The Seven Summits Gravity Racing Team (SSGR) shot out of the starting gate at the BC Cup Downhill Racing circuit with excellent results at Race the Ranch in Kamloops last month.
Keegan Frye raced to second place in the U17 Expert category just missing the gold by a mere 1.92 seconds to Jesse McAuley of Whistler, who finished in a time of 2:04.43.
“So great first race for the team,” said SSGR manager Ian Finke. “That’s a great result for Keegan, especially since he moved up from Sport to Expert this year.”
Trail’s Max Nutini also finished strong with a seventh place result in Junior Sport Men, while Rossland’s Logan Merringer came in a very respectable 10th spot in his first race in U17 Sport after moving up from U15. Two seconds back of Merringer was J.T. Bjarnason of Fruitvale who finished in 12th.
Aiden Brummelhuis, Caleb George, and Ryder Eagleton also competed for the Gravity Racers in their first ride at the Ranch.
In the adult categories, Rossland mountain biker Josh Solman captured top spot in the Men’s 17-29 with a sizzling descent in 2:01.06, Tyler Merringer raced to a third place finish in the 30-plus mens, and Caroline Rousselle captured second spot in women’s 30-plus category.
The BC Cup Downhill Series is a great tool in preparing the best provincial athletes to compete on the National and International stage. Most races are run on ski hills with precipitous drops, steeps, and jumps, hairpin turns over rough and sometimes rocky and wet terrain just to keep it interesting.
Seeding runs at each event determine start order for the races, but do not count towards series overall points. Each rider must complete at least two training runs to be eligible for the race start on Sunday. Riders must complete five out of six races to count towards an overall ranking. The best five out of six results for each rider will be used when calculating the final series standings.
There are no mandatory races in the series, although in the case of a tie, the highest placed rider at the final race in Fernie will be the overall series winner.
SSGR’s next race goes at Kickinghorse Mountain Resort in Golden for the Western Open July 1-3, and will follow that up with four more races in Panorama, Sun Peaks, and Silver Star, before winding up in Fernie for the BC Cup Finals Aug. 26-28.
The team is coached by Ryan Kuhn, Natasha and Ian Lockey and practice Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with a development team of young riders practicing on Mondays.