Blast the Mass Mountain States Cup #8

By Eddie Clark  

(August 6 and 7, 2011) SNOWMASS, Colo.—The Mountain States Cup took over Snowmass Village with its 8^th stop of the series.  In all, five races were held over the course of two days with Friday serving as a practice day for the three day event.

As has been the case with most of the series, racer numbers were still down from years past, but it’s worth noting that many of the top pros are in Europe contesting the final World Cup races.  Even still, the racing was hot, and the woods were cool with abundant lush wild flowers.  Fortunately the weather was near perfect all weekend.

Saturday’s racing was comprised of the new Scorch downhill, the cross country race and the Super D race.  The cross country racers were first to get under way with the pro men taking two long laps for a nearly 22 mile race.  The first half of the course basically went up the mountain on part fire road and part singletrack before descending down the famous singletrack trails such as the Government Trail which Snowmass is known for.

Howard Grotts (Colorado Chocolate Factory/DEVO Sweet Elite) had the fastest pace of the day, and was first to the top and bottom for both laps to take a respectable victory over second placed Jay Henry (Tokyo Joes) and third placed Manuel Prado (Sho-Air/Specialized).  Kelli Emmett (Giant) looked to have the race wrapped up, but a flat tire near the bottom of the second lap ruined her opportunity.  Lean and mean Judy Freeman (Kenda/Felt) got by Emmett to seal up first place, and Erin Huck (Tokyo Joes) also got by to take second.  Emmett finally fixed her flat, and took some consolation with third place.

In a slight change of format, the crowd favorite four cross race was left out for a new downhill venue called the Scorch Downhill.  Many would say it was closer to a Super-D course as there were no real technical sections, and the few jumps on it could all be rolled.  Still, tactics and precise cornering were key in getting down with the fastest time.  Joey Schusler (Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team) brought exactly that skill set to the race, and won it with a time of 4:26:51.  Blair Reed (Mojo Wheels) took second, and MSC series leader Chris Boice (Yeti Cycles National Team) took third.  Christen Boyer was the sole pro woman racer to compete in the Scorch downhill and took first by default with a time of 5:58:68.

The last race for Saturday was the Super D, which was won by Ross Milan (Yeti Cycles National Team) with an ever so tight margin over Naish Ulmer (Spy Optics/Rollic Dark Timbers/GO-RIDE.com).  It was so tight, that Ulmer was on Milan’s wheel coming into the final 100 yards, and almost went for the pass around Milan but couldn’t hold the line.  The pro women’s race saw some more competition than the downhill, and was won by Alisha Gibson who took a convincing win with 16 seconds over second place Darian Harvey and Kelli Emmett in third.

Sunday’s racing kicked off with short track in the base area of Snowmass Village.  Once again, Howard Grotts took the win in the pro men’s race.  Kelli Emmett also showed up for some high intensity racing in her build-up for the Leadville 100, and took a solid win in the pro women’s race.  Trevor Trinkino took the pro men’s win in the Bonzai downhill, and Darian Harvey was the fastest of the three pro women competing in the Bonzai downhill.