Apologies for the late posting of the Monday Downhill Finals Report.  The "entire staff” of PINNED came down with a nasty flu/virus that had apparently been going around the pits.   It wasn’t a fun ride home  and I… I mean “we” have been passed out ever since.

Anyhow,  Monday started out rather frustrating for most riders.  Although the weather was cooperating perfectly, the event schedule only allowed one hour for “ALL” riders to inspect & ride the course.  That meant that the hundreds of beginners, sports, experts, semi, & pros  all had to battle for a spot on the lift.  With practice starting at 8am (going through 9am), if you weren’t in line by 7am, chances were that you WERE NOT going to get a chance to ride the course that morning.  The line was so long (about ¾ of the way to the MTX track) most riders simply gave up at the chance to pre-ride the track.  The ones who did manage to get on the lift were threatened of getting DQ’d if they rode the track past the 9am cut off time.

With that said, it was a long day of racing.  With all the riders on nearly the same track (only slight changes between the beginner/sport and expert/pro course) the track was able to dry even further… but became even more chewed up.  The pro women hit the track at about 3pm with 18 women ready to rock the mountain.  Coming down to the end, It was essentially the same order as the previous day’s qualifying order, except that #2 qualifier Darian Harvey dropped down to 5^th spot on the podium.  No matter what the order ended up being, KHS’s Melissa Buhl simply destroyed the women’s field - besting the competition by nearly 37 seconds!  A banged up & bruised Lisa Myklak roder her way into 2^nd position with Yeti’s Abigail Hippely

Pro Women

In the pro men’s field, the battle for top spot was a little more intense.  There were quite a few names would could potentially take the day’s victory.  Brad Benedict, the previous week’s NMBS winner at Santa Ynez, took an instant hot seat as he was the first rider down the hill (having flatted during qualifying).  Brad was a bit reluctant to sit on top of the “golden throne” (a gold painted toilet) as he stated that he experienced shifting problems about 15 seconds out of the start gate.  Brad was stuck in a 38x11 gear the entire length of the course.  Though his time was faster than any of the previous day’s qualifying time, he didn’t expect it to last.  

As rider after rider descended upon the hill, no one could best Benedict’s time.  It wasn’t until Fluidride’s Lars Sternberg raced down the mountain that Benedict would be “de-throned” from the… well… toilet!  As the crown erupted in cheers, and the announcer called Lars to the hot seat, Kain Leonard came roaring down and didn’t even let Lars get a chance to sit down before he too was knocked off  the leader board. 

With only a couple of riders to go,  the crowd was anxious to see whether the lone International downhill rider, New Zealand’s Kieran Bennett, would take the day’s win; or would it be rookie downhiller Aaron Gwin, who took the top qualifying spot, that would take the victory and automatic world’s qualifier spot.

As Kieran flew into site and scorched the last few turns, the crowd knew it would be tight.   As Kieran crossed the finish line, only 2-hundreths of a second would distinguish his time apart from Kain Leonard, giving Kieran the lead.  It would come down to the last rider on the hill, Aaron Gwin, for any hope of upsetting the fast Kiwi.  As the clocked ticked down, there was no sight of the young rider (It would be discovered later that Aaron had crashed twice in his run).  Kieran knew he had finally taken his first international victory of his career!

Pro Men

Jr X DH Podium


Vet Pro DH Podium


Semi Pro DH Podium


Pro Women Podium.... sorta


Pro Men DH Podium

Brad Benedict sat on the "golden throne" hot seat for nearly the entire field.  He was knocked off only at the end to finish up in 5th.


Melissa Buhl was by far the fastest woman of the weekend.  MTX Champ & DH Champ by huge margins!


Mike McCormack put on another great show - organizing and even chipping in to commentate during the DH finals!


Lars Sternberg was hauling @%$# all weekend.  It's grat to see his determination finally be rewarded!


Eli Krahenbuhl took his Showed that his Trek is also fast on the race track - 3rd place pro men!


A visibly  upset Aaron gwin crossed the line after crashing twice in his run.


An extatic Kieran Bennett wins his first international race!


Series leader Waylon Smith had an off day, unfortunatley which lead to his drop in the standings.

Darian Harvey charging hard to 5th place in pro women.

Brad Benedict had a stellar performance (5th place pro men, considering he was stuck with a single speed!

Many riders just celebrated being done & over with the course!

Chris Boice had a run he soon forget... in fact, apparently he did forget a portion of it after a hard crash!  Glad to see he's ok!

