MOUNTAIN BIKES : Giove’s Victory Completes Successful Weekend

Missy Giove is known for rainbow hair, a nose ring and once wearing Gonzo the petrified piranha around her neck for luck, but when she finds her ultimate identity it probably will be as the best woman downhill mountain bike racer rather than just the far-out extreme of the sport.

Giove, 22, dominated the Jeep National Off-Road Bicycle Assn.’s national finals Sunday to complete the weekend’s only major double victory, following her victory in Saturday’s dual slalom.

John Tomac salvaged the men’s downhill title although he finished third to Mike King of Chula Vista, who will defend his world championship at Vail, Colo., next month, and Brian Lopes of Mission Viejo.

Tomac, first off the hill, posted a time of 3:43.92--about 45 m.p.h. on a hill rated about 10 m.p.h. slower than Mammoth Lakes’ Kamikaze run--but King lowered that with a 3:43.27. Lopes then finished in 3:43.84 for second place.

“You’re always concerned about (Tomac), he’s such a phenomenal athlete,” King said. “But to be honest, I wasn’t really worried about him because his seeding time didn’t look all that great.”

King won the season’s first event in Georgia but fell out of overall contention when he broke his collarbone in Vermont and sat out three events.

Neither of Giove’s victories got her a national title, either. Those went to Cheri Elliott of California Heights, Calif., in dual slalom and to Kim Sonier of Flagstaff, Ariz., who finished second to Giove. Sonier, 31, had won three of the previous downhill races on the season.

“Everyone thinks we’re like arch-enemies,” Sonier said. “She’s one of the best friends I have on the circuit. I need to have her guts and she needs to have my consistency. So we learn from each other.”

Sonier, starting two places behind Giove in her run, was halfway down the 2.3-mile, 1,200-foot drop Snow Summit course when Giove blazed through the finish in 3:57.24--4 1/2 seconds faster than anybody else to that point.

“I could hear the loudspeakers, but I was trying really hard not to listen,” Sonier said. “I got nervous as soon as they said ‘Go,’ like I forgot how to ride my bike. I made a lot of little mistakes all the way down.”

Nevertheless, Sonier posted the second fastest time--4:00.67--but there was no touching Giove.

“I went all out on the top and rode the whole way down,” Giove said. “I scared myself a lot.”