Tag: KHS Pro MTB Team

Round four of the Big Mountain Enduro series was hosted this past weekend over the Utah holiday of Pioneer Day.

The BME was hosted at the famous Brian Head, Utah ski resort located 50 miles North of Zions national park, this event would be hosting the best North American Enduro riders to compete on the 2023 Enduro circuit. It would be our one and only pro male Shane Leslie that would be holding it down for the team this coming weekend.

Brian head is known for its long aggressive stages. It is approximately 9000 feet in elevation which is equivalent to 15% more oxygen than your normal 21%. They would be competing in a total of eight stages over gnarly, rough loose terrain. There would be four stages hosted on Saturday and the other final four hosted on Sunday. Shane will arrive Thursday afternoon to complete his practice along with Friday was also a training day to navigate all the lines and figure out the best choices for all eight stages.

Saturday would come quickly with some stages, being backcountry and others being in the bike park, Shane would power through the day with a couple of minor mechanicals, which would include a flat tire on stage two but luckily at the bottom of the stage, so not much time is lost.

Shane would finish up day one in the 11th spot. Shane was excited to reel some time back and try to get in that top-five podium position for Sunday’s finals. Shane would give it his all but the competition would be very tough among the top 10 and times are very tight. Shane would have four good stages Sunday with keeping the rubber side down he would finish the overall weekend in 11th Place.

Shane and the team definitely want more and will be back training and figuring out some more details on getting Shane up to speed among those top five racers. We have a two-week break before the finals that will be hosted in Big Sky, Montana. We look forward to seeing everyone at the races, and as always want to thank our sponsors, friends, family, and everyone who supports the program! See you in two weeks.

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 Skelton and Steven Walton to grab a podium finish against the best American racers. Steven Walton would give his all and push himself into 16th and it would be Kailey Skelton who would throw down a solid run to grab 4th place and get the team on top the podium. Along with Kailey grabbing a podium it was a great successful event with many public people  and fans stopping by our vendor race booth! The team will have a few weeks off before heading out to Arizona to compete at round 2 of the Big Mountain Series. Huge thanks to all sponsors, fans, friends and family who support us!

Cheers,

Logan Binggeli | Team Management 

Wow it was a pretty tough week with a track that was changing every run, consistently!The track was dusty, blown out and tedious as many loose rocks were appearing each lap.  I am a bit bummed knowing I could have ridden better than I did. I ended race day with a 4th place after blowing off the track in my race run. I believe this stemmed from not having race speed confidence due to me getting a flat tire in my seeding run. Due to the flat tire in seeding I wasn’t able to feel this track at speed until it was time to race. This gave me less confidence as I was in the unknown of what it was going to feel like. I rode slower and stiffer than I normally do and sometimes that’s just how it goes. Overall we are safe and that is what counts. Onto the next with big goals in mind!

Kailey Skelton | Pro Athlete