Montana Big Sky Xc Race Report

[srhodes]

Our D36 and Polka Dots came home with 4 National Championships! Here is our report:

2013 AMA Kenda Big Sky National Championship presented by KLIMo

PDMC Race Reports

By Rhodes CPT

Big Sky Montana held the first ever National Off Road Championships, this new format brought together the east coast and west coast qualifiers of all offroad disciplines to a one race Super Bowl to crown an AMA National OffRoad Champion in all classes. Our Polka Dots having swept most of the west coast nationals and earned the invitation for this show down and now would be fighting for that coveted #1 NATIONAL AMA plate. There was also a lot on the line in the forms of sponsorships for the amateur overall winners, KENDA Tires, Wiseco, FMF,KLIM, FASSTco, Flexx Bars , all had put up full sponsorship for the overall amateur winners!

As thirteen of us hit the road and we finally made into the valley of Big Sky we rounded the corner and starred at a 11,253 foot mountain called "Lone Peak" in the background with amazement, this would be the backdrop of the whole race scene for the weekend. The race starts at the base of Big Sky Ski Resort and racers would be going up to elevations as high as 10000 feet so obviously jetting became a main concern and we spent most of the day Friday making sure we were on. The accommodations at this resort were phenomenal, with everything at the racers disposal and the resort welcomed all of us crazies with open arms. To top it off it rained hard for about an hour and off and on throughout the night, conditions were going to be perfect! I also have to add that this was the first race we went to all year without the wives/moms and it happened to be in the best and prettiest accommodations all year. Us husbands did feel very guilty as we were in the spa getting our massages and pedicures, so were very sorry ladies, next year we'll plan better and have you ladies drive the bikes and we'll fly in!

Saturday morning we woke up to bluebird skies and hero dirt! Our first racers were the second race with supermini's and 85's. JT Baker, Jeremy Coiner, Calum Campbell, Mason and Max Parker were all in the supermini class and Lochlan Campbell one row behind in the 85 senior class. As the Flag flew, again it looked like a sea of Dots going up the hill, they were off on a 6 mile course for an hour and a half, and roughly 20 minute laps. JT Baker battled to the front after the second lap with no front brakes and held the lead the entire race for a 1st place supermini and 1st place overall national champion! Max Parker coming from a dead last start gets the hard charger award and ended up 3rd and 3rd O/A, Mason Parker had a great start and fell back a little ending up with a 5th / 5th OA. Calum Campbells bike was having some issues and once he saw his partner Jeremy Coiner broken down, he decided he would give him a ride back to the pits, Calum 8th and Jeremy 10th. Lochlan Campbell from start to finish dominated the 85 seniors and took top honors with a 1st place national championship and 6th OA.

Third race was the C-class, We had racers Max and Mason Parker in the C-200 race going back to back races with only a 15 minutes in between races! Props to these kids, I was out of breath from just walking up to the start area in 7500' elevation, these kids just got off their bikes for an 1.5 hrs and slammed a gatorade and power bar and lined back up in 15 minutes for another 1.5 hrs now thats impressive!! Also up was Kyleigh Rhodes in the C-women. Max had a great ride ending up with a 2nd and 5th OA and Mason also having a great ride with a 4th C-200 and 10th OA. Kyleigh Rhodes lead from start to finish for a 1st place national championship! The Saturday ended with a great award ceremony in the main hall and we took home 3 national championships, and almost everyone of our kids on the podium!

Again it down poured Saturday night and we woke up to more clear skies and hero dirt for Sundays race. The first race of the day was all the B-class, and we had JT, Ty, Calum and Jeremy all lining up. Ty Baker was 2nd row B open, JT and Jeremy 3rd row B-250 and Calum 4th row B-200. They added to the race course and the lap times would be considerably longer than saturday, around 30 the reports from Saturday is the course tight and technical with few open areas so the start was critical. Ty Baker came into the first corner 2nd and before they hit the single track he had moved into first! JT got the Holeshottttt and had several bike lengths going into the trees followed by Jeremy coiner, Calum Campbell had a horrible start but he must have passed 15 riders in the rocks going down the start straight and was sitting pretty by the time they hit the trees. When the first rider came around after 30 minutes it was our Ty Baker leading the pack and the overall! He had already passed the whole first row and was charging hard, behind him came JT leading the B-250 and about a minute back from Ty, with Jeremy and Calum in tow. After 3 laps Ty still had control of the overall! Jeremy had hit a tree that knocked his gas line off and he lost all fuel, JT was still leading the B-250 and Calum was in a Battle with 2nd place B-200. When the checker flag flew Ty Baker took 1st B-open and the overall win and a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! JT had a good crash on the last lap and lost the lead and ended up 2nd B-250 and 7th OA, Calum had a good ride and finished 3rd B-200 and 31st OA , and it just wasn't Jeremy Coiners weekend for bikes but he finished with a 13th. When I asked Ty how his race went, he said he rode a perfect race and didn't fall once! Our other notables were Zac Fitch with D-36 finished 5th B-250 and Dylan Nevins of D36 6th B-200.

The Big Boys were there and the pros had a $10,000 purse, the east coast swept the pro day, with Charlie Mullins, Brad Bakken and Jordan Ashburn 1,2,3. these boys were fun to watch! Its been a fun year chasing these nationals and a year to remember, many miles driven, many dollars spent, many late nights in a garage, but to watch our kids grow up in this atmoshpere, and to be around a great club with some great famalies makes it all worth it! We Brought home 4 AMA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS and numerous other podiums. Thanks goes out to all our families, and our sponsors, until next time this is your Rhodes Captain…over and out!