Words: Big Mountain Enduro
Hidden in the White Mountains of Arizona is the beautiful and unique Sunrise Park Resort where the Big Mountain Enduro made history in the enduro world once again. For the first time ever two separate enduro series combined to race side by side. The Youth Enduro Series, the nation’s only youth enduro series, was invited to compete alongside the professionals and amateurs here at BME.
Here’s what Isabella Naughton, this weekend’s Pro Women’s First Place winner, had to say about the Youth Enduro Series joining the BME this weekend.
“It was really awesome having the Youth Enduro Series combined with the BME this weekend! Getting to see and talk to all the kiddos racing was definitely a highlight for me. It is so rad to watch the up and comers of this sport; and seeing how stoked they are about enduro racing is so cool! They are all such shredders and I’m excited to watch them grow into pro racers!”
This weekend’s Pro Men’s winner Nik Nestoroff had this to say about bringing the Youth Enduro Series to BME
“I had such a fun time racing the BME in Sunrise for Rd 2. The BME crew always puts on such fun events and it’s always an amazing time hanging out with everyone. This race was also the first combined event featuring the Youth Enduro Series in conjunction of the BME series. It was full circle for me seeing all the groms racing and having fun, it reminded me of when I started racing and how much racing has been a positive outlook in my life! The future looks bright!”
Colton Peterson, the 2022 BME Pro Men’s Champion had something to say too.
“It’s cool to see the younger generation race some of the same stuff all the pros do. It’s really good for the sport to get the young guns used to the big days on the bike and gnarly downhill descents.”
Overall the combination of the two races was a success and we received many compliments from both Big Mountain Enduro riders and the Youth Enduro riders! You will see the Youth Enduro Series link up again with Big Mountain Enduro at their Brian Head, Utah stop at the end of July. This will be the final round for the Youth Enduro Series and they will crown the champion there.
Friday afternoon we hosted all the pros for a free autograph session where people had everything from their shoes to their bikes signed by the pros. Afterward, the local White Mountain Apache tribe performed a sacred ceremony to bless the riders with protection and guidance throughout the weekend. It was incredibly memorable to watch the dancers perform the timeless dance of their people as the sun set on the last day before race day and everyone walked away feeling honored and protected.
Day one was not easy as riders had to peddle up nearly 4,000 feet of elevation gain to hit the loamy backcountry stages where they came down two new fresh-cut trails and had to maneuver through some packed-in lines to get the best time possible.
Photos by James Stokoe
Day two gave them a bit of a rest with some lift transfers into some gnarly but dry stages that made things a bit more difficult as they charged down four stages to make a total of seven for the weekend. If you are looking for more details about some of the trails at Sunrise Park Resort you can check out the course previews we have uploaded on our YouTube channel. Lucca Cometti and Kera Linn talk us through stage seven and stage two of this course and gave some great insight into what the conditions were like there in Arizona.
At the end of day one we all had our guesses on who would come out on top but no one was prepared for who would be on the podiums Sunday afternoon. Our winner for the Men’s Pro class this weekend Nik Nestoroff had to shave a total of ten seconds off his total time to place first ahead of Mitch Ropelato, who came in second and Cody Kelly who fell into third place. We were surprised to see last year’s champion Colton Peterson placing 5th behind Aiden Chapin after he had an accident during practice and wasn’t feeling 100% himself.
The Pro Women’s category was rocked when Isabella Naughton came in first ahead of Stefanie McDaniel and Lia Westerman. Mount Nebo’s Pro Women’s winner Porsha Murdock fell into fourth place above Kera Linn surprising us all as we wrapped the weekend up with champagne and cheers for everyone who raced this weekend.
If you would like to see all the results of this weekend you can find them on our website and you can rewatch the live stream we had of both the Youth Enduro Series on Saturday afternoon and the Big Mountain Enduro awards on Sunday on our YouTube channel.
For more photos and details for the next race follow us on Instagram @bigmountainenduro and on Facebook. For all video footage please subscribe to our YouTube channel for notifications of when we post and when we go live.