Final Big Mountain Enduro, Big Sky, Montana

KHS Pro MTB rider Shane Leslie on track at the BME in Big Sky Montana.

“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.
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.
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.
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.
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

2023 US National Championships

KHS Pro MTB rider Nate Kitchen on the track at the US National Championships.

The 2023 USA National Championships was hosted this past weekend at the new Ride Rock Venue located in the amazing mountains of North Carolina. The week’s weather would be a drastic roller coaster ride from dry to wet conditions ever changing. We had the best athletes from America competing for the top spots in multiple categories. It would be Nathan Kitchen who would be competing in Jr. Pro DH and Slalom, Kailey Skelton would be backing up 2021 – 2022 DH National titles and Steven Walton would be holding it down for the Pro men’s DH category. Friday’s DS was a mudder to start to finish. Rain soaked the track and the riders early in the day pushing back the start of racing a few hours. Hats off to the track crew who absolutely worked a miracle to get the rain rutted track in shape for seeding and finals.

KHS Pro MTB rider Nate Kitchen on the track at the US National Championships.
KHS Pro MTB rider Nate Kitchen on the track at the US National Championships.

The day would end with Nathan winning his 1st DS National Championship! Sunday’s downhill track recovered from the heavy rains of Saturday and racing finish times dropped! Saturday would be a full day of qualifying for all team members with very wet track conditions. Everyone would have solid qualifying runs with everyone’s mind on Sunday’s finals and weather looking completely different.  Sunday would bring high pressure for everyone gunning for the top spots. It would be Nathan Kitchen who would improve his qualifying run and get back on the podium in 3rd. Kailey Skelton would push hard as possible but unfortunately just fall short into 2nd place and Steven Walton would maintain a top 30 run with a flat tire. Overall, all the team did very well in the near impossible rain conditions. Huge thanks to all our sponsors, friends and family who keep us on the top steps. See everyone next weekend for round 4 of the Big Mountain Enduro series hosted in Brian Head Utah.

KHS Pro MTB rider Nate Kitchen on the track at the US National Championships.
KHS Pro MTB rider Nate Kitchen on the track at the US National Championships.

This year was a change of pace with a new location on the east coast. The venue, track and weather were also something to adapt to. With extreme humidity, heat and unpredictable rain storms it was a difficult time staying comfortably during practice and racing. The track was a challenge in itself as it was different from anything we’ve ridden before. Most of the track was all man made and most obstacles were very unnatural. Overall, the track was a daily challenge with rain storms occurring every day.

KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton on the track at the US National Championships.
KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton on the track at the US National Championships.

Practice was Patience and more patience. I didn’t find pace till my seeding run. I felt good in seeding with one large mistake putting me further back than I intended. I knew I needed to step it up come race day. I struggled a bit mentally trusting my skills on this track. Race run- I rode some sections perfectly and some like a wimp, as I over braked when I knew I should not have in my race run. This put me in 2nd place, unfortunately not being able to hold onto my 2-year national title! Although I wasn’t able to put down a winning run it was a great experience adapting to a new location and track. This makes me so hungry and eager to push for the next one! Thank you, KHS, my team, and mechanic, for all of the expert work and support. Onto the next!

 -Kailey Skelton – Pro Athlete 

KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton on the track at the US National Championships.
KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton on the track at the US National Championships.

 

Northwest Cup, Tamarack Idaho

KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton taking home the win at the Northwest Cup at Tamarack Resort in Idaho.

Kailey Skelton going hard at the Northwest Cup up at Tamarack Resort in Idaho. riding away with the win.

BME Round 2, Sunrise Resort, AZ

KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton riding at Sunrise Resort in Greer Arizona at the BME.

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.
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.
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.
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

KHS Pro MTB Season Recap

KHS Pro MTB rider Nik Nestoroff at the EWS event in Crans, Montana Switzerland.

What an amazing season to look back on with the KHS Pro MTB race team!

The 2022 Team Roster:
Nik Nestoroff
Kailey Skelton
Steven Walton
Luke Whitlock
Nate Kitchen
Logan Binggeli
And thanks to our Partners:
Kenda Tires 
Shimano
Fox Shox
Fly Racing
Renthal Cycling
ODI Grips 
Fasst Company 
Cush Core
WTB Saddles 
PNG 
OKO Sealant 
ParkTool 
VonZipper