The sights and sounds of downhill racing returned to the mountain in full force this past weekend for Round 2 of the 2021 Downhill Southeast series. The circuit has quickly become one of the nation’s top regional racing series, and its popularity was on full display here at Snowshoe. Even with many of the region’s heavy hitters across the pond in Leogang, Austria for the first World Cup stop of the year, there were still more than 400 racers registered for the event, a Downhill Southeast record.
Mother Nature was a bit moody heading into the event, with several inches of rain soaking the area in the days prior. Severe thunderstorms and flash flooding continued into the weekend, turning the difficulty up a few notches on the already challenging race courses.
Norway’s Isak Leivsson dominated on race day, putting down the fastest run overall with more than 9 seconds to spare. It’s safe to say he’s comfortable racing in tough conditions. He won the 2016 Snowshoe Pro GRT in an all-out downpour.
Bowling Green’s Charlie Napier didn’t let a little mud stop him from going full send. He took home a 6th place finish in a stacked group of Cat 1 Juniors.
North Carolina’s Caroline Washam has plenty of experience racing at “The Shoe”, and it showed as she took the top spot in the Pro Women’s category.
The Snowshoe Bike Park’s own Zen Clements put it down for the hometown fans, grabbing the top spot in the Men’s Cat 1 (19-29).
Pro Matt Driscoll searching for a decent line through through the treacherously chunky rocks and roots of Pro DH.
Pro rider Titus Nicholson was charging hard and looking fast in practice before a crash in his seeding run ended his weekend early.
Lily Thomas looking pinned through the lower sections of the course, representing well for the crew at the Mountain Adventure Center.
Junior rider Collin Bourque tackles the legendary Roberto’s Rock on Lower Hareball on his way to a 3rd place finish.
Not the most single crown-friendly race course of all time, but that didn’t stop Christianburg’s Lucas Weaver from going full tilt.
Devin Ricker with a fun line choice here through the rocks.
As you can imagine, the line to the bike wash looked something like the drive-thru at a Tudor’s Biscuit World for most of the weekend.