Video and Race Report: Vittoria ESC "Race The World" DH at Windham

Aug 11, 2015 at 8:19
by Eastern States Cup  
Vittoria ESC

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Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
It was biking mayhem at Windham Mountain in the Catskills this past weekend as the world's finest mountain bike athletes converged for the UCI World Cup Downhill and XC races and the Vittoria ESC Race the World Downhill. Upstate New York may not have seen this much pro-USA excitement since the "Miracle on Ice" hockey game at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid. The Vittoria Eastern States Cup held the 6th race in the Atlantic Downhill series on Sunday, but on Saturday that took a back seat as the bike world paused to take in the spectacle of World Cup DH racing.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
In a finish that couldn't have more perfectly scripted, the final rider of the day, American favorite Aaron Gwin, demolished the field by an improbable 3.5-second margin. The roar from the thousands of jubilant spectators, many toting chainsaws, horns and cowbells, was deafening.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
As exciting as Gwin's victory was, many in the ESC family had come to root for one of our own. Danny's Cycles pro Phil Kmetz, who just a week earlier had won the Vittoria ESC downhill at Mount Snow, got to strut his East coast chops on the world stage at Windham. Kmetz had a remarkable qualifier on Friday, coming in 24th out of 135. Many Kmetz supporters were seen sporting "Phil the Thrill" T-shirts on race day.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
Though his race run was marred by a couple crashes, Kmetz had a sizzling run and let it all hang out. He was 8th fastest on the day through the middle sector of the track and 9th fastest through the speed trap. Said Kmetz: "My run between the first split and second spilt was the best I've ever felt on a bike and with 9th at the speed trap, I'm a pretty happy camper. Thank you to all of my friends and friends of friends for making this one of the most memorable weekends!"

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
Many current and former ESC racers competed in the World Cup event on Saturday, including a slew of junior riders. Danny's Cycles junior Andrew Wegiel, center, and MadKats junior Ben Bodycoat, right, got to share the hot seat briefly.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
But enough about the World Cup, lets get to the fun stuff: The Vittoria Eastern States Cup Fox Shox Race The World Downhill. A huge field of racers took to the track on Sunday, including a number of riders who failed to qualify for the main stage event. The Citizens Downhill track starts at the top of the mountain, a stone's throw from the top of the UCI downhill. Pro Hailey Sarausky put the pedal to the metal right out of the gate for a podium finish.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
After a quick pedal across the flats, the track dropped down the mountain. The flowey top section was short-lived as the challenges quickly mounted.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
A fast launch off a rock drop into a berm was the first of many obstacles racers encountered.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
After dropping steeply through the woods, another rock drop with a chundery entrance got a lot of inspection time from racers. Josh Tidman was quick through this section on his way to a podium finish in Cat 1 19-29.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
After a tricky off-camber corner in the grass, racers, like pro Jordan Newth, popped off another awkward rock drop to a noisy wooden landing zone. The loose left hand corner after the drop caused lots of trouble for racers all weekend.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
Roots and rocks were found in abundance on the track.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
Bobby Michailides found safe passage through this tangle of geology.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
The track constantly alternated between woods and open slopes. Clear lenses were the sensible choice for many racers. With the dust in the air, going without eye protection was not an option.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
Returning to the woods was akin to having the lights turned out.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
With recent dry weather, the dust was really flying, leaving a rooster tail of brown haze in the wake of passing riders.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
The pitch eased a bit in the middle section of the track and speeds picked up as racers got off the brakes and hit the accelerator. John Nicholson is always on the gas in the Cat 1 40+ field.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
A sinuous line through a high speed trench was fast and dusty throughout practice.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
The dust looked like jet exhaust pouring out from behind bikes.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
A second trench, or mini half pipe, lower on the course, was more of an obstacle course, as piles of rock debris made the track look more like a dry riverbed.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
I feel bad for the last rider in this practice train as the dust cloud got thicker with each passing tire.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
As with the World Cup track, Windham names significant features along its Citizens Downhill course. I'm not sure the names registered with many racers. I never heard anyone talking about how deep they sent Lee's Launch for example, but I guess its a helpful point of reference. This drop, in case you are curious, is known as Lee's Launch.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
The outside line around Lee's Launch (helpful point of reference) was pretty darn fast too. Racing in his first downhill, Vermonter Phil Beard took home the Cat 2/3 40+ victory on a rental bike. Always a fast and skilled biker, Beard is gradually heeding the siren call of gravity biking as he slowly shifts focus over the years from cross-country racing to enduro and now to downhill. Keep an eye on this guy.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
One of the coolest things about the Windham race was that the downhill track intertwined with the World Cup XC course. Spectators could keep an eye on both races at several junctions where the DH track went under the XC course.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
This was the second of three bridges that took racers beneath the XC course.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
The final bridge was just upstream of the finish line and was a big step down when taken at speed.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
The sprint to the finish line featured a lippy little double. Pretty sure the downhill crew was carrying a tad more speed through this section than the lycra-clad athletes on the XC course in the background.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
Race day was beautifully sunny with almost no humidity. Some racers commented that the track was getting blown out, but one look at what the World Cup folks had to race on took the air out of that complaint. Over 200 racers competed on Sunday, the biggest field for a non-Pro GRT event on the ESC calendar thus far this year.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
The dust levels were reaching new heights after a few days of constant pounding. The Windham dirt was super fine and soft, like brown baby powder. I'd be interested to see what it turns into after a good soaking. Pretty sure these ferns are supposed to be green.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
Canadian Kristen Courtney, after failing to qualify for the World Cup event on Friday, set her sights on defending her ESC Race the World crown from last season. Courtney topped a big field of pro women to take the race, her fourth ESC win of the season.

