Clif Enduro East: Victory Hill and Burke Mountain - Day 2 Race Recap

CLIF Enduro East Burke Mountain Victory Hill

Burke VT: Day Two Recap

Words & Photography // Garrett Payer

Clif Enduro East: Burke Recap

by Eastern-States-Cup

Views: 2,437 Faves: 5 Comments: 2

After covering 25 miles and climbing 4,300 feet on day one, riders prepared themselves for what was to come on the final three stages at Burke Mountain. After the torrential downpours on Saturday, the only thing that racers could hope for was a clear night to allow for the steeper and more aggressive trails at Burke to dry out. However, passing showers hit the area all throughout the night, leaving everything damp and slick before clearing up early Sunday morning. Racers awoke to clear skies but the trails were still wet and muddy. Day two would require racers to ride 15 miles and ascend 3,500 feet which would give racers enough ground to try and move up on the leaderboards in hopes of qualifying for the EWS and or winning cash prizes atop the podium. The rugged demanding stages on day two would push many riders out of their comfort zone as an EWS Qualifier.

Day two rider's meeting seemed empty because many racers learned that closer you are to the lift, the less waiting around you will have to do.

Lift line for stage six, the lift only takes them only two-thirds of the way up, then they would have to hike the rest.

Stage seven frequently cut out of the woods to clearings on the ski trails which gave riders more speed to carry back into the woods. Dan Albert on the fresh cut on his way to a solid tenth place finish on the weekend.

Greasy off-camber rock chutes littered with wet roots kept riders off of their brakes. Nate Robson navigates the tricky terrain in his first race of the season, he chose a good one.

Kory Nagy pushing himself through the clearings took home 12th in the EWS class. Kory's impressive result will be his last race of the season, Kory just landed a full-time job as an NHL Linesman.

Each rock slab in the clearings had ruts at their bottoms which kept racers on their toes trying to choose the right lines.

Seamus Powell had his derailleur torn off on stage six, but he came back charging on stage seven. Even with that, Seamus ended up 11th overall.

Nathan Sterckx sprinted across every flat section and took second in the U21 EWS class.

The dense ferns soaked up as much water as they could but most sections of the track were still wet.

Ryan Martin straight-lining to keep from sliding out.

While stage seven was steep and aggressive some sections still required riders to push themselves to try and make up time.

Jason Memmelaar had consistent results at Victory and continued with that at Burke which led him to a fourth place in the EWS class by a matter of seconds.

Straight out of the start gate on stage seven, BJ Treglia rode away with second in the Master's EWS class.

Kyle Kirchhoff found himself in 25th in the EWS class.

Ziggy Kurz Ribetto made his way up to fifth in the U21 EWS class.

Tensions are high for many at the start of a stage but others know how to stay calm and have a good laugh.

Justin Climo relaxing on the transfer over to the start of stage seven.

There were some pretty good wind gusts at the top of Burke for riders in the morning which helped to dry out the trails a little.

While the transfer to stages seven and eight went up a paved road, the road that they had to climb is the 87th steepest road in the USA. Racers like the father and son, Ronnie and Nathan Sterckx from Canada had to do it twice.

While the transfer up was grueling, the view at the top always rewarding.

Vittoria Tires athlete, Tom Sampson powers his way through grassy corners on stage eight. Sampson secured a third place finish in the strong EWS Men's Class.

Nathan Sterckx snagged second place in the U21 EWS class.

Asa Chalmers getting through the off-camber roots on stage eight. Asa took third in the U17 Amateur class.

Justin Lagassey deep in the ferns.

Mid-way down stage eight.

Harrison Precourt chasing down ninth in the Amateur Men's class.

Adam Bixby keeping his speed and taking 28th in the EWS class.

Corinne Prevot negotiates switchback after switchback on stage eight. Prevot just returned to racing and locked down second in the Women's EWS class.

Rob Walker going through the off-camber roots on stage eight and taking home fourth in the Amateur Men's class.

Cornering out on the ski trail before jumping back into the woods. Emmett Avery reeled in third in the U21 EWS class.

Going for it. Clarissa Finks riding away with a seventh place in the Women's EWS class.

Pick a rut.

Going for the steepest line. Kelly Ault taking fourth place in the Women's EWS class.

Trophies lined up before people gathered around the podium.

A huge thanks to all of those who were out there that helped make this two-day event even possible.

