USA National Championships 2011 - Binggeli and Kintner win DH

Sep 25, 2011

by Ian Hylands

It rained hard last night and today's US Nationals Track was a muddy mess. Logan Binggeli won the men's, Jill Kintner won the women's and Neko Mulally won the JR men's with the fastest time of the day by over a full second!

Top 5 Men

1. Logan Binggeli
2. Aaron Gwin
3. Mitch Ropelato
4. Duncan Riffle
5. Phillip Kmetz

Top 5 Women

1. Jill Kintner
2. Jackie Harmony
3. Jaime Rees
4. Rebecca Gardener
5. Anne Galyean

Top 5 Jr Men

1. Neko Mulally
2. Austin Warren
3. Ray Syren
4. Cody Kelley
5. Nikolas Dudukovich

Complete Results and Times at bottom

It rained hard overnight turning the 2011 US Nationals DH race into a giant mudfest.

Mud, Roots, and Rocks, that was how it all played out...

It wasn't raining today, but the thick mud was definitely making a mess of things.

Yesterday in qualifying it was all about Aaron Gwin, he had the fastest time by 11.3 seconds. But today that all changed. Aaron went down in the mud, and Logan Binggeli took the win by 3 seconds

The fastest time of the day however went to East coast racer Neko Mulally. Unfortunately USA Cycling rules prevented him from competing with the big boys.

Jill Kintner spent the season racing the World Cup circuit along with Jackie Harmony. Jill won by 2.35, 3rd place was another 24 seconds back...

Jill Kintner

Logan Binggeli

Mens Podium

Womens Podium

Jr Mens Podium

Dh Elite Men
Dh Elite Women
DH JR MEN 17-18
Sunday Dh Am Results All

Posted In:
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Author Info:

IanHylands
Member since Jun 23, 2008
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79 Comments

19 2

bikerm (Sep 25, 2011 at 15:30)

Aaron Gwin has now changed his name to Aaron G. Why? He didn't win. Nice job Logan!

fantaman (Sep 25, 2011 at 15:53)

No Gwinning this time

kmart14 (Sep 25, 2011 at 16:57)

aaron crashed hard right before the rock garden. it was weird seeing him crash the way he did

no-ah (Sep 25, 2011 at 18:23)

gwin does not like mud very much

dirtworks911 (Sep 25, 2011 at 20:31)

Glad to see a Southern Utah Desert Boy win in the mud...

ripperboy (Sep 25, 2011 at 22:09) (Below Threshold)

stop protecting ur boyfriend kmart14 and no-ah

dragan-diogoboaventura FL (Sep 26, 2011 at 4:27)

@ripperboy

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL everybody knows gwin is the fastest guy on the planet... but this time logan win... Congrats to him...

kmart14 (Sep 26, 2011 at 9:56)

all i was saying was it was weird to see him crash the way he did. it wasnt in the rock garden it was right before on a steep short shoot ripperboy no need to get pissy

no-ah (Sep 26, 2011 at 21:48)

and i was just saying he doesn't like mud. you know as a joke because he crashed at worlds and now he crashed here? ya gett it.. huh? noo? not really sticking? oh well you ruined ma joke.

woolin (Sep 27, 2011 at 19:04)

check the pics he hit hard!

woolin.pinkbike.com/album/US-Nationals

dirtworks911 (Sep 25, 2011 at 15:26)

Logan Binggeli, I'll have your babies...

blowmyfuse (Sep 25, 2011 at 17:51)

He didn't even wreck in the mud. He landed in it. It was off a rock face. It was hard, scary, fast and brutal. But he popped up and started on flat ground into the rocks and had just about the best run at it.

Suck it nancy. It's racing and he went for it rather than relax and ride for a conservatively easy win. In qualies, it was muddy and even the top guys were joking in the pits that they were all racing for second.

Great race, awesome fans, announcing in the rock garden, etc.

The only thing that sucked was that milohead promised to run a chainsaw but chickened out.

milohead (Sep 25, 2011 at 19:45)

lol, I been hearing that all day. I left Saturday morning for Wilson's and left my chainsaw on the workbench freshly oiled.

bikesrus1 (Sep 25, 2011 at 20:32)

Congrats Logan...and KHS bikes (and of course team manager Q)....awesome job! And to Philip Kmetz...wow from the BMX kid racing in overalls to podium at National Champs...way to go dude. Great weekend to Mitch....super skills on that kid. Aaron had a great year....bringing the World Cup title to the good ol' USA....so leave him alone... you can't win them all and he would probably be the first guy to tell you that. Duncan, I don't know you but congrats on bringing 4th place home to the 805... I think the turnout issue would be resolved if next year can be at a better time of the year when people are able to travel and kids are out of school. Venue looked great. And why not slalom, 4x, and pump track next year....something for everyone...