Just for you Brad... Slacker!

Kieran charging hard to his first international victory!

What a surprise the day was today!  We finally woke up to clear skies and warm temperatures here in Angel Fire.   A much due relief from the past several days, as attitudes were better, and a hell of a lot more people showed up to check things out!

The track itself dried up immensely, but was still a bit slick to start, as the preceding snow had to melt somewhere…and the easiest path ended up being the course itself.   However with the rich soil and the sunny day, the track became extremely tacky and relatively easier to ride.  Unfortunately, riders had to re-learn their lines as this was nearly the first time they hit the track in fully dry conditions (more or less).

Riders spend the day dialing in their lines before the Pros had to qualify… well, I guess the better term is “seeding run” as every single rider qualifies for the finals.  With the track being long and relatively rough, many riders decided to save themselves for “race day” and not take any extra chances getting hurt.  Others elected to take the track a more of a race pace, but attempt some harder lines to see how they would work out in a “race scenario.”  Knowing that you qualify no matter what happens helps in these situations.  You can take those extra chances… but you’d better be willing to pay the price.

When things were said & done, it was Aaron Gwin who took the fastest time of the day with a 5.32.56 – just over a second ahead of New Zealand’s Kieran Bennett (the only foreigner here this year in DH.  Waylon Smith doesn’t count, cause the Brit has been here too damn long).  A few notable riders, like last weekend’s winner Brad Benedict as well as David KlassenVanOorshot had some issues today and didn’t seed well (see below), but that doesn’t mean you should count them out!  Brad is looking extremely fast and my bet to be in the top 3 spots.  David K hasn’t seen much competition outside the local Southridge Winter Series in southern California, but placed 2^nd here, just a year ago.  Chris Del Bosco (former US National Champ…. sorta) is here as well and looking damn fast.  It’s going to be a hard call in the men’s field come Monday.  In no particular order, I’m betting on Benedict, Gwin and Bennett be in the top 3.

The women’s field isn’t too hard to predict.  Melissa Buhl is simply on a different level of riding compared to many of her competition.  With Lisa Myklak bogged down with an injury (although she’s still expected to race),  we can practically hand Buhl her victory now.  Buhl’s seeding time was just shy of 39 seconds over 2^nd place.  Is embarrassing the right word for the state of women’s racing?  We seriously need more women competitors in the states!  Granted a few fast women are attending the US Open… but that’s not much to fulfill the void.

DH quail

Men

1. Aaron Gwin 5.32.56
2. Kieran Bennett 5.33.61
3. Eli Krahenguhl 5.33.63
4. Matt Fisher
5. Kain Leonard
6. Lars Sternberg
7. Brad Oien
8. Daniel Weinman
9. Zach Griffiths
10. Chris Boice

Notable Riders
* Brad Benedict suffered a flat in the middle of the course and had to roll down with his tube sucked into his cassette.
*David KlassenVanOorschot blew his rear shock, and elected to cruise the track…. He also apparently stopped mid way.


Women
1. Melissa Buhl 6.18
2. Darian Harvey 6. 57
3. Lisa Myklak 7.09
4. Abigail Hippely
5. Jacqueline Harmony

* Lisa Myklak is suffering from a bruised and banged up ankle.  Although she can manage to ride, it’s hard for her to even walk.  Judging by her time, I’m sure she cruised her run (as I’m sure it was affecting her).  Lisa also opted to sit out the MTX National Championships.

MTX

MTX National Champ seeding were based on yesterday’s qualification results.  So that left Chris Boice as top dawg (since Petr Hanak is Czech).  I’m not positive, but I think there were only about 25 riders in the finals, as 2 riders weren’t American citizens and TJ Sharp & George Stevenson were both on the injured list.

Quick update on TJ Sharp & George Stevenson.  TJ got checked out by one doc, & has an extremely sore side.  He “might” have a broken rib, but it won’t be confirmed until x-rays are taken.  George is doin fine & has joined yours truly in the Angel Fire Hematoma club.  He’s got a gnarly bruise on the bottom of his right thigh. Both riders are out for the remainder of the weekend.

Racing action was pretty exciting for the National Championships, even though there wasn’t a fully stacked field.  There were tons of crashes, a descent amount of passing and some hard charging riders!    Eric Nelson, who place 2^nd yesterday at the MSC race, was an early on favorite to take the win.  Unfortunately, Eric took himself out of contention, crashing over a double, only after a couple of heats. 

