Graeme Pitts wins MSC/Crested Butte

Photo by Mike Doucette

While Aaron Gwin was Gwinning the MSA WC, Graeme Pitts (X-Fusion, WTB, Jagwire, Gamut USA, Smith Optics, LifeBlasters) was holding it down stateside and Gwinning at Crested Butte MSC#3.

Pitts shredding the last rock garden
Photo by Alex Fenlon/FenlonPhoto.com

After being forced to spectate at last year’s Crested Butte race due to a torn ACL, Pitts made up for it with a stellar performance, winning both qualifying and finals against some major competitors. Joining him on the podium were Joey Schusler in 2nd and Austin Hackett-Klaube in 3rd. Local shredders Kain Leonard (who is now Dad to Alpine Leonard) and Chris Boice took 4th and 5th respectively.


Pitts commented on the weekend, “It was interesting that in the second to last rock garden that put us into the pedal for the jumps, I chose a different line than most of my competitors. Whereas the popular line was to go the long way around the rock garden, which was particularly smooth with a clean exit, but with two high consequence features in it – one would rip your derailleur off the bike and the other would get your rear wheel stuck between a log and a rock, my line was simple, and worked great for people who come from Northstar – I decided to jump over the pointiest rocks on the inside line, and smash into the biggest rock in the exit and just pedal. It worked.” He added, “But the most interesting thing about the whole weekend, starting with practice, is that all my runs felt slow. It was really funny to keep hearing people tell me that I was going really fast when I felt like I was JRA!”

Photo by Mike Doucette

Well, keep up the JRA, Pitts.

Thanks to the crew at Mountain States Cup Series for putting on another awesome event. For full results, go to http://racemsc.com/