U.S. domestic circuit, only Freeman’s teammate, Noah Hoffman, could match the veteran’s pace in the closing kilometres of the race. Freeman and Hoffman duelled it out to the finish, with Freeman taking the win by a mere 1.6 seconds.

APU’s Erik Bjornsen crossed the line in third at 15.5 seconds behind Freeman, followed by Simi Hamilton (Sun Valley/USST) and Tad Elliott (Vail/USST). Bryan Cook (Craftsbury Green Racing Project) rounded out the top six.

A group of five skiers, including Freeman, Hoffman, Bjornsen, Hamilton and Elliott opened a gap on the field by the end of the second lap. With Hoffman doing much of the donkey work to push the pace, Hamilton and Elliott eventually dropped off the back of the group. Bjornsen, who also took a few pulls at the front, but also fell behind when Freeman eventually took command.

The race came down to a sprint to the line between the two USST teammates, who spent much of the winter together on the World Cup circuit, with Freeman out-kicking Hoffman by a few strides.

With Freeman and Hoffman dueling up front, Bjornsen focused on the battle for third and was eventually able to pull away from Elliott and Hamilton, who were lurking close behind.

Despite earning his second Super Tour podium in as many days, Hoffman was  disappointed with his race. “The race today was tough,” he told SkiTrax, “My plan was to go out fast and try to put as much time on people as possible. I did not want to have an easy race where we finished with 10 guys. I felt pretty good, but it was hard to get away from people. I am a little disappointed with the way the race finished up. I need to beat Kris.”

Bjornsen, for his part, was delighted with his third place finish. “Today was also a really good race for me,” the APU skier said to SkiTrax, “I can tell I’m in good form right now, so I just tried to stick with the lead pack and ski the most efficient of those guys. I took a couple of short pulls at the front when Hoff and Bird didn’t want to lead.”

“After my second time leading,” Bjornsen continued, “Hoff and Bird jumped up front and exchanged a couple of words and I new what was going to happen next. The next time we hit the steep hill they went for it, this was with a lap and a half to go.

“They gained about 10m by the top and then continued to go until out of sight. Then Tad and I skied most of the last lap together. I decided to put the hammer down about a kilometer from the finish and was able to open a 15-second gap on Tad and Simi and I was about the same distance from Noah and Bird.”

Full results HERE.
Full results w/splits HERE.