Joey Backus, who made his upgrade to the Pro class, was blitzing the entire field and easily made the final round.  The guy is a fierce rider and a definite contender in the American field.  Backus held off the likes of EC and other fast veterans to move into the finals, where he met the young gun Blake Carney, and Yeti teammates Chris Boice & Rich Houseman.  In what was though to be an action packed, bar-to-bar dogfight to the finish was over in mere seconds.  Entering into the first turn, Backus seemed to have lost his front wheel (over a small lip which was built into the berm) and crashed in front of his hard charging competitors.  Chris Boice, who sat in second position, had nowhere to go and proceeded to ride straight into Backus himself.  Blake Carney was also trapped in “no man’s land” and ran into Backus and Boice.  Houseman who was surprisingly sitting in forth position saw the carnage in front of him & was able to avoid the mess completely.  Carney managed to get around the fallen riders quickly followed by Boice.  Although it’s hard to say if Boice would have caught Carney, he lost all hope when he almost lost his front wheel when in a later berm.  Although he saved himself from a wreck, he salvaged 3^rd place.  Joey Backus rolled down the hill in 4^th. Meanwhile, Houseman cruised to the final and took his 1^st National Championship MTX Title.

In the Small Finals, Rudy Unrau took the win in front of Eric Carter who made a remarkable pass from last position into 2^nd, placing him 6^th on the day.

Sadly, it’s hard to really say much of the women’s class.  Melissa Buhl dominated the small field and took her zillionth National MTX Title. 

Men
1. Rich Houseman
2. Blake Carney
3. Chris Boice
4. Joey Backus
5. Rudy Unrau

Women
1. Melissa Buhl
2. Neven Steinmetz
3. Jess Vogt
4. Sondra Williamson
5.  Jackie Baker

Tomorrow (Monday) is the Downhill Finals.  There should be some exciting racing and we’ll be able to announce at least 2 people (1 male, 1 female) making the automatic bid for the World Championships.  A lot of guys are yelling at Kieran Bennet to not win, so he doesn’t take the automatic bid away from an American! (they’re joking… the automatic bid would then go to 2^nd place if Kieran won.  Nevertheless, still funny!)

Pro Women National Championship MTX Podium


Pro Men National Championship MTX Podium

Just 12 hrs ago, this slope was blanketed in snow!


Aaron Gwin... even his competitors are saying that he's going to win!


Chris Boice has been all out ripper in both the DH and MTX!


Whoop-Whoop-Whoop-Whoop!


Buhly demolished the women's field in DH Quali by nearly 39 seconds...

..then proceeded to wax the competition in MTX!  US National Champion!

Joey Backus was nearly unstoppable in MTX.  


Big House had a fairly easy route to the National Champ finals.


Pro Men's MTX National Champ Finals start.
 

While the rest of us are kickin' back, Aaron Gwin is scoping out new lines, walking the track, re-riding section, after section, after section.  No wonder he's progressed so fast!

Justin Wyche has been lookin good in the Jr-X category & aiming high for the Jr Worlds Qualifier

Decline's own Sean "Griz" McClendon

When you get to see Aaron Gwin ride in person, your jaw will drop.  For someone's who's really only ridden DH for about 6 months, it'll make you shit your pants!

Too bad you can't just stop and check out the area when you're going 40mph!

Now this is a "real" tree section!  This mountain puts all the previous NMBS races TO SHAME!

Lars Sternberg is simply flying!!!  The man behind the Fluidride Cup placed 6th in DH quali!

TJ Sharp had a nasty spill, apparently piledriving straight into a huge jump.  Luckily he's up & walking around with a sore body & possible fractured rib.

The high speed off camber track is slick & highly treacherous

With clear skies... the view from the top of the mountain is just breath-taking!

Brad Oien is having a break-out rookie pro season!  7th place quali in the DH.

2-Man wide going through the middle of the track!  Racing was tight throughout!

George Stevenson shows off his huge, multi-colored hematoma.  That's gotta feel just great!

Chris Boice is having an awesome weekend!  Although his MSC MTX race didn't go as planned, he qualified 10th in the DH and placed 3rd in the MTX National Championships... & that's after qualifying as FIRST American!

Houseman was the lone man crusing to his FIRST National Championship Title!

