Downhill Southeast Series - Race One Report

Sure there is lots of negotiation, phone calls, planning, etc. going on in a small yellow house located downtown Brevard, NC during the off-season, but "race series planning" might not be the type that first comes to mind when you think of what Neko Mulally does with his free time. For the past few months, Neko gathered some of his best buddies to put together three races in four weeks. Each locale would be in the Southeast U.S. and where Neko, Luca & Walker Shaw, Mick Hannah and a handful of others like to call their "off season personal training grounds."

Round one of the Downhill Southeast race series would take place 200 miles west of Brevard, NC to the greater Chattanooga, Tennessee area; specifically just outside the little town of Jasper and Trials Training Center / TTC. Travel day was a bit on the chilly side with the higher elevations looking like they've been dipped in sugar. For those opting to camp at the venue, the nights would require some layering and likely a sub-freezing rated sleeping bag. The daylight hours, on the other hand, would provide perfect conditions. The forecast for two days of racing called for nothing but sun and temps in the low 60s (F).

TTC is at the base of what locals call "Sequatchie Mountain" which is technically considered to be part of the Cumberland Plateau region of the Appalachian Mountains. Need your bearings? Well, it's pretty much dead nuts the intersection of the states of Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. Foster's Falls (shown above) is located just a few short miles away from TTC, in the opposite direction. If you are ever in the area, set aside an extra few minutes to take the short hike down to the base of the falls. You will not be disappointed.... perfect location for a moment of Zen and to clear the mind.

One of the highlights of being out in the middle of somewhere (relatively speaking)... so much Americana. The buildings, homes, businesses, vehicles, all have stories to tell as they don't seem to change as the nights and days click on by. Like tattoos telling the history of the town of Jasper, TN.

TTC is a gravity destination second (Thanks to Troy Roberts and the rest of the crew). BUT, first and foremost it is a self-proclaimed "Motorcycle Resort" and "North America's MotoTrials Headquarters". From Trials to Enduros, the place exists as a result of the two-wheeled motorized crowd. It's a great place to visit regardless of your two-wheeled preference. If you are interested you can check out TTC's complete 2016 Schedule Here.

Did Neko fronting the series do its job? We'd take that bet. 128 total racers between the tape, 11 Women Open, 84 Amateur Men, and 33 Pros... noting we were missing, at least, one big name, Mick Hannah (likely due to some conflicting dates in Valparaiso and with his travel scheduled). Scout Clark, of the southeast's legendary GROM Racing, signs her life away in prep for a weekend of gravity fed goodness.

Michael Kane is sporting new colors for a new team in 2016, graduating from GROM Racing over to Billy Goat Bikes. Michael always seems to get along with the camera and never disappoints. Word is on the street he's got plans overseas for some WC racing this season. All those in the region and that know Michael can’t wait to see what he can do on the international stage. Good Luck Bud!

The Long Distance award when to the Canadian Contingent and the AdrenalineRacer.com crew coming from Ontario, Canada. Brandon Cassell took the 5th spot in Amateur Men on race day and word on the trail they were quite impressed with the TTC track. Worth the trip? We don't think they were disappointed.

The lone gunmen Owen Witcher was the only one representing the Beech Mountain Gravity crew this weekend. We know that two of the others, of the clan Loorham, are recovering from injuries. The other two, Bergen Khare and Ben Richter? Not sure what happened with them this weekend. Owen went 23rd of the 33 riders in the Pro Men class as a junior.

What do you do when you have a mountain littered with rocks? Easy answer.... turn that into a cash cow. If you've recently done some home improvements either cosmetic or landscape related, you never know, it might have come from TTC. There was a handful of folks busting, splitting, cutting, and palletizing tons and tons of rock after rock after rock.

Leith McLeod, though sporting a single crown, was pinning here, shredding there, and remained un-deterred the whole weekend. As pictured, he is starting his fly over of Send It Rock. On race day, he almost cracked the top five taking 6th in Amateur Men in the field of 84.

Adam Robbins dialing his lines during early race day practice. Practice started at 0900 and was scheduled for just about an hour. Neko and the promoters wanted to get race runs kicked off early to wrap everything up as quick as possible giving everyone on the road plenty of time to drive home late Sunday afternoon. Adam would end the weekend in just outside the top ten in Pro Men taking the 11th spot.

Kyle Grau dips into the second of two G-out spots. The first located at the end of Send It Rock's long lander was easy to keep your speed. The second G-out (pictured) didn’t have a long run in, so it was critical to keep your speed on the way back up.... a few rocks into and out of didn’t help either. Kyle secured the 7th spot in Pro Men.

A long descending straight, small jump after small drop after small booter after small rock, meant point shoot no brakes and fly. Dirty Dawson hits the first of the small jumps on the line. Alex would end up 17th in Pro Men.

Following the previous image you get a different perspective of this section of the track. Looking behind the rider you can see the long straight run in to the second small jump. The beauty is, it just kept going and going. Fastest most exciting part of the course bar none. Straight and fast is the BEST!

The 2016 faces of Team Billy Goat Bikes. From 3:00 position clock-wise Derek Maiden, Josh Rogers, Kai Nishino, Nicholas Wildrick, Jaeger Rose, Michael Kane, Jimmy Leslie... and missed but not forgotten, Zach Gareis (not pictured in the group photo). Zach was forced to sit this round out with some school commitments at home.


Ride along with BGB's Josh Rogers on his race run. He finished 10th in Pro Men with a 3:01.257 (and typically run's Juniors).

Can you see the Beard? Shaggy, aka Rich Kidd, cut the ole Mud Flap prior to the weekend. It’s barely visible under the front of the helmet in this shot. We think that there needs be a “Beard-Off” contest held between Rich and Randy Arnold. Randy wasn’t at this event, but let this be that call to the challenge guys. Next event, we need that "Beard Off" contest. Go long or go home! Rich finished in the 25th spot in Amateur Men.

The trail crew split the upper sections of the trail. Right was for Amateur Men / Women Open. Left was for Pro Men. The Am line was a bit longer as it switched back a few times, with the switchback themselves being the challenge for their part of the upper course. The upper Pro line was just down right nasty and steep... end of story. Ian Bongard (pictured) was back with GROM Racing for his second year and is shown in the exact spot where the AM and Pro trails would meet. Ian rounded out the top 15 in Amateur Men.

Out of the eleven women that would run the open class, Rae Gandolf posted a 4:16.028. Good enough for the bronze and the last spot on the podium. Good to see you back at it Rae! (noting she had one heck of a crash in the 2015 season)

The midpoint was the flattest part of the course as you briefly popped out of the woods and crossed one of the muddy fire roads. In any case, it was another fast part of the course where riders could lay off the brakes and open it up. Just point and Shot! Ethan Heck pictured during race day morning practice. He’d finish 79 of 84 in Amateur Men with a 5:47.427.

The crowd was pretty stoic. No matter what we did, how loud we yelled, we couldn’t get a reaction.

Colin Lehman hits the long sweeper before the Amateur and Pro courses became one. Colin would go 63rd in Amateur Men with a 4:41.474.

Chad and Jessica Gilbert made the ten-hour drive from Fenton, Michigan which was covered in six inches of snow when the left. Highs in the low 60s and lows in the mid 30s probably felt like "summer temps" to those two. Jessica, the better half of the duo and pictured, had a clean uneventful weekend and ended up 8th in Women s Open. The Gilbert's are GOOD people! Thanks for the hospitality guys!

Seth Kemp made his run about mid-pack as riders were released in numerical bib order. He took the hot seat, sat there, sat there, and sat there some more. He’d keep that seat, taking the top spot in Amateur Men with a 3:20.497. Congrats Seth!

The last one down the mountain would be the guy standing tallest on the podium in Pro Men. Luca Shaw posted a 2:42.441 good enough for the gold and 2.453 seconds ahead of Neko Mulally in the second spot. Luca (pictured) makes the last switchback on the Pro Only section of the top of the course. And yes, it really is that steep. This section of the course, so I was told, could get sketchy due to the speeds they were reaching combined with all the loose rock. That says a lot, seeing the roster of names that stacked the level of skill in Pro Men.

This is what twenty questions with Neko Mulally looks like. There was a couple of unrelated F1 and NASCAR questions as he was looking to mix it up a bit. The standard answers for every one of those questions from the crowd was either Lewis Hamilton or Jeff Gordon. Sooner or later they would get one right. The remainder of the Q&A schwag session was all Sam Hill, Sam Hill, and Sam Hill trivia. Man crush maybe? Eh, more likely a function of Sam's pure legend and utmost respect status.

The fastest speed trap over 40? That would be Georgian local Chuck Pitts. Chuck's pretty well known in these parts and throughout the SE downhill racing scene. On this race day he celebrated his 46 years young birthday; still fast as hell and able to keep up with the GROMs. As he stated, "Let that be a warning to all those youngins out there!" Might we add he took 4th in the Men s Amateur with a 3:32.401. Not too shabby for an OLD MAN dicing it up some that are less than half his age.

Women Open:
1. Frida Helena Ronning 00:04:00.531
2. Angela Palermo 00:04:08.851
3. Rae Gandolf 00:04:16.028
4. Caroline Washam 00:04:17.000
5. Scout Clark 00:04:20.014

Amateur Men:
1. Seth Kemp 00:03:20.497
2. Zachary Hoteling 00:03:25.478
3. Jason Blodgett 00:03:29.987
4. Chuck Pitts 00:03:32.401
5. Brandon Cassell 00:03:33.175

Pro Men:
1. Luca Shaw 00:02:42.441
2. Neko Mulally 00:02:44.894
3. Walker Shaw 00:02:52.224
4. Isak Leivsson 00:02:52.357
5. Max Morgan 00:02:53.115

Full Results Here

What's Up Next?
Round 2 is just under two weeks away at Windrock Park, March 12-13. You can REGISTER HERE and find all other RACE INFO HERE. See you there!

TTC Gravity Park mountain biking trails

Downhill Southeast Series Sponsors:
Worldwide Cyclery
Scott Sports
Industry Nine
Shimano
Deity Components
Oskar Blues Brewery
El Azteca
Trucker Co