Category: Mountain (Team)

Mountain Creek bike park has been hosting the best DH events since DH history began. All three athletes Kailey Skelton, Steven Walton and Nate Kitchen would all be gunning for the top steps of the podium! After flying across the country the team would gather their bearings and build their team bikes Tuesday. Wednesday would be the official track walk for all athletes, the track was short with sections of steep rock gardens, fast ski slopes and all around a very explosive high demanding track! In most years past the track would see rain and make for slippery conditions but this year it was set to be bone dry. Day 1 practice would fire off early Friday morning with the track ever changing and the athletes finding their fastest line and running their race machines into the East Coast track. All athletes were taking well to the track and feeling confident for Saturday’s qualifying! The team couldn’t voice enough how much this overall bike park was put together and always a pleasure to ride! Saturday evening would intel of Nate Kitchen going P1 and feeling very confident for finals! Unfortunately both Kailey and Steven would suffer mechanicals and finish in the back of the pack for qualifying, but safe going into finals. Sunday finals would kickoff with Nate Kitchen dropping first for the junior Pro category with massive high hopes all maintaining his top qualifying and carrying that into finals, but unfortunately would suffer a mechanical towards the top of the track and finish 25th. It would be up to Kailey…
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It would bring the best North American Enduro racers from all parts of the continent to compete against each other on a very physically demanding track with weather temperatures hovering around 90° and 90% humidity with eight grueling stages divided into two days. KHS, Pro MTB would be represented in multiple categories. It would be Shane Leslie in Pro male Enduro, Kailey skeleton in Pro female Enduro, Steven Walton would be representing us in the E bike pro category and Nae Kitchen would be holding it down in the U21 Junior Pro category. Racers would arrive Wednesday to acclimate prep their bikes and get ready for a grueling two days of practice. Thursday would allow the first four stages for practice and training, the stages would be mixed conditions of pedally, slick, steep, and overall very challenging. Friday’s practice would hold the other final four stages, which were very similar in terrain. Overall it would be a very tough weekend, mainly physically demanding on the riders with such high humidity. 

Saturday was the first big day with the first four stages. A lot of action went down with the most noticeable being unfortunately, Kailey Skelton getting a flat tire and pulling out of the complete event due to her time that she had lost on that stage. It would be very hard for her to recover. Shane Leslie would have a slight crash and slot himself in eighth place going into Sunday’s finals. Nate Kitchen would have a great day sitting in six place going into his finals. And…
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The 32nd Sea Otter Classic launched this past weekend with thousands of fans and racers gathering from all over the globe! Sea Otter has been one of the pinnacle venues to showcase new product launches within the MTB community along with some of the biggest racers’ names showing up to compete.

Enduro racing was up early on the event schedule with four demanding stages. Shane Leslie would round out the top five throughout the first three stages when he had a minor crash on the final stage resulting in a 17th place finish overall. It would be good to see Shane on pace to get up on the podium among that depth of field.

Friday would be followed up with Dual Slalom qualifying, Dual Slalom was one of the favored events for this venue being a head-to-head sport and spectator friendly. Our Jr. pro Nate Kitchen had a demanding day slotting him in the number one position! Kailey Skelton would qualify inside the top ten and unfortunately Steven Walton went down in his qualifying run and did not make the top 32. Saturday evening was the finals for Slalom with over 5000 spectators cheering from the side lines. Kailey would make it to the round of 8 but get eliminated due to a slide out in one of her runs. The track…
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This National is no stranger to some of the most technical, demanding steep, muddy terrain in the East Coast. Also bringing the best Americans possible along with some top international racers to all compete and prime themselves for the launch of the 2023 race season. It would be Kailey Skelton who would be holding it down for the pro women division. Steven Walton would be continuing his success in the pro downhill men’s field and our junior professional. Nathan Kitchen would be representing us in the top youth of America, upcoming athletes.

Thursday would fire off with an awesome track report/track walk, which would implement steep, Technical, roots, muddy, terrain and an overall type World Cup track would be presented among all the athletes. Friday would be day one practice, which was quite muddy and fresh cut lines which would consist of playing it safe for all the riders grabbing their bike set ups, maintaining speed and getting a feel for the Tennessee win rock track.

The athletes would awaken Saturday to a massive hurricane type storm. We definitely want to say our prayers out to everyone in Georgia and Mississippi. According to the weather there was a giant tornado that basically wiped out some small towns, and the after effects affected Tennessee with over an inch and a half of rainfall on the track and premises so we’re wishing everyone the best of luck. It would be beyond super muddy for qualifications. Kailey Skelton would throw down a heater run placing 2nd 3.5 seconds back…
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KHS Bicycles > Team > Mountain (Team) > Page 3