Saturday… ha… it was almost a 3^rd day that I elected to not head up the mountain.   From the pits, you could not see the top of the mountain and the parts you could see were covered with snow!  Many of you might say you would have gone up and toughed it out… but it really didn’t seem worth the effort.  About 90% of the riders were riding in rain jackets, sweatshirts,  or rain suits.  You could hardly tell Pros from Amateurs (yes, many of the practices were combined Pro / Expert…  or just an open track altogether!).  So with that said, my ass stayed put in the pits! Ha

I DID head up for MTX practice about mid-day.  The track was fairly descent… a few sections were changed on the track, though I’m pretty sure 90% of it was identical to last year.  Steve Wentz  was hired to make the adjustments to the track, as EC (who was originally going to head up the work) was going through some personal issues at home.  A spine was added in the 3^rd straight and some of the corners seemed to be smoothed out.  However after the rain, sleet and snow we just went through, the track was pretty soaked.  Luckily it dried up (and had great drainage) to provide a stellar track for practice and racing throughout the day.

Don’t’ fret, I did get some DH photos after lunch.  Due to the weather issues, many of the days’ DH practice sessions were jumbled around.  The DH track was open for a few hours, which ended up being a great opportunity for most riders.  After the morning weather, the skies cleared somewhat and the sun and wind dried out the track a great deal.  The upper portion of the course was still slick, but as riders started to wear in the track, lines ended up getting faster and faster.  The lower portion of the course was epic.  Clear skies and great traction to be had!  Many of the riders opted to session the lower portion of the track to dial in their lines.

MTX Qualifying for the MSC race was held in the early evening (approx. 5pm)  Though there were some familiar faces at the top of the leader board, there were also quite a few new faces!  EC & Big House (Rich Houseman) were both in the top 4 in times, but a newcomer to the scene (though some of you may recognize the name if you have been attending the first MSC and NMBS races) Petr Hanak took the top time of the day.  I believe Petr (yes I spelled that right) is originally from the Cez Republic, but now resides in Colorado.  And yes, he comes from a BMX background.  The guy is tearing up the scene already!  Another welcome surprise in the leader group is Yeti’s Chris Boice!  Boice rose through the ranks in the RPM squad to earn a spot on the Yeti factory National team.  Boice is a ripper on both the MTX/DS and Downhill scene and is sure to be a contender as he matures with his skills!

QUALIFYING

Pro Men
1. Petr Hanak
2. Chris Boice
3. Eric Carter
4. Rich Houseman

Pro Women
1. Melissa Buhl
2. Lisa Myklak
3. Steinbrecker
4. Bower

MTX Finals were held straight after the Quali’s… however for some reason the Expert categories were also  thrown in to the mix… which seemed to have extended the racing a bit.  It wasn’t too bad though, so I’m not complaining.  It was just unexpected.

Angel Fire provides one of the few burly MTX tracks here in the states and actually provides passing.   It’s still not necessarily the most ideal (a few sections are a bit tight), but there was some great racing throughout the evening. 

It was truly great to see EC here and in good spirits as his father passed earlier this week.  After clearing his head a bit in practice, EC had some great runs and ended up with a 4^th place finish on the day.  He had mentioned that he came unclipped a few times in several runs and had a bit of an issue hitting the right shifter as he rode down the first straight in the finals.   He still rode a good run and ended up on the podium, so it was a great day for him!  Rich Houseman rode clean and smart runs throughout his heats.  He actually came in 2^nd in each of his runs, making sure not to overextend himself, but also making sure to advance to the next round.  Both Peter Hanak and Eric Nelson  had stellar runs, pretty much blowing away their competition in all their heats. The finals were a bit of a battle in both the start and the finish.  EC nearly came together with Houseman, but pulled back as he wasn’t going for the lead (no sense in getting hurt, or taking someone out if you’re not going for the win!).  The gaps between the riders grew a tad during the middle of the track, but Nelson nearly pulled out the upset at the finish line.  Somehow Nelson landed the final double and motored to the finish line.  He missed the mark by about half a wheel.  For those of you wondering, Erick Nelson is only 19 years old and also comes from a BMX background… but hasn’t race more than 3 times a year for the past couple of years.  He’ll also make a bid for the Worlds team tomorrow.

FINAL

Pro Men
1. Petr Hanak
2. Eric Nelson
3. Rich Houseman
4. Eric Carter

Pro Women
1. Melissa Buhl
2. Jess Vogt
3. Neven Steinmentz
4. Steph Hatalsky

Semi Pro
1. Trouy Cooperman
2. James Hollibaugh
3. Jake Kinney
4. Jordan Rupe



Speakin of which, stay tuned for the MTX National Championships as well as more downhill practice info!