Franck Kirscher, just got off of the EWS circuit in Aspen before making a pit stop in Vermont to race the Clif Enduro East on his way to race the next EWS event in Whistler, B.C. Franck moved up four places on the second day of racing which placed him in second in the EWS class.

Frank's bike check:

Frame: Transition Patrol carbon
Size: Large

Fork: Lyrik 170mm with a Vorsprung Luftkappe air piston, 95psi,
Rebound 4 clicks in, compression open.
Rear Coil: Extreme Shox Storia, with a 400lb spring
Brakes: Hope V4, Rotors: 203mm F, 203mm R
Shifter and Derailleur: Sram XO1
Cassette: 10–42t
Cranks: Race Face 6C
Chain Ring: Absolute Black 34t oval
Wheels: We Are One carbon 27.5
Tires: Maxxis Minion DHF front, 28 PSI, Maxxis Aggressor 2.3 rear with Huck-Norris, 31 PSI
Seatpost: RockShox Reverb 170mm
Bars: Anvl, 770mm wide, 35mm rise
Stem: Anvl, 50mm
Pedals: Crank Brothers, Mallet
Bottle Cage: Specialized Swat
Weight: 34lbs

After two strenuous days of racing on some of the best trails in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, racers rode a total of 40 miles and ascended 7,800 feet. Every rider pushed themselves to new limits through both rain and shine and while the weather was not the best and the stages were rugged and demanding. Every rider had a grin on their face at least once.

Men – EWS: 1st: Adam Morse 2nd: Franck Kirscher 3rd: Tom Sampson 4th: Jason Memmelaar 5th: Saben Rossi.

Women – EWS: 1st: Lauren Petersen 2nd: Corinne Prevot 3rd: Ella Skalwold 4th: Kelly Ault 5th: Kimberley Quinlan.

U21 Men – EWS: 1st: Colton Drover 2nd: Nathan Sterckx 3rd: Emmett Avery 4th: Ethan Mosedale 5th: Ziggy Kurz Ribetto.

Masters Men 40+ - EWS: 1st: Jason Scheiding 2nd: BJ Treglia 3rd: Ben Smith 4th: Odin Adolphson 5th: James Barthmus.

Amateur Men: 1st: Ethan Sylvain 2nd: Peter Hegman 3rd: Ben Farrell 4th: Rob Walker 5th: Eric Siefer.

Amateur Women: 1st: Kate Kramer 2nd: Marisa Martin 3rd: Hannah Harrington (not shown) 4th: Vicki Koch.

Amateur U17: 1st: Carson Beard 2nd: Forrest Mello 3rd: Asa Chalmers 4th: Austin Beard 5th: Barrett Hibshman.

View the full results.

MENTIONS: @Eastern-States-Cup

Posted In:
Racing and Events Enduro World Series

Author Info:

Eastern-States-Cup
Member since Mar 14, 2012
238 articles

9 Comments

thisspock (Aug 8, 2017 at 20:19)

Happy to see Adam Morse with the win and Pete Hegman in second in the amateurs just a couple of local dudes that have been killing it in VT

mmfreak FL (Aug 8, 2017 at 17:17)

Such a sick venue to hold an event like this! Victory Hill has the most amamzing trails and you won't believe the amount of fun and descending you'll have for such a short climb. See you all at Thunder Mountain for the next CLIF Enduro East.

LRod1018 (Aug 9, 2017 at 3:16)

Kinda bummed there's no Triple Crown this year . Was hoping to race Highland and Burke later in the year. ????

lucadog (Aug 9, 2017 at 6:19)

Thanks ESC and sponsors, great event as always. Two days of awsome racing, riding, and long trail!

mfwoods (Aug 9, 2017 at 7:17)

Sweet recap video! Looks like it was an awesome event! Awesome to have VT hosting EWS qualifiers!

kimqVT (Aug 9, 2017 at 8:34)

Awesome weekend on sweet trails! Thanks to ESC and all those that helped bring an event like this to VT!

bikeis4life (Aug 8, 2017 at 18:34)

That looked so sick. Wish I coulda been there to race it

Lankycrank (Aug 9, 2017 at 9:02)

Looks like it was another fun race weekend. Sad I missed it, and totally pumped for the next one!!!!

mgs781HD (Aug 10, 2017 at 5:44)

Way to go Frank! Great job buddy.