Race Report: 2021 DVO Reaper Madness - Bootleg Canyon

It was the night before the finals. Scary weather visited briefly but was on its way someplace else by race time. Racers were nervous and wanted to win the overall awards as the medals looked impressive. All the racecourses just got watered. It started cold and ended at room-temperature. It's DVO Reaper Madness time!

Friday saw the return of Dual Slalom with a very informal 3:30 pm competition with All Mountain Cyclery's Austin Hentsch taking the win in the Pro/Expert, Treyton Maskaly winning the Sport/Beginner, and Trustin Pendergrass for the win in the Under 14 category.


Lillee Jenkins racing for Sedona MTB Academy on her way to a 2nd place Dual Slalom finish. Lillee raced against Trustin Pendergrass in the Under 14 and all 3 heats were very close. The focus in her eyes shows just how serious this 13-year old racer is.


GT Bicycles sponsored Saturday's Enduro race with equal pay for Pro Women and Pro Men. All Bootleg Canyon Enduro races feature different stages than the previous events. This Enduro race threw in a trail never used before for a Bootleg Enduro and even had stage 3 finish on the Dual Slalom course. The stages seemed to be popular with almost all racers. We think some Enduro racers want 3 DH courses and we just may do that for one of our future events. You never know the stages until the day of the race at the Bootleg events.

Seen here is Pivot Cycles/Stan's No Tubes Lia Westermann on her way to a 1st place finish, a $250 check, and 1st place for the 2021 Overall Enduro.


Lars Utt on his way for his 2nd win in a row. Since Lars missed the first race of the series, this win put him in 3rd for the Overall with 200 points. Jose Villegas had 213 points for the series that gave him a 2nd place finish and Jerrard Cooper had 260 points for the 1st place in overall Category 1/40+ Men for Enduro. Racing a series is fun but attending all races is usually needed to win when the series only has 3 races.


GT and DVO's Joey Foresta raced n both the Enduro and the DH races at the Reaper. We do not think Joey has ever missed a Bootleg race and this is his 1st Enduro race. Joey came in 9th in the Pro Enduro, 2nd in Pro Downhill, and 1st in the Pro Downhill Overall for the 2021 DVO Winter Gravity Series. Quite an accomplishment!


Brian Lopes racing for Yamaha and DVO on his way to his 2nd win in a row at a Bootleg E-Bike Enduro race. Lopes also had the fastest time of the day.


At the Bootleg races, we are still seeing more Downhiller's than Enduro racer's but the gap is getting closer. The DVO-sponsored series and DH race, in particular, had what Bootleg racer's like, a super gnarly course. Pro and Category 1 racers raced down the section known as Kevorkian. For those of you not sure of the origin of this trial name, think Dr. Jack Kevorkian who created the physician-assisted suicide machine and was known for his quote "Dying is not a crime".

Cole Suetos racing for Intense Cycles on his way for his second DH win in a row at Bootleg and another $250 check. Even with two wins in a row, Cole came in 2nd for the Overall with 200 points and getting beat by just 13 points by GT/DVO's Joey Foresta. Cole was on fire last year and is again for 2021.


Jacyln Smith racing for Colorado Mesa University was also on fire making her way down this gnarly DH racecourse in just 5:48.68 for the win and a $250 check.


Sarah Smith also racing for Colorado Mesa University placed 3rd in the Women's Pro DH race.


Pro Women's McKenna Merten racing for Intense/100%/Monster Army showing off her 2nd place check and her additional check for partaking in the Intense Podium Payback Program where you can get paid to race.


Yes, we do make a big deal at Bootleg Canyon for all of the pros and elite racers but we try equally as hard for all racers to get the attention they deserve. Seen here are a couple of kids from the 6-10 age bracket. These kids raced down the same DH course as most of the grown-ups!



Men's Category 2/15-18 with up-and-coming local fast-dude Tyler Ressler placing 1st coming in with a 5:04.98 in his 2nd ever MTB race, Kody Bialas 2nd with a 5:06.24, and Treyton Maskaly 3rd with a 5:06.34. It was a very close race. These 3 will certainly be Junior Expert racers for the 2022 DVO Winter Gravity Series.


Tucson Arizona's Corinne Bee showing off her 1st place DH medal and Overall award for conquering, owning and, destroying the Bootleg Gnar in her inaugural year here. We always know when we get a racer for life.



Coming in 1st in the E-Bike Enduro was Aubrey Adams (24.12.0), Claudia Bailon in 2nd (24.40.1), and Elizeth Ramos in 3rd (31.42.1) for a podium sweep for TeamToro/Universal Cycles.


Team Guru Suspension/MTB Experience came to Bootleg by the masses and saw many teammates on the podium. With over 60 podium pictures we had to show you only the best.


DH Category 1/40+ Men's podium has Kris Baughman racing for RaceKraft/GO-Ride in 1st for the day, Mynesweeper's/Trucker Co Brian Parker in 2nd, and Christopher Aho with a 3rd place on this insane DH course.


DH Series Overall has Quinn Winter in 1st, Christopher Aho 2nd, and Randy Barton in 3rd.


Men's Downhill saw Cole Suetos (Intense Cycles) with the win and $250 from DVO and another $150 from Intense, Joey Foresta (GT/DVO) 2nd for $150 (Colorado Mesa University) Trevor McCutcheon in 3rd for $100.


Downhill, Enduro, and Overall Results HERE

Bootleg Canyon Shuttles HERE

Our Next Event HERE

Now that some of the state restrictions have been relaxed, we can party as we did back in 2019 but will keep the drive-thru check-In and a few other tricks while continuing to host COVID safe outdoor events.

We hope you can attend our next event which will include something for everyone including an XC E-Bike MTB race, an XC race, shuttles for the downhillers/Enduro, live music, Happy-Hour, Pizza Party, guided rides, and anything else fun and bike-related we can come up with. Hope to see you at the Spring Gravity Fest at Bootleg Canyon.

A huge thanks go out to the late Brent Thomson for having the vision, passion, strength, and friends for making these mountain bike trails. Also, not possible without the Boulder City Parks Department, DVO Suspension, GT Bicycles, Nezium, ODI Grips, Intense Cycles, CushCore, All Mountain Cyclery, MJT Designs, Box Components, KHS Bicycles, Trucker Co, Mynesweepers, PYGA USA, Kore North, Alta Racks and Fezzari Bikes.

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