Injury Report

TJ Sharp took a good digger during his early MTX heat, hurting his side & ribs.  It’s been a rough go for TJ thus for this season.  TJ literally returned to racing action this week in Angel Fire.  He has been recovering from knee surgery  during the offseason and has missed the first major races of the year.

George Stevenson was also taken to the hospital down in Taos.  Apparently George hurt his leg during practice, but was a trooper and participated in qualifying and finals.  He’s got a good bulge on his leg, so hopefully it’s nothing too serious.

Pro Women's MTX Podium


Pro Men's MTX Podium


Semi Pro MTX Podium


Jr X MTX Podium 

 
Sobe Cannondale shows up for the ski race.


Last weeks NMBS winner Brad Benedict.
Will we see a repeat???  It's a good bet for sure!


The rocks were sliiick, but Jon Wilson finds a way to blast through!


The course is still damn fast... in sections.


The "man" in charge... and Mike McCormack


Chris Boice had a stellar run in qualifying, resulting in a 2nd place seed.


Yeti rules the MSC events!


EC still kickin ass!  3rd Quali / 4th Final


Pro Men's Winner Petr Hanak


Evidence of an actual turnout for the podium!

Dark, tacky dirt... mmmmmm

Downhillers don't like to get muddy either...
Building a "bridge" since we're not riding pontoons!

Rain jackets have been the norm this week... pissing off all the photographers... or at least me!
 

The 3 huge finish doubles are standard on the Angel Fire Track
 

Anyone recognize this frame?

Lars Sternberg was hauling

The new HIP gave for some interesting attempts!

Jeremiah Work - The Lumberjack!

Can you believe it?  A MTX track with JUMPS!
 

Eric Nelson - a name and face to remember!

So who does EC ride for?

Not too hard to spot Theo

Riders watched as Petr Hanak dominated the track
 

George Stevenson III is a trooper!

Damn New Mexican tail-gaiters!!

TJ Sharp's back in action... hopefully still!
 

 
Ummm... nice Bandana... Cowboy up!

General theme of the day... "Rubbing's Racing!"

I apologize for the lack of updates on Thursday & Friday.  In all reality, there wasn’t much to report on here.  The course is similar to years past, however there were a few changes.  A few high speed sections were removed to make room for a couple of more rock gardens.  In all honestly, this wasn’t really a great idea for the track.   Angel Fire wasn’t really known for its steepness, but more for its length and requiring the rider to be able to take a variety of brutal obstacles along the way.  Unfortunately the new changes were implemented in flat sections of the mountain.  With the addition of rock gardens in this area, the flow of the track was drastically changed.   Riders are having difficult times maintaining speed throughout these areas.  

With that said, Mother Nature also played a toll this week.  The weather forecast was originally calling for rainy days trading off with sunny warm days.  Yah, things didn’t quite go as planned.  Riders woke up both Thursday and Friday morning to cold temperatures and SNOW!  Yes I said SNOW!  No, it wasn’t a winter blizzard by any stretch of the word, but it was cold and snowing enough to stick to the ground.

Due to the conditions and seeing riders in a miserable state coming down the track, I elected NOT to head up the mountain on Thursday.  I may have missed out on some photo opportunities, but I think there’s enough days left in the week to get some DH action. 

Unfortunately there aren’t as many “big names” here in Angel Fire as there have been in years past.  Still there are plenty of fast faces here, so it should be an exciting time come race day.  Kieran Bennett flew in all the way from New Zealand for this event alone!  The Yeti / Fox Shox team is here representing as well – Chris Boice, TJ Sharp, & Aaron Gwin are definitely top contenders.  KHS is here as well – Melissa Buhl is a sure bet for the win in both MTX and DH.  Last week’s NMBS winner Brad Benedict is here as well as his teammate Ryan Condrashoff.  There will be plenty of riders here to make it a great weekend.  Still, I’m not exactly sure if the weather played a major factor in this, but the US Open of MTB is also taking place this weekend.  There still seemed to be a decent number of participants though… especially to the crap we had last week in Santa Ynez for the NMBS.

I did make an attempt to snap some pics on Friday, but about 5 shots into my morning the heavens opened up and the snow came down… HARD!  In a matter of minutes, the clouds rolled in and the snow came down… and sideways!  It was a bit much for me, even though I was equipped with pleanty of rain gear.  It was a good thing I decided to call it a day as after a couple of runs, many riders decided to not ride for the remainder of practice anyhow.