Kokanee Crankworx 2011/Canadian Open DH Race Day

     Today was the day of the Canadian Open DH.  The Canadian Open is the biggest DH race in all of Canada outside of a World Cup.  Many of the top riders in the world attend this race.  Steve Smith, a Canadian, won the race with some serious competition from riders coming from all corners of the globe.

    The track was muddy and very slick with gnarly roots and smooth greasy rocks.  It has been raining for weeks up here and the conditions favored the locals, although I am sure everyone had a bit of a wild ride on their race runs.

     One of the craziest places on the course is Hecklers Rock.   Around a thousand people mass on or near the rock and heckle racers and chairlift riders.  Nobody is sacred as everyone gets the treatment.






     My race run was going well, but I caught up to the girl in front of me and she did not yield until she went over the bars.  This caused me to have to slow substantially and lose focus and as a result I crashed.  Even though my race was over I pinned the rest of the course.

On the hot seat but not for long.....

     Once I got to the bottom my dad asked me all about what my race run was like so I told him.  He said I should protest for a re-run because the girl got in my way.  I got my re-run and ended up 5th.  Not that great of a result, but I have plenty of races to go in the future here at Crankworx.

     When the pros were going down I met up with Luca Cometti.  He is a very fast 15 year old from Southern California......... who can pedal like mad. We rode some A-Line/Crab Apple Hits/A-Line laps, he is very fun to ride with.  I thought he was going to die a couple of times but he managed to pull off some super sick airs.  Ended up riding from 2 p.m. until the lifts closed at 8 p.m. mostly sessioning the crab apple hits and A-line.  Another sweet day in the books.