Pro XCT and Pro GRT Return to Angel Fire

Jun 25, 2017
by Scott McClain  
This weekend the Pro XCT and Pro GRT return to Angel Fire Resort in New Mexico, a place known for its elevation, technicality and for the most part beautiful weather. Friday fired off with Practice for everyone. The hottest temps of the weekend were forecasted for Friday and despite a few mosquitoes and a little bit of sunburn the racers put in a hard day of practice and line-scoping for the Pro XCT Main Event the following day and the GRT seeding runs.

Friday's GRT Practice Day

Race Registration was a mad house Friday. There were literally racers from all over the Globe competing in several different categories in XCT SXCT and DH in Angel Fire.
Race Registration was a mad house, Friday. There were literally racers from all over the globe competing in several different categories in XCT, SXCT and DH in Angel Fire.

Jarod Hanson racing for the Incycle team signing in at Registration Friday.
Jarod Hanson, racing for the Incycle team, signing in at Registration Friday.

Max Shepherd racing Junior Expert throwing a little whip on the hip during practice Friday.
Up on the course, Max Shepherd, racing Junior Expert, throwing a little whip on the hip during practice Friday.

Kialani Hines takes a break during practice to check over her bike and rest in the shade. Friday was for sure the warmest day of the weekend.
Kialani Hines takes a break during practice to check over her bike and rest in the shade. Friday was for sure the warmest day of the weekend.

Harry Head of the Cube Canada team and Nate Bowman riding for Santa Cruz bicycles scoping lines on the drop in on World Cup the main trail used for the Pro Cat 1 race.
Harry Head of the Cube Canada team and Nate Bowman, riding for Santa Cruz Bicycles, scoping lines on the drop in on World Cup, the main trail used for the Pro / Cat 1 race.

Devin Kjaer scrubs one of the drops during practice. The course has a lot of drops and jumps that if scrubbed could save valuable time.
Devin Kjaer, scrubs one of the drops during practice. The course has a lot of drops and jumps that if scrubbed could save valuable time.

Austin Dooley of the Incycle team hits the step down with confidence.
Austin Dooley of the Incycle team, wraps up practice by hitting the step down with confidence.


Saturday's Pro XCT Action

Saturday's main events included the Pro XCT race. First up the ladies of XC set out to battle for Queen of the Mountain.

Erin Huck lead the Elite Women in the Pro XCT from the start of the first main climb. The trees provided great shade for a start time of 2 30pm essentially the hottest part of the day but even at that temps held in the 70 s. The real killer was the elevation with the base of the mountain at 8600 feet finding your lungs was the hardest challenge for the XC racers.
Erin Huck, who led the Elite Women in the Pro XCT until the first, main climb.

Erin Huck led the Elite Women in the Pro XCT from the start of the first main climb. The trees provided great shade for a start time of 2:30pm, essentially the hottest part of the day, but even at that, temps held in the 70’s. The real killer was the elevation, with the base of the mountain at 8,600 feet, finding your lungs was the hardest challenge for the XC racers.

Stans Lady Racer Alexis Skarda on her way to third place in the beautiful trees of Angel Fire.
Stans Lady Racer, Alexis Skarda on her way to third place in the beautiful trees of Angel Fire.


The Men followed the Women's race, with seven laps of fast-paced competition.

Keegan Swenson riding the Cannondale to a dominating first place finish today.
Keegan Swenson, riding the Cannondale to a dominating first place finish today. As you can see at the finish line, there is no one in sight behind him.

As you can see at the finish line there is no one in sight behind him.

While we patiently waited for results to finalize the some of the pro ladies got together for a cool photo.
While they patiently waited for results to finalize, some of the pro ladies got together for a cool photo.


Pro XCT Podiums

On the Women s Pro XCT Podium first place went to Erin Huck followed by Amy Beisel in second and rounding out third was Alexis Skarda.
On the Women's Pro XCT Podium, first place went to Erin Huck, followed by Amy Beisel in second and rounding out third was Alexis Skarda.