Pininator (Sep 26, 2011 at 0:34)

Loving all these mudz pwns Gwinzors comments. He crashes in the dry, too. Would have won at Ft. William this year, but still managed a 5th. He's a checkers-or-wreckers rider with pretty calculated precision. Since he's usually one of the last riders down pretty much every time, some of his lines have changed dramatically. At the speeds he's carrying, sh*t can hit the fan without warning. I think it was the Windham race where he was flying thru the last rock section and almost went thru a tree near the end of it.

blowmyfuse (Sep 26, 2011 at 10:09)

To everybody wanting video, you're going to be disappointed. I didn't see anybody other than "GoPro Hero's on a stick" type guys...and they were drunk.

Most people were just plain partying their butts off in the rock gardens and all our local videographers were the hardest of those partiers. Keep holding your breath.....

azzyp (Sep 25, 2011 at 15:44)

have we found gwins kryptonite? as he doesnt seem to do too well in the wet!!!

cikudh (Sep 25, 2011 at 17:05)

i can see that also, but he's truly master in dry

11 1

darkmuncan (Sep 25, 2011 at 18:28)

yer 2nd is a terrible result

azzyp (Sep 26, 2011 at 14:49)

im sure gwin thinks it is!!! its not like hes trying to get points, its win or lose race and im sure he'll be pretty gutted

Singlespeed-Seb (Sep 25, 2011 at 15:36)

And Neko wanted to enter, the elite mens, who would of won it as well.

psocova (Sep 25, 2011 at 16:42)

@BLIPDH and @azzyp Gwin won in leogang with bad weather, and with a second place in the US national after a crash do u still think that he need to work on the mud??

DirtyDee (Sep 25, 2011 at 16:55) (Below Threshold)

Yes I do, and I'm sure he knows that too. You don't get to wear the national champs flag on your sleeve coming second. Same goes for Champs at Champery too...

kmart14 (Sep 26, 2011 at 17:38)

everyone crashes its a fact and in mud (which was a crazy amount of it) its a lot easier. oh well he crashed, he can still say im the only one to win 5 world cup races in a season. cant win every race

DirtyDee (Sep 27, 2011 at 2:00)

I might have guessed all the neg props coming from Americans. I'm not hating on Gwin, he's a massively talented rider. But let's look at the only races he didn't win this year. Fort William - up by a good few secs and crashes in a muddy corner La Bresse - muddy track, he just went too slow Champery - again, mudfest and he crashed US Nat Champs - mud, crash Does he need to work on his mud riding. YES. I know that and he definitely knows that. My guess is he'll be taking some trips away from Cali to ride the wet PNW this off season.

dragan-diogoboaventura FL (Sep 27, 2011 at 5:07)

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Leogang super muddy course he smash all the dudes...MSA super muddy and longst course he smash all the dudes again...

do you think it because the mud...????????? i think is because i goes every time on the edge !

DirtyDee (Sep 27, 2011 at 6:52)

Listen. I'm not saying he's a bad rider. Just that his dominance would be so much more if he could ride in the mud better. Leogang, he would have won by a lot more if he didn't make a mistake in the mud and ride most of a root section unclipped. MSA he also had a massive moment in one of the early berms that sent him off track and lost him a good few seconds. Yes, he won those races but with runs that he was very unhappy with...because of...you guessed it....MUD!

glueman0 (Sep 25, 2011 at 18:44)

UTAH REPRESENT! Congrats Logan, Mitch and Cody.....

iamamodel (Sep 25, 2011 at 20:10)

If Logan Mulally doesn't have serious sponsors yet, someone should get on to that right about now. He's obviously got natural talent, he's appreciably faster than anyone else in his class, he has heaps of room for improvement, and has put in some good training when his peers are sitting on their butts playing video games. Serious, someone, pick up the phone now.

deadatbirth (Sep 25, 2011 at 20:54)

he's on a development team for young riders called Grom Racing. the person who runs the team, built this course.

starcbiker (Sep 25, 2011 at 22:18)

Everyone seems so ready to call gwin a washed up hack who had a fluke season.. what gives? he set a record for most wins in a world cup season, won the world cup overall and pretty much dominated all year, including beating out danny hart five times. Not to take away from danny's amazing run at champery ( it was one of the most impressive runs i've ever seen) but i mean come on, gwin beat him all season, gwin was faster then hart this year and you can't argue the facts. so what he came in second, yeah he should have won but he crashed, shit happens. sorry rant over. congrats to logan on beating the world cup champion and congrats to gwin on a great season.

