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It’s that time again, the end of the season is near for most of us if it’s not over already. I have raced at Keystone every Labor Day weekend since 1998. It is always the best race of the year for many reasons. The quality of the track, the organization of the crew, the warm welcome that Keystone Resort puts out for all the racers, and the last major social event of the year; the annual Vogt Family BBQ make this race my favorite.

This year lived up to all expectations and then some! The track was the new “Enduro” downhill which had the fastest times of the day hovering around the 11 minute mark. It’s got it all from super technical roots and rocks, jumps, wide-open off camber corners, and just the right amount of fitness. And you never know what mother nature is going to throw at you when you’re at close to 11,000 feet in September!

Pro qualification runs started about 10:30, and as I looked around at the black clouds rolling in, I made a strategic decision to go faster than normal in my qually, in case the storms settled in and the lightning began like it had been doing for the past several weeks. Worst case scenario: They cancel the finals due to lightning and take our qualification runs for the race. With the plan in place, I attacked the track and qualified in 7th position, just about where I wanted. The storms ended up missing us and the race went on as planned. Due to my high quallification run, I among the last to race. I got on the track just in time to hit the rain! It started as I was about a third of the way down. Wet roots, mud, and rocks. Oh boy. I had to play it conservative and ended up finishing 12th. Not too bad considering the 17 slower qualifiers had a fairly dry track for their finals. That’s just how it goes in downhill, you make the best educated decision you can, and then give it your all. I love this sport!

Full results at: www.racemsc.com

I was rocking the first production G2 chainguide, and it was sweet! We’re hoping to have them available in October, so if you’re looking for the best race chainguide out there, look no further.
The G2 is IT!