Keegan Swenson on the top step of the Men s Pro XCT in Angel Fire with Cypress Gorry in second and Payson McElveen in third.
Keegan Swenson on the top step of the Men's Pro XCT in Angel Fire, with Cypress Gorry in second and Payson McElveen in third.


Pro GRT Qualifying

A little higher up on the hill, the Pro GRT Qualifying was going down!

Logan Binggeli Factory KHS qualified 4th. Will he better is 4th place finish from the last round of the GRT maybe even beating out team mate Bruce Klein for the top step in points
Logan Binggeli, Factory KHS qualified 4th. Will he better his 4th place finish from the last round of the GRT, maybe even beating out team mate, Bruce Klein for the top step in points?

Bruce Klein currently in first place in the points race in Pro Men tears in to the mountain. He would qualify 2nd in Pro Men.
Currently in first place in the points race in Pro Men, Bruce Klein tears into the mountain. He would qualify 2nd in Pro Men.

Shane Leslie on his way to the top seed in qualifying for Pro Men going a little quicker than three seconds over Klein.
Shane Leslie on his way to the top seed in qualifying for Pro Men, going a little quicker than three seconds over Klein.

On the Women s side of the Pro DH Amanda Batty took the lead qualifying position with a time that was over eight seconds faster than Samantha Kingshill.
On the Women’s side of the Pro GRT, Amanda Batty took the lead qualifying position with a time that was over eight seconds faster than Samantha Kingshill.

Samantha Kingshill looked great in the middle section of the DH course nearly clearing the massive hip jump.
Samantha Kingshill looked great in the middle section of the DH course, nearly clearing the massive hip jump. She'll need to find faster gears to beat out Batty on Sunday.

CJ Selig qualifying seventh riding for the Truckerco Posse
CJ Selig, qualifying seventh, riding for the Truckerco Posse.

At the end of the Qualifying racers found out the scheduled was being bumped by nearly three hours due to a storm which is scheduled to arrive Sunday, so the best thing to do is get those rigs cleaned up and race ready for an early start Sunday.

A fresh rig is mandatory for race day so Harry Head rinses down his new Cube 215.

