Steven Walton is no stranger to hunting down titles in the Mountain Bike community. Steven has numerous regional and local titles and on top of that he has one major title to his name winning the 2020 USA Downhill National championship series.
KHS Pro MTB rider Steven Walton is the 2023 Big Mountain Enduro E-Bike Champion.
It has been a three-year dry spell to claim another title and that streak is over with Steven Walton claiming his first 2023 E-bike National series title. Steven competed in the Big Mountain Enduro National series with racing over five major venues spread across America, competing against the best athletes in North America. KHS Pro MTB team and KHS Bicycles headquarters is very proud of Steven’s accomplishments and his continued success in this new growing MTB category.
KHS Pro MTB rider Steven Walton is the 2023 Big Mountain Enduro E-Bike Champion.
Steven was on board his KHS 6555E bike that guided his way to victory, also equipped with the best co-sponsors in the business. KHS Pro MTB is super honored to have another title and the continued success heading into the 2024 season.
Steven Walton Wins the Big Mountain Enduro E-Bike Championship was last modified: October 5th, 2023 by Flick
“Big Sky was epic this year with some wild conditions in the mud. Day 1 was going well sitting just outside the top 5 until a big slide out at the end of stage 4. Day 2 went much better with a couple top 5 stage results and moving back up a bit on the overall. Can’t wait to keep building into the Morzine EDR next month.”
-Shane Leslie
KHS Pro MTB rider Shane Leslie on track at the BME in Big Sky Montana.
“That’s a wrap on the 2023 Big Mountain Enduro! I’m extremely stoked to end the series with a hard fought win and claim the E-Bike Overall Title! Myself and 2nd place were swapping stage wins all weekend and after 8 stages of racing in the tough muddy conditions only 1.5 seconds separated us.
KHS Pro MTB rider Steven Walton on the podium in first place at the BME in Big Sky Montana.
Thrilled with how my KHS 6555+ performed this weekend and super impressed with the durability of the bike and components throughout the entire season. We have a few more races coming up before the close of the year that I’m looking forward to and I’m already excited to start working towards more great E-Bike results at next year’s Big Mountain Enduro Series! Huge thank you to everyone at KHS, our team sponsors, our great distributors, and everyone else who supports us! This wouldn’t be possible without you!”
-Steven Walton
KHS Pro MTB rider Steven Walton on track at the BME in Big Sky Montana.
“Tough week with extremely challenging rain conditions as it down-poured all day, everyday during our practice and race days. Race day #1 was so smooth until it wasn’t! I had a big slam stage 3 and due to the mud, I couldn’t get back up to my bike, costing me over 45 sec of time. My goal for day 2 was to stay smooth and finish strong.
KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton on track at the BME in Big Sky Montana.
Day 2 went so well! Smooth and ended up having some great stage finishing of second and thirds. I’m happy to finish strong and I am looking forward to improving my enduro races! Wish I didn’t crash, after analyzing times I would have been on the 2nd or third podium step! Thank you KHS for the support.”
-Kailey Skelton
Final Big Mountain Enduro, Big Sky, Montana was last modified: August 9th, 2023 by khsadmin
Round two of the Big Mountain Enduro series fired off at Sunrise Resort, located deep in the White Mountain Apache tribe land. The team would be competing in the Pro women’s EDR and Pro men’s EDR-E. It would be Kailey Skelton and Steven Walton holding it down for this national Enduro race. With Shane Leslie unfortunately having a practice crash just days before the event, he would be heeling up for next week’s Northwest Enduro Cup and Nate Kitchen already being over in the Austrian Alps for his junior pro World Cup debut.
KHS Pro MTB rider Steven Walton riding at Sunrise Resort in Greer Arizona at the BME.
There would be seven grueling stages at this weekend’s race. Saturday would entail three stages, more leaning towards back country and longer times and Sunday’s finals would be the other four stages which were shorter and more explosive stages.
KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton riding at Sunrise Resort in Greer Arizona at the BME.
Steven Walton would have three great stages and would be holding the lead going into Sunday’s finals with Kailey Skelton having some struggles and small minor crashes that would put her day one results in the top 10. With high elevations topping at 11,000 feet fitness was playing a huge part for all the athletes competing. Both athletes would be recovering for Sunday’s finals. Kaily who needed to bring back some time and Steven Walton on the other side of the fence would be maintaining and controlling the pressure of being in the lead.
KHS Pro MTB rider Steven Walton on the podium at Sunrise Resort in Greer Arizona at the BME event winning the E-Bike category.
After the dust settled Sunday, Kailey would real back some time and grab a six place overall and Steven Walton would have a clean streak of winning all seven stages and claiming back to back Ebike national wins. The team had massive success over the weekend and would be carrying that momentum onto next week’s race hosted in Kellogg, Idaho for the Northwest Enduro cup. Thanks to everyone who supports the team, see you next week in Kellogg, Idaho!
Cheers, Logan Binggeli – Team Management
BME Round 2, Sunrise Resort, AZ was last modified: June 15th, 2023 by Flick
Round three of the Big Mountain Enduro series fired off at Brian Head, Utah with over seven grueling stages at the high altitudes of 10,000 feet with very rocky terrain. It would be Kailey Skelton and Nik Nestoroff holding down the pro men and women’s Enduro categories.
KHS Pro MTB rider Nik Nestoroff on track in Brian Head, Utah for the 3rd stop of the BME series.
Brian Head resort is very famous for their long rocky descents with high-speed technical sections and they’re very loose terrain. Thursday and Friday would be practice. Each athlete would be testing their limits on the loose terrain to find the best and fastest lines. Both Nik and Kailey were feeling good in the high-altitude Rocky Mountains. The first day of racing would be conducted on Saturday with only two stages being held. Those stages were the backcountry stages known as the longer grueling and more taxing stages with long stage transfers and over 5K of climbing. Kailey would wrap her day up with a solid third place overall finish going into Sunday’s finals and Nik Nestoroff would be fighting off some mechanicals he sustained throughout the week but would maintain a solid seventh position against the best American athletes in the Enduro race series.
KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton on track in Brian Head, Utah for the 3rd stop of the BME series.
Sunday’s finals would come quickly, both athletes would be trying their best to recover from those two grueling backcountry stages which took high demand on the physical body and mental status. With Sundays five stages to go that was still a lot of racing even under lift access circumstances. The athletes would be pushing their limits and it would be vital to maintain a steady pace without crashing to keep chipping away at the top times. Kailey would be sitting in top three position on her final last stage when she unfortunately had a pretty big crash and sustained no injuries but with slot her back-and-forth position. This was Kailey ‘s second Enduro national race in her career, which was still very impressive, grabbing a podium position on the national Enduro series level. Nik Nestoroff has been racing for over 16 weeks straight and was definitely feeling the grueling race schedule with back-to-back events and thousands of miles of traveling. Nik would maintain a solid seven position and hold onto that top five overall position going into the final BME of the year which will be held mid-September at Mount Bachelor. The team will have roughly 2 to 3 weeks off before heading off to Killington, Vermont for the U.S. Open and Nik Nestoroff will be holding down the final Big Mountain Enduro in Mount Bachelor to try and claim the Big Mountain Enduro series title. Steven Walton and Nathan Kitchen are both on the mend and will be all healed up and ready to go for the U.S. Open in Killington Vermont. The team and athletes would like to thank all of our sponsors, family, friends, and fans for all the continuous support! Hope everyone is enjoying the summer, once again thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter and support the team.
KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton places fourth at the 3 stop of the Big Mountain Enduro series in Brian Head, Utah.
Big Mountain Enduro #3, Brian Head Utah was last modified: August 30th, 2022 by Flick
