Race Report: 2012 Reaper Madness at Bootleg Canyon 9

sspomer

2/20/2012 9:09am

Cool desert breezes and razor sharp rocks greeted downhill racers who entered the 2012 Reaper Madness at Bootleg Canyon in Boulder City, Nevada. Building on a long-standing, off-season tradition, Reaper Madness was sanctioned as the Nevada State Downhill Championships and gave riders the first opportunity in 2012 to qualify for the U.S. National Championships held later this year. The extremely rugged and unique trails of Bootleg Canyon challenged racers of all abilities. In the end, Mitch Ropelato handily took the pro class win by over 10 seconds over 2nd place finisher, Mikey Sylvestri. Jackie Harmony easily earned a top spot on the pro women's podium against the other 2 women in her field. Get your armor and your pads on and enjoy the razor sharp, rock-filled action from Nevada. -gordo

Mitch Ropelato is a natural-born shredder. His experience on the World Cup circuit gives him a big edge at regional races. He took 10.73 seconds out of the competition for his 3:58 winning run.

Vital Member, Gnargnartours set up their camera on the huck at the bottom. Check out the action!

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Mikey Sylvestri, out front, shredded his new bike (Cove) to a strong 2nd place finish and a 4:09.

Nice weather and legit downhill in February. No complaints for anyone here!

Kyle Sangers, 3rd place Pro Men and smooth as butter through the harsh reality that is Bootleg Canyon.

Steve Wentz straps you to his chest for his seeding run.

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Sniper rocks abound at Bootleg.

Ryan Gardner has his name on his top tube which makes identifying him for this caption quite easy. High speed.

Leland Turner is GNARLY! There was a fitness event going on in the quarry next to the bike trails that comprised of a 5k track filled with 100 obstacles...think Army boot camp. Well, Leland thought it would be a good idea to compete against the Fitness Course champion in between his Pro DH seeding and race runs. The MTB crowd stood on the quarry rim and cheered him on as he held pace on the fitness course and finished 2nd by a very respectable margin. He raced Pro DH an hour later...INSANE!

NorCal representative, Matt Condrashoff, didn't care about the rocks because he knew there was no way he could catch poison oak at Bootleg.

Colorado ripper, Dan Goddard, got out of the snow and into speed. Once riders entered that steep section, it was wide open and 40mph through the bottom half of the course.

Bernard Kerr, 4th place and a long way from home.

Graeme Pitts, 5th place and dialed with his lines. The main line through here was like an S-turn, but Graeme did his homework, set up early, straightlined the S and carried speed into the traverse section.

The traverse mentioned above. 402 and friend keeping the mo'.

Anyone else craving a Mountain Dew? Colors that pop really stand out among Bootleg's barren wasteland.

Mojo Moto...lovin' it!

Spenser Mehr handling the gnar just fine. The last thing you want to do is blow your line out here...unless you like being punctured by a thousand knives.

Thanks to Bootleg Canyon and Downhill Mike for keeping the off-season racing dream alive! I'll put up all the photos into a gallery soon, so stay tuned.

2012 Reaper Madness Pro Men Results
1. Mitch Ropelato, 3:58.51
2. Mikey Sylvestri, 4:09.24
3. Kyle Sangers, 4:12.83
4. Bernard Kerr, 4:16.28
5. Graeme Pitts, 4:18.70
6. Kyle Warner, 4:21.52
7. Matt Johnston, 4:21.65
8. Kyle Wideman, 4:22.08
9. Naish Ulmer, 4:23.69
10. Ben McClelland, 4:23.78
11. Arthur Babock, 4:24.96
12. Thomas Ravina, 4:24.99
13. Christian Wright, 4:28.04
14. Bobby Langin Jr., 4:29.21
15. Steve Wentz, 4:29.40
16. Spenser Mehr, 4:29.55
17. Douglas French, 4:31.59
18. Matt Thompson, 4:32.86
19. Ryan Garnder, 4:36.36
20. Parker Degray, 4:37.13
21. Dante Harmony, 4:37.29
22. Adam Digby, 4:38.25
23. Blaire Reed, 4:38.71
24. Leland Turner, 4:39.41
25. Tim Mangini, 4:41.79
26. Dan Goddard, 4:42.50
27. Tom Doran, 4:44.08
28. Matt Condrashoff, 4:44.67
29. Adrian Chastain, 5:07.21

Pro Women
1. Jacqueline Harmony, 4:57.77
2. Tasa Herdon, 5:43.26
3. Beth Roberts, 6:26.59

View Complete 2012 Reaper Madness DH Results