The Nevada State Downhill Championships took place at Bootleg Canyon in Boulder City, NV just outside of Las Vegas. Bootleg Canyon has plenty of rough technical terrain that makes for a good early season race to test out new equipment and brush the dirt off from the long winter. There was a large contingent of over 200 racers at the event.

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The event went very smoothly with plenty of shuttle trucks to get riders to the top for practice runs and quick results at the end of each race.

One of the only setbacks about Bootleg is the short push to the top of the mountain from the shuttle drop point. Thankfully the hike a bike trail is broken in from the traffic at Bootleg.

Once riders to get to the top they can see the epic terrain and beautiful scenery into and out of Las Vegas. The trails have a bit of everything including steep chutes, exposed off camber sections, and lots of rocks that give surprisingly good grip.

The weather during the event was great for riding. It was sunny every day and the course was treated to some heavy rain each night, prepping the course for the following morning’s riding. The rain gave the dirt a lot more traction than usual. There was little to no dust to deal with at all for the race.

Bootleg has a few tricky sections in each of their courses. The race course has an infamous rock in the middle of an off camber section that always takes some concentration to navigate with speed.

Those aforementioned tricky sections took their toll on riders often ending in a gasp inducing crash.

Mitch Ropelato was the big winner of the event. He took the win in the Pro Men DH and the Chainless DH.

Mikey braved the Bootleg terrain aboard his Specialized Enduro. He took second in both the Pro DH and Chainless DH race.

Bryson Martin got plenty of runs in and was rewarded with a third place at the end of the day.

Jacquelyn Harmony is no stranger to bootleg and she took the win for the Pro Women.

Gabirella took second in Pro Women after a strong seeding run.

Tyler Immer, a new Yeti Factory Team rider, was looking strong during practice but couldn’t put it all together come race time.

Cam Zink took a chance to race some DH. Usually he’s seen on the slopestyle course, but he can ride a DH bike as well.

Ethan Quehl’s first outing to Las Vegas as well as his first race aboard his new Specialized Demo.

Graeme Pitts take a leap of faith down the “poop chute”.

Bootleg has some very unique terrain. You won’t see terrain like this in many places.

Navigating down the rocks has a certain risk factor that claimed some riders throughout the weekend. It was feast or famine in some tech sections for most riders.

Canfield Brothers sponsored a Single Speed DH event at the race. Jeff Frampton took the win on a 29’er of all things. Maybe wagon wheels do work well for DH? 29er DH class at Bootleg next year?

Downhill Mike put on a great event. He really stepped up his game this year and had the event well organized. Racers had full results within about an hour of the end of the last race and awards were done quickly as a result. Everyone was able to leave well before the sun went down. Awards were given to the top racers with prizes for top 3 in each category and the top three Pro men and women got paid. It’s clear Mike has ran a race or two before given the smooth weekend and he’s always looking to improve where he can.