The first round of the Nevada State DH Championship Winter Gravity Series Presented by DVO went down this weekend at Bootleg Canyon. Many people were excited to see, myself included, just who or what might show up at the opening weekend. Who would show up and on what bikes, testing what new products? Bootleg offers world cup level riding with features like "The Waterfall" and "The Poop Shoot", combine that with Cash on the line for both Pro Categories and the Junior Expert class as well, thanks to Trucker Co, riders were anxious to see where they would place by the end of the weekend.
Registration on Friday was slammed at 9 am as the vendors set up. Riders were excited to begin practice despite the temps in the low 40's that morning.
As we headed up to the top for the first day of practice it was obvious that Bootleg was a place worthy of a family trip or an outing with your significant other, with amazing views from the top!
The first section of the DH course lends itself to amazing views of Lake Mead as riders navigate through a series of rocks and drops. There was plenty of Technical Terrain at the 1st round of the Nevada State Championships, presented by DVO.
Equal to its technical sections the course also had some high-speed berms, where many crowds had gathered to cheer on the riders.
A heavy hitter for the YT Team, Mikey finished in second place this weekend in Pro Men and had a podium in the Open Chainless race as well.
During the cold practice days, both Friday and Saturday Sylvestri wore a hoodie to keep warm, his lines were on fire, as you can see him railing this berm at the bottom of "The Poop Shoot".
Bruce Klein was another headliner for the Men's Pro Category. He arrived Friday afternoon with fellow teammate Jarod Hanson.
Showing off for the camera, Klein would finish 3rd in Pro men while Hanson would fall victim to a flat on his race run as many do because of the sharp rocks at Bootleg.
It was great to see such a great turn out for the younger categories as well, the future of our sport.
This Grom ripper will be a sight to see as he progresses through the ranks. He is already sponsored by some pretty big names, including Troy Lee and Industry Nine. Racing in the 11-12 Junior Men Cat, he took first place by nearly 7 seconds with a time of 4:03.60 - Amazing.
The Jr. Expert Category, named Junior Men 17-18, had some serious up and comers in the field.
Steven Walton, dropping in on the waterfall. His choice lines earned him a top step Podium finish. His time would have placed him in 9th in the Pro Men Category.
Here is a small sample of the whole DH field.
Downhill Mike had been talking about a secret guest Pro Rider that would be making an appearance. Logan Binggeli showed up Sunday morning with no practice, we didn't even see him make a practice run. How would he match up?
Logan sprints to the finish of round 1 of the Nevada State Championships at Bootleg Canyon, finishing in first place in Pro Men.
The prizes were laid out as the podium results were figured out.
Vincent Kinder throwing a little whip on the Bender Sender with a good size crowd looking on. It made for great entertainment while the podiums were being arranged.
How else do you celebrate a 1st place spot in the Pro Women's Category?
Kingship celebrates with a victory huck on the Bender Sender!
The weekend finished up with Podiums for all categories. Here are the highlights!
Men's Pro Podium, 1st place: Logan Binggeli 3:13.25 2nd Place: Mikey Sylvestri +3.95 3rd Place: Bruce Klein +4.46 4th Place: Demetri Triantafillou +6.25 5th Place: Galen Carter +6.54.
Women's Pro Podium, 1st Place: Samantha Kingshill 4:09.03 2nd Place: Jacqueline Harmony +2.33 3rd Place: Amanda Wentz +28.28 - The Woman's Pro Category had a matching purse vs the Men's Pro Category.
Men's Open (Vet Pro) Podium. 1st Place Quinton Spaulding 3:37.18 2nd Place: Lance Canfield +0.97 3rd Place: Josh Haddock +41.30
Cat 1 Men 17-18 (Jr. Expert) Podium. 1st Place: Steven Walton 3:25.45 (would have been good for a 9th place finish in Pro Men) 2nd Place: Jacob Jordan +3.21 3rd Place: Damon Sedivy +9.03
MENTIONS:
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Mikey Sylvestri and his YT.
Big shout out to Dave #bicyclehub for the race prep and wheel building, i'm sure they need a little work now.
Awesome to see Jackson Goldstone rip it up, at least there was one fast guy from Canada.
Chain less is a more pure form of dh.
It's for those that make speed by skillz, pumping and smoothness, rather then make it with pedaling.