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
The festival would take place in the Big Bear, California San Bernardino Mountain Range, which is known for some of the best mountain biking in North America. Shane Leslie would be competing in the Pro men’s Enduro category with some tough competition ahead. Shane would overcome all the presented stages and take the overall victory.
KHS Pro MTB rider Shane Leslie in Big Bear California at the Strait Acres, Gravity Fest.
It was great to see Shane on the top spot of the podium and gather some more confidence heading into the back half of the season with some EWS rounds left on his schedule. The main highlight of the weekend was the Dual Slalom which brought some of the best racers around the world to compete for the top spots. It would be our Jr Pro Nate Kitchen who would be stepping up to the premier class and Steven Walton both athletes would be among the best to duel it out for the pristine Strait Acres event. Friday would be Slalom qualifying with everything trying to make the night show which was only the top 16.
KHS Pro MTB rider Steven Walton in Big Bear California at the Strait Acres, Gravity Fest.Strait Acres, Big Bear Lake, California
Steven Walton would give it his best attempts to get in the final rounds, but would barely fall short at the end of the day qualifying 18th. Nate Kitchen would take his skills among the best and would have a blazing qualifying run to sit in 6th position. Finals would be hosted Saturday evening with Nate’s eye’s on the prize, his first round was going very well beating out top athlete Nik Nestoroff in the first red lane, but would have some quick misfortune by losing his chain in the next battle and not making it onto the round of 8.
KHS Pro MTB rider Nate Kitchens in Big Bear California at the Strait Acres, Gravity Fest.Strait Acres, Big Bear Lake, California
Nate showed amazing speed alongside the top professionals as he was still a Jr. Pro. Sunday would be hosting the Downhill event which was going to be some of the best action all week. With Hurricane Hilary on the move, it was in everyone’s best safety that the race had been canceled and was most likely being moved to the next weekend. The overall weekend was amazing. We want to thank everyone at Team Big Bear, Strait Acres, and Snow Summit for hosting another great event! The team would also like to thank all our sponsors, fans, friends, and family who continue to support!
KHS Pro MTB rider Shane Leslie on the podium taking first place in Enduro in Big Bear California at the Strait Acres, Gravity Fest.
Big Bear, CA Gravity Fest / Strait Acres Slalom Event was last modified: September 15th, 2023 by khsadmin
“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
“I had a fun weekend with the team in Durango for stop three of the BME Series! With a base elevation of 8,800ft and summit of 10,882 , this race was tough on the body! After over 40 minutes and 8 stages of racing I was able to come away with a 2nd place podium finish in Open E-Bike and continue leading the overall points standings going into the final event of the series! A huge thank you to the shimano crew on site for assisting to make sure my KHS 6555+ was running top notch all weekend in the tough colorado conditions. Off to National Champs this week in North Carolina before diving back in to finish the Big Mountain Enduro Series with a bang!”
– Steven Walton
KHS Pro MTB rider Steven Walton on the podium in second place in the E-bike class at the round 3 of the BME in Durango Colorado.
“The week started off really well. I was looking forward to putting in a top-five finish and getting my first podium of the season, the KHS Pro MTB program has really been coming together, and I am feeling very acclimated to the bike and team. I had some great overall stage finishes within the top three but unfortunately on day one I had a massive mechanical, which would put me out of the overall. Looking forward to the fourth round which is hosted two weeks from now in Brian Head Utah. It’s time to get on that podium and finish out a strong season”.
– Shane Leslie
KHS Pro MTB rider Shane Leslie at round 3 of the BME in Durango Colorado.
Big Mountain Enduro Round 3, Durango Colorado was last modified: July 11th, 2023 by Flick
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
