Rain, hail and lightning tried, but another day gave Utah its second major downhill race that was the best yet, according to racers.
Saturday, before the sun had time to fully show itself, Tommy Moe, a fourth-year member of the U.S. Ski Team and resident of Palmer, Alaska, capped the end of a good downhill season with a win at Snowbasin. A few weeks before, Moe had earned his first World Cup downhill points with a 13th overall finish in Europe.Actually, what he did was swap places with Thursday's winner. A.J. Kitt, winner of the first race, was second this run down. Moe, second on Thursday, won.
Last year, the first for NorAm downhill racing in Utah, one race got off before too much snow stopped the second. This year, one race got off before bad weather on Friday put a stop to the second. This time, though, Snowbasin was able to give it one more day - Satuday.
At 8 a.m., 66 racers showed up for the early morning start, some still blurry-eyed and yawning but thankful for the opportunity to race a downhill. Several races had to be canceled this year due to poor snow conditions.
For Saturday's event, the snow was good, the weather perfect, and the early start kept the course hard and fast - the way they wanted it.
Moe said he felt good about the race from the start.
"I was in a good frame of mind," he admitted, "and from that point on everything went smoothly. I made no mistakes and I hit the jumps just right."
The course was faster this year, and with the addition of a few more jumps, "a lot better," the winner said. "It was a lot faster and better course than it was last year. There was just a lot more action."
Racers at the finish made mention of the speed of the course. Several said it was fast enough that they had to pull out of their tucks or they wouldn't have been able to hold some of the turns.
For the local racers, though, it was not such a good day. Spencer Eccles, who skied for the University of Utah for one season, made some mistakes and dropped back to 12th overall. Jeremy Nobis, who trained with the Park City Ski Team, finished near the middle of the pack.
Moe's time was one minute, 39.12 seconds, to a 1:39.59 for Kitt. Third was Bill Hudson in 1:39.94. Eccles time was 1:41.72 and Nobis had a 1:42.17.
The top three finishers were all members of the U.S. Ski Team.