Stay Tuned for Sunday's Final Recap

Posted In:
Racing and Events Pro Grt


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25 Comments
  • 7 0
 Where are the results? Coverage for a national series is really pathetic!
  • 2 0
 Coming in on a plane back to CA Smile
  • 6 1
 Wow, that shot of Klein! His eyes! Wow! Nice pan shots, love those!
  • 2 1
 thanks for the kind words and support. my pan shots could have been better
  • 1 0
 I raced Masters from '06-'08 back when USAC had the courage to call it what it was, The National Championship Series. Tom and Frosty were running the series and were able to overcome the gross incompetence of the USAC staff and did a fantastic job. Lots of races out west but Mt. Snow and Sugar Mt. were on the calendar. Did some volunteering @ Windham for the World Cups and was in and out of race headquarters a bunch. Even though Windham had to pay for USAC "officials" air fare, housing and food, I never saw any of them leave the air conditioned building except to go to the V.I.P. gatherings. USAC is a road bike oriented organization, and I use the term organization in it's loosest form. USAC saw the success NORBA was enjoying with JEEP sponsorship, stepped in for the money, JEEP left and mtb racing has suffered ever since.
  • 3 0
 Shane Leslie on his way to top seed?
  • 2 0
 yes shane qualified first
  • 5 5
 As I can see at the finish line, there's no one in sight, PERIOD. Hell, there's not a spectator in any of the photos. Let's have a "national" race in the middle of nowhere. That should help grow the sport in the US.
  • 9 0
 Yeah but angelfire is sick and the riders love it, it's definitely gonna be a race location for a long time to come.
  • 5 0
 To that extent, they should really make it harder to find results. Searching 17 sites only to find a single artlcle about qualifying yesterday doesn't really cut it.
  • 7 1
 @valhallascott: in general there wasn't a large media presence and with the involvement of both USAC and UCI, one should expect results to be difficult to find and likely inaccurate at first release LOL
  • 5 0
 @LavenderGooms: Not only do I agree with the bike park being sick, they hosted the event at a top notch level. the only real complaint from participants had nothing to do with the location, even though it is in the middle of nowhere, the complaints were pointed directly at the USAC and UCI officials, whom made this a very "unique" event.
  • 2 0
 I hear you on this and I am one that loves to find the spectators and include them in my coverage content (see my articles from Sea Otter). The venue is rad and challenging for all genres in the XC and DH categories, plus Angel Fire staff are top notch, so I don't see it going anywhere. Not sure where you are geographically but if you can find a weekend to hit this place and its within 8 hours, I think you'd be impressed, IMHO.
  • 4 0
 @calledtocreation: This is by no means a criticism of your coverage. i've raced at Angelfire a couple of times back in the Mountain States Cup days. My comment was aimed toward USA Cycling. For years, all we heard was that the licenses fees, etc, were used to promote the Olympic movement. Then, you get in far enough and realize that they don't do anything to help the Olympic hopefuls either. I haven't bought a USA Cycling license in over five years. I doubt that i'll ever own another.
  • 3 2
 maybe if the photographer didn't yell at everyone to get out of the way there would be spectators about
  • 6 0
 I raced a NORBA race years ago, during the glory days. That was called the "National series". We had one event towards the end of NORBA in Wisconsin in 2002. We had DS, 4X, DH, Short track and XC. It was packed all 3 days. Spectators lined the entire DH course (it was very short, I mean it is Wisconsin) and most of the XC course. It was a who's who of riders that raced it too. The registration for XC, if I recall, was the largest in norba history for a national. I had over 110 people in my non-pro DS class (finished 5th, washed out 2 gates from the finish with a 2 gate lead over the guy that won the final. Yeah, that sucked). It was a national, that's why it had such a big turn out. Actual TV coverage, a week after, of course. It's amazing to me that USA Cycling doesn't call anything a national series, because there is not one or is there? You have Eastern, Western, GRT, they aren't the national series or are they? Norba Nationals were just that. USA Cycling could give a rat's... about the gravity side of mtb and XC is only a hair more important. Racing back then and what it is now, it makes me kinda sad with what has happened to mtb racing in the US.
  • 2 0
 @packfill: I agree with backfill. I stop racing these races due to licences fee's. Last year was the final straw when they now charge $200 for license that I only want for 1 race, not only that but I still have to pay for race event. They don't offer 1 day license for pro class.
  • 2 1
 @packfill, you live like 5 hours away man, also it's the resort that puts up the money to host the event. I don't see any resorts in colorado promoting a national level DH race.
  • 2 3
 why don't you get off your ass an host one or SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!
  • 1 2
 @BigBrownBunny: Are you that stupid or just have a problem with reading comprehension?
  • 2 0
 @calledtocreation: True but even going low-tech, how hard is it to post a photo on Pinkbike or Vital of the results? It's t36+ hrs after the finals & other than the podiums on PB, the results still aren't anywhere to be found.

Doing a database driven results page on the USAC site would be a couple grand & could be used across every sponsored event across the country.
  • 3 0
 @valhallascott: In the future, I could literally snap a photo of the entire results sheets and include them at the bottom of the article. Thoughts??
  • 1 0
 @calledtocreation: that would be awesome. A couple would be great so it's not just the podium people but, yeah, anything is better than what they're posting up now. I'm pretty sure the "official" results that you find from timing online are from last year even though it says 2017.

BTW - any frustration isn't directed towards you or Pinkbike at all, totally appreciate what you guys are doing. The sanctioning body is really failing the promoters, racers & enthusiasts though. It's really a super simple fix that could be implemented by the next race.
  • 1 1
 @packfill: keep being a middle of the pack chump!
  • 2 0
 broken photo above.







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