timkoerber (Sep 28, 2011 at 8:45)

He was fast as hell in Qualies, which even though it was a bit drier it was still a bit muddy then too. I guess killing everyone by 11.3 seconds doesn't mean too much to you though... Crashing as hard as he did in the rock garden and still getting second place is quite a feat. Lines change with that much mud and he was going fast as hell. Props to him for getting up as quickly as he did and for still ending up second. The two inches of rain the night before finals didn't help anyone out and it was a battle for everyone just to stay on their bike, pros included. Super cool dude with a bright future ahead of him.

tsm11 (Sep 25, 2011 at 18:37)

dude wheres the pictures of the dudes with the american flag bandanas and cut off flannel shirts..they were awesome lol

santacruzbullit5 (Sep 25, 2011 at 18:40)

those dudes were my heros...America!

acnorth11 (Sep 25, 2011 at 18:46)

I saw them too!

krazieghost (Sep 25, 2011 at 15:34)

nice overalls for mitch.. that guy kills it on groomed DS then puts up an awesome run on a muddy mess. well done

viatch (Sep 25, 2011 at 15:35)

whatever happened to videos?

Steezysix (Sep 25, 2011 at 15:38)

Patience dude, it's not even a work day!

scottvt (Sep 25, 2011 at 19:59)

I dont think there was much coverage at this race.

BLIPDH (Sep 25, 2011 at 16:32)

5th place has some GUNS

blowmyfuse (Sep 30, 2011 at 10:40)

ghey love. But in all fairines, when the suns out...guns out!

nouser (Sep 25, 2011 at 17:31)

... look at that flat rutted corner. Just wow

shishka (Sep 25, 2011 at 19:39)

Bigups to Binggeli and Khs for the win, that bike looking sweet also. Gwin needs some work on the mud tracks or better hope for a dry season next year. Winning worlds and nationals in same season is not soo easy.

neimbc (Sep 26, 2011 at 3:37)

Well.... Honestly if Aaron goes down - the next best guy might have a chance. 11 seconds up in the Quali - that's pretty much it.

Chuckett (Sep 26, 2011 at 16:36)

I have posted some photos I took of Gwin's crash. He was still the fastest rider on the hill mud or no mud.

BLIPDH (Sep 25, 2011 at 16:31)

work on that mud riding Aaron

IanHylands (Sep 25, 2011 at 17:57)

I don't think it's the mud riding that he needs to work on so much, he's pretty good at it. Anyone can go down for whatever reason, but once you go down in the mud getting speed again is tough work...

FastDHR (Sep 25, 2011 at 20:11)

I don't think it's the mud riding part as much as keeping the rubber side down part he needs to work on...lol...this race was his to lose...great coverage, great pics...

OGBrowner (Sep 25, 2011 at 16:55)

Logan Bitchin' Binggeli !!!

konaspirit (Sep 25, 2011 at 19:42)

Nice to see Marzocchi on the podium !

EddyDave (Sep 25, 2011 at 17:27)

What are the rules that mean Neko Mulally can't race in the Elite men?

velociraptor-clintthrust (Sep 25, 2011 at 17:35)

Too young. Just like how troy brosnan would've been 2nd in men's the other week, but was too young

deadatbirth (Sep 25, 2011 at 19:34)

you have to be 19 to compete in the Pro field....even though he's been racing pro for over 3 years

EddyDave (Sep 26, 2011 at 3:44)

Ahh right okay, had no idea he was so young!!

lilandy (Sep 25, 2011 at 18:56)

Logan Binggeli's bike looks raw as fuck!

norcalassassin (Sep 25, 2011 at 19:32)

GWINNINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

wangamachang (Sep 26, 2011 at 15:43)

anybody know why benedict was a DNF?

DavidMakalaster (Sep 26, 2011 at 20:43)

No coverage of the National Champion Fan competition? I'm disappointed.

BlackMarketUSA (Sep 25, 2011 at 17:42)

what happened to vids?

11 4

IanHylands (Sep 25, 2011 at 17:56)

That's kind of a pointless comment isn't it? If you had gone and filmed some vids there would be some to look at now wouldn't there? Or if USAC had paid someone to shoot vids and give them away there would be some as well. Or maybe we should have all pitched in and paid Freecaster a whole bunch of money to stream the event. I'm getting tired of everyone wanting video footage of every event 5 minutes after it's over. If you don't see any vids it's because there aren't any yet, end of story.

matarratas (Sep 25, 2011 at 20:41)

Yeah, we want some vids!

Steezysix (Sep 26, 2011 at 1:40)

I think the problem is everyone gets so used to massive (and live, thanks to Freecaster) coverage of the World Cups, Crankworx, etc, that they assume Pinkbike and others have huge ESPN type budgets and staff numbers that can go to every event possible. Also, we tend to forget that we're not paying anything for this coverage and that video editing actually takes time and effort from people who, for the most part are doing it for love, rather than money.

NoahColorado (Sep 26, 2011 at 8:48)

If it would have been somewhere in Colorado, there would be vids - and a lot more riders. Just a guess, but I'd say we put out more vids than any other state (though it doesn't hurt there are so many events here).

wasea04 (Sep 27, 2011 at 15:52)

Here's a linky somebody posted up on MTBR, not bad filming: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuaSoDU-ZnA

dxfox (Sep 25, 2011 at 23:48)

usa nationals,usa winners,go usa! u r the best in the world! obviously other countrys rider cant be competitive. Obama thank god i am a canadian.

Pininator (Sep 26, 2011 at 0:19)

Did somebody forget to take their medication?

cmcgary (Sep 25, 2011 at 18:10)

Way to go Neko! Represent on of the worst DH states in the Union!

nouser (Sep 25, 2011 at 17:42)

Starting to see a trend with Aaron he is not good in the mud! Champerey and now nationals.

humoroususername (Sep 25, 2011 at 20:13)

You mean in Champery where he was 2 seconds faster than everyone except Danny Hart through the first sector and less than a second behind Danny? But then he had a small crash, on a part of the track that wasnt particularly muddy or steep and his bike got stuck in the netting for 10 seconds. If that didnt happen he would have easily come second. If Gwin is not good in the mud then everyone else must be shit too aside from Danny.

He also won in Leogang which was a mudfest.

Below threshold threads are hidden

3 10

panzer103 (Sep 25, 2011 at 15:33)

OMG Aaron didnt win? Wow that is a surprise to the max! and up over three seconds! Dont get cocky my friend.
Way to go Jill!!!!

10 0

milohead (Sep 25, 2011 at 16:03)

He went down at the start of a gnarly rock garden and probably lost 4-5 seconds easy

4 19

xetal (Sep 25, 2011 at 17:14) (Below Threshold)

Bla bla bla. Americans are all shocked that their idol cant win on a muddy day. Only human after all !

nouser (Sep 25, 2011 at 17:34)

All I have to say is I rode the course when it was muddy and wet and anyone can take a fall it is almost impossible to get even spikes to hook up. All of these top riders are amazing one small mistake is two or three seconds and thats the race. Overall consistency proves who the best riders are and aaron gwin proved that all season long.

5 12

xetal (Sep 25, 2011 at 19:10) (Below Threshold)

Mud > Gwin. Accept it !

Protour (Sep 25, 2011 at 19:20)

What a surprise, and who is Phil Kmetz in 5th? Great weekend for ropellato.

Maybe Gwin should go back to flat pedals for super-slick conditions.

shishka (Sep 25, 2011 at 19:39)

Who is Kmetz, where have you been? I see him shredding at plattekill all the time.

dragan-diogoboaventura FL (Sep 27, 2011 at 5:02)

i cant win in the mud ???????? u have a F*cking sure off that you dumbass ?!!!!!!!!!!!

for sure u dont see last WC

5 wins dumbass FIVE WINS in 7 Races... Leogang SUPER MUDDY Track do you want more ??? in your country MSA

tipical nerds... when the best guy miss something everybody trys put him looks like shit... BUT GWIN WILL BE ON THE TOP FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF YEARs sorry for that

p.s he crashs because he goes on the edge all the time...

timkoerber (Sep 28, 2011 at 8:50)

Protour.. Flat pedals for Gwin in these conditions? I tried switching over to them for two practice runs and I will never do it again. Clips for racing are unbeatable, regardless of the conditions. Anytime I have ever raced on flat pedals I have always regretted it. They have their place, but in my opinion it's not on the race course. Most people who will say otherwise probably just aren't comfortable in clips and should get out there and practice with them in the mud.

Protour (Oct 3, 2011 at 8:44)

The reason I think flats are better in the mud is because if your back wheel (or front wheel for that matter) loses traction and slips you can put your foot down quicker to stop yourself from going down. I always ride clipped in for xc, have for over 15 years. But for DH racing in the mud I am way more comfortable on flats.