The Northwest's All Gravity Series was on the weekend with two races to whet the appetites of all the DH racers that were stomping on the pedals waiting for the season to now kick off! So many pics from Justin and Shawn and a few edits from our Hood River correspondent Mike Estes - Happy Birthday Buddy!
2011 Double Down Hoedown - Spokane, WA The northwest's All Gravity Series first race of the season was a huge success with the largest turnout to date.
Mother Nature threw rain and snow at us this year trying hard to spoil our fun, but in the end the sun and over 150 riders came out on top. There was plenty of thrills and spills to be had as usual as riders fought their way down Beacon Hill MTB park in Spokane, WA. This was a 3 day event with Friday being the practice day and two different tracks to race Saturday and Sunday. This meant you had two lines to dial in if you were competing both days.
Saturday's course was down the newer track - chock full of doubles and technical lines that led to a super fun and fast course. Over 150 racers from all over competed on Saturday, but Transition's own Lars Sternberg came out on top of the pack in the Pro class with a screaming time of 1:33.54, two seconds ahead of second place finisher Kyle Thomas with Evan Gilsdorf in third. Only two pro women competed this year, with Jaime Rees beating out good friend Chelsea Stevens. It's always a great time when the best racers in the Northwest come together to race at our local hill. Never a dull moment, that's for sure!
A bit of rain over night made the course a bit slick, but nothing to slow down the 140+ riders that came to play. Sunday's course was mainly on the old DH course with a few new lines thrown in the mix including Girthmore which is a good 15-20 ft drop. This year Cat 1 had the option to hit Girthmore which made for more excitement and added way to really push the riders during their run. One Cat 2 rider also hit Girthmore, but was disqualified because that was not an option for his class.
There was a large crowd gathered near the bottom of the course as riders came cascading down the Waterfall into the Seattle line. There is always lots of action on this section as there is a steep rock roller into a technical boulder field. Plenty of riders usually hit the dirt here as fatigue sets in and this time was no exception! Kyle Thomas ended up with the win on his new Diamond Back, followed by Spokane local Bryan Crum and Charlie Sponsel in third. Lots of good times to be had at the Double Down Hoedown.
If you didn't make it this year make sure to mark your calendar for next year's event. Big thanks to the All Gravity Series organizer Josh Tofsrud for putting on another great event. Also big thanks to Wheel Sport East, The Bike Hub, CDA Cycling, Transition Bikes, Shimano and Deity Components for sponsoring the event. For full results,
check out the allgravityseries.com website.
Saturdays Results-
www.allgravityseries.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ddhd3-2011-march26results.pdfSundays Results-
www.allgravityseries.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ddhd3-2011-march27results.pdfHere are a couple vids courtesy of Mike Estes:
If anyone has any pictures/videos from this weekend that you want to share you should “Like” All Gravity Series on facebook and share them on our wall!
All Gravity Series
BTW congrats to all that raced and good pics....
^^^^^^^^^^^
Some really good picks too!
oh and Chris A
and Scott..