"I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to the Windham World Cup or not... I had a pretty big crash the week before at Mont Ste Anne that landed me in the hospital. I ended up back in the hospital with complications between the two world cups and ended up missing racer check-in and track walk Wednesday. I just decided to take a few laps down the track Thursday and play things pretty cruisey. I was pretty sore and couldn't risk another crash, so I was surprised that I actually came within a tenth of a second of qualifying! Nevertheless, I decided to make the most of the weekend and signed up for the ESC race. I loved the track - it's much rockier and more technical than the World Cup track, which actually suits me better. And the ESC is such an awesome series full of so many rad and supportive people!"

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
Perennial podium favorite Mary Elges finished in second place, seven seconds off Courtney's pace. Elges, a gymnastics coach by day, finished second to Courtney at the same event last year, but was able to cut her margin in half this year.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
Angelina Palermo took the third spot on the podium. Palermo is a relative newcomer to the ESC race scene with Windham being her second start on the tour. Palermo is no stranger to bikes though. She has been racing successfully at the collegiate level for years at Marian University and has competed in DH, road, XC, enduro, cyclocross and BMX. She will be one to keep an eye on at future events.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
Fast Line Racing pro Leland O'Connor continued his season-long hot streak, where he has been a force on both the enduro and downhill circuits, with a victory over a very strong field of riders. In nine races thus far this season, O'Connor has only been outside of the top three once. Of his first win at Windham, O'Connor said: "The track hasn't changed too much since past years except it was super blown out and dusty! It was really hard to hold a line so I just had to let the bike do its thing. I felt real good in the technical rocky spots so I think that got me the win."

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
Dunbar Cycles pro Ken Faubert took second place, just under two seconds off O'Connor's pace. The Canadian rider, who failed to qualify for the World Cup event on Friday, has a long history of racing in Canada, the Pacific Northwest and New Zealand but this was his first career ESC race.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
Jordan Prochyra was edged by Faubert by the slightest margin, one hundredth of a second, to take the third spot. The Australian rider also missed the qualifying mark for the World Cup race but was able to salvage a solid result for the weekend.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
The women's pro podium from left: Amy Temarantz-4th, Mary Elges-2nd, Kristen Courtney-1st, Angelina Palermo-3rd, Hailey Sarausky-5th (Photo courtesy of Paul Hanson).

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
The mens pro podium from left: Shane Leslie-4th (missing), Ken Faubert-2nd, Leland O'Connor-1st, Jordan Prochyra-3rd, Jimmy Leslie-5th (Photo courtesy of Paul Hanson).

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
The Windham World Cup race weekend is certainly the biggest bike party of the year in these parts. Sadly, the Windham race is off the UCI schedule for next season.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
Without the crowds, Windham returns to being a picturesque mountain town, with some fantastic mountain biking. Windham recently opened their bike park to the public and added a couple of new trails. In addition to the race trails, they offer a fun jump line and an epic flow trail. These are some of the longest machine built trails in the region and are an absolute blast.

Vittoria Eastern States Cup Race the World DH
The next event on the Vittoria ESC calendar will be the final BOX Components East Coast Showdown at Sugarbush Resort in Vermont, with enduro and downhill races on the weekend of August 22nd and 23rd. See you there!

Pics and words by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

Eastern States Cup
RESULTS HERE
www.easternstatescup.com
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2015 VITTORIA ESC Schedule:

Atlantic Downhill
May 3 Duryea Urban Downhill – Reading, PA
May 24 Plattekill Gravity Open – Roxbury, NY
May 31 Mountain Creek UCI ProGRT – Vernon, NJ - USAC State Championship
June 21 Plattekill Mountain – Roxbury, NY - USAC State Championship
July 19 Windham Mountain World Cup Track Test Race – Windham, NY
Aug 9 Windham Race the World– Windham, NY – World Cup Weekend
Sept 13 Blue Mountain – Palmerton, PA- USAC State Championship
Oct 11 Plattekill– Roxbury, NY - New England and Atlantic DH Finals

New England Downhill
June 14 Pats Peak MTB Bike Festival – Henniker, NH
July 5 Killington East Coast Showdown #1– Killington, VT- USAC State Championship
July 12 Jiminy Peak – Hancock, MA
Aug 1 Mount Snow East Coast Showdown #2 - Dover VT
Aug 23 Sugarbush East Coast Showdown #3 – Warren, VT
Aug 30 Attitash Mountain - Bartlett, NH- USAC State Championship
Sept 27 Thunder Mountain– Charlemont, MA- USAC State Championship
Oct 11 Plattekill– Roxbury, NY - New England and Atlantic DH Finals

East Coast Super DH Championships
Oct 18 Mountain Creek – Vernon NJ

Enduro
May 10 Plattekill Mountain – Roxbury, NY - USAC State Championship
June 7 Blue Mountain – Palmerton, PA - USAC State Championship
June 28 Attitash Mountain - Bartlett, NH - USAC State Championship
July 4 Killington East Coast Showdown #1– Killington, VT - USAC State Championship
Aug 2 Mount Snow East Coast Showdown #2 - Dover VT
Aug 22 Sugarbush East Coast Showdown #3 – Warren, VT
Sept 6 Killington Enduro Finals – Killington, VT

Super D
May 30 Mountain Creek Super D – Vernon, NJ - USAC State Championship

Triathlon
May 2 Killington Triathlon – Killington, VT

BOX Components East Coast Showdown Series
July 5 Killington East Coast Showdown #1– Killington, VT- USAC State Championship
Aug 1 Mount Snow East Coast Showdown #2 - Dover VT
Aug 23 Sugarbush East Coast Showdown #3 – Warren, VT

Author Info:
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Member since Mar 14, 2012
238 articles

8 Comments
  • 4 0
 I like that they showed the Regular Pro riders. Work hard and see your picture on PinkBike, Now that's a reward. Good Job Pimkbike.
  • 5 0
 Bambi!!!!!!!!
  • 1 0
 el dog, fuck yeah
  • 4 0
 Defiant Racing Team...Represented! What a kick butt weekend! best ever!
  • 2 1
 My sister in law is faster than your sister in law!! Nice job Mary!
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