The 2011 Jackson Hole World Championship Snowmobile Hill Climbs are in the books and what a great event it was this year! SCS Unlimited was proud to be on hand supporting this event in conjunction with the Jackson Hole Snow Devils. This years event featured an all new course/event layout that focused on involving the spectators with the riders that much more. In years past, the riders have started a little ways up Snow King mountain and the spectators have had limited ability to see the riders and the course. So, this year, the Snow Devils changed the start line to begin in the ball field and have the racers go through a rhythm type course before heading up Snow King. This gave the spectators a chance to see the riders in a new light as well as give the riders the opportunity to better showcase their equipment and sponsors. All in all, the event was a huge success and we cannot thank the Snow Devils enough for their continued non-profit efforts! [nggallery id=57]
Switching gears
We would like to congratulate Keith Curtis and Ty Free on their impressive rides to take multiple wins at the Hill Climbs. Ty Free qualified strong in 800 Improved Stock but ran into mechanical troubles just before the finals. However, with the help of a great group of people, Ty was able to make it to the line last minute and post the only time up and over the top to take the win! Not too bad for his first competition of the year! Congratulations Ty! Keith Curtis continued his dominant 2011 race campaign by solidifying himself as one of the fastest and most dominant hill climb racers since Rick Ward and David Shepherd. Keith pulled off wins in 800 Mod and Open Mod on his Polaris PRO RMK! Keith then capped both of those wins off with capturing the Mod King title. Then, he put the cherry on top by becoming the 2011 Jackson Hole King of Kings! Congratulations Keith. SCS is proud of you! We received this update from Keith after the event, here is what he had to say:Hi all, Just wanted to touch base with everyone about the Jackson Hole Hillclimb Results. I feel it went very well and I am happy with the results that I was able to put down during the event. The weekend started out great qualifying in all four of my classes. There was more snow than average in Jackson so it was an absolute riot! Five foot holes, headwalls, and ruts that made the ride super technical. And of course, can’t forget about the bottom