2009 California Golden State Downhill Championship – Mammoth Finals

Report by: Quinton Spaulding

Photos by: Monique Spaulding

The return of the Mammoth! It was at the National Championships in 2004 that I was last at Mammoth Mountain and it felt great to be back.

The landscape from the base of the mountain is majestic. Looking at the track from this vantage point, we could tell that it would be dry and loose.

There are many chairlifts as well as a Gondola that service this busy mountain.

By arriving early we managed to secure ourselves  the best spot, which just happened to be right at the finish line of all the disciplines and next door to our good friends and sponsor KENDA Tires.

We had a great team showing in the Super D race (which turned out to be a powerful riders track) and this played right into our favor with KHS’s own Scott Johnson ready to do business.

Johnson is on the “KHS-B Team” and has been training hard this year. He is starting to focus more closely on Super D events and shows great potential to be a Super D specialist on the KHS Factory Team roster for 2010.

Binggeli on the gas to a 6th place finish in the Super D (right behind teammate Ulmer).

Ulmer on his way to a very strong 5th place podium finish in the Super D for Team KHS.

Johnson killed this track taking the win ahead of Joe Lawill and Waylon Smith respectively.

KHS on top of the podium again. Scott Johnson wins the Super D and is backed up by teammate Naish Ulmer in 5th place.

Photo left to right: Waylon Smith (ROYAL 661), Scott Johnson (KHS), Joe Lawill (Santacruz), Naish Ulmer (KHS)

Johnson with his Golden State Championship jersey. This was an awesome win for Johnson, being that it was his 2nd consecutive Super D win for the season.

PRO SUPER D TOP 8

4X was the next  scheduled event on this very busy day at the races. The long haul up to the start box for practice was long, steep and tiring…

…now this is how it should have been done to begin with!

Binggeli wasted no time getting primed on the 4X track (fresh off his win at the Pro GRT race in Windham, NY a few weeks back). He took himself all the way to the final knocking both Eric Carter(Factory GT) and Rich Houseman(Intense / Team Houseman) out in the previous rounds.

The Final in the 4X was all Binggeli!!  He has found the feel for winning and what it takes to get it done and  I am sure we are in for many more wins from Logan in the future.

Binggeli looking cool, calm and collected ready for his interview with the Channel MTB guys.

Photo left to right: Cody Elchhorn (661 / SMITH), Logan Binggeli (KHS), Garrett Rose (THOR)

Another top spot podium finish for KHS, and the second for Binggeli in 3 races!

PRO 4X TOP 4

We had the busiest pit area in the house… right at the FINISH!

The SHIMANO kids race took place right before the infamous KAMIKAZE DOWNHILL event. It was led out by none other than Tinker Juarez who is a three time U.S. Olympian, a Pan Am Games Gold Medalist, and a World Championship Silver Medalist. Tinker was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2001.

Binggeli seen  here in the background… catches his 30 second gap at the finish of KAMIKAZE and takes 8th place.

Ulmer put in a huge effort at the finish of the Kamikaze Downhill event. He gave it his all and finished up 4th  … an awesome result!

Photo left to right: Naish Ulmer, (KHS) Rich Houseman (Intense), Eric Carter (GT), Alex”Rally Smurf”M, Graeme Pitts (SANTACRUZ)

PRO KAMAKAZI TOP 20

Ready for a good DH practice session!

This track was so dry and dusty – the dirt is all Pumice (volcanic lava froth), it looks solid but it can actually float on water.

There were many well built features such as  drops, jumps and rock gardens which made for a pretty awesome track…good job to the MTB Crew at Mammoth!

I was doing so well in my DH final and then about half way down I had a significant crash . I am sure it would have been a good result for me had that not happened…. once again I was very disappointed!

Ulmer turned another good result finishing 12th.

Binggeli killed it with a 3rd place podium finish for KHS.

Photo left to right: John Keep, (NORCO) Logan Binggeli (KHS), Mikey Sylverstri (Santacruz Syndicate), J.D. Swanguen (Intense / TLD / ODI)

PRO DH TOP 30

Naish “living the life”… if only it came wrapped in a box with instructions !!

KHS “B-Team” rider Shawn Hawkins showed up, put on his sexy suite, removed his visor and finished with a modest 6th place overall in the Legends KAMIKAZE event.

PRO LEGENDS KAMIKAZE TOP20

“The KHS Team Sponsors”

Please stay tuned for more updates and photos as they become available.

All the best!

Q.

Whiteface, NY – Pro GRT Finals

Report by: Quinton Spaulding

Photos by: Quinton Spaulding & Casey Fasset

Flying the “friendly Skies” with Southwest Airlines. I would like to make mention that if you are flying with a bike… Southwest is the BEST!

Boxing my race bikes is always a chore, but it must be done correctly to ensure that your equipment comes out in good condition at the other end.

The tail end of the season has crept up on us. What with all the traveling to different venues, the flights, the hotel rooms, and the people…everything has  become a blur!

Putt Putt or Miniature Golf  is one of our teams favorite down- time activities. It has turned somewhat into a competitive sport amongst us…  Binggeli being the current “Putt Putt” Champion!

Out of the box,  fully assembled and ready to attack!… the Factory DH200 KHS Race Bike.

The dirt on the East Coast is AWESOME!  From all the moisture they get it almost mimics World Cup conditions better than anywhere else in the US.

Ulmer leads out during practice!

Plenty moisture turned into “way too much” moisture at Whiteface. It pretty much rained solidly during this event, causing the track to become extremely tough to navigate.

It rained all night continuing through the following morning. This turned the conditions before qualifying from bad to worse and Sundays early morning track inspection became difficult to say the least.

Once the mountain was saturated with rain, it started to ooze some type of oil which was extremely slippery.

The top of the track had some really steep sections.

The ruts had gotten deep and challenging… front brakes were not an option here!

Spectators and officials alike had a hard time hiking down this track.

Ulmer had a solid 12th place finish. He said that he had a fairly clean run with only a couple of small bobbles in the top woods.

Photo courtesy: http://www.downhillmike.com

Binggeli placed 5th in qualifying allowing himself a great position on the start line  for the final. During his Final run, he had a significant get off  and crashed in the woods pretty hard. He still managed to get back on his bike, finishing in 11th place.

PRO MEN TOP 20

“Flavor Flav”… yeah that’s right, I sat next to William Jonathan Drayton Jr. on my flight back from Albany to Vegas. Flavor Flav is an American rapper/ television star and a member of the rap group Public Enemy. He made my trip home a lot more interesting… “Yeah boy!”

“The KHS Team Sponsors”

Next for us is Mammoth Mountain, CA for the State Championships Sept 3 – 6.

Please stay tuned for more updates and photos as they become available.

All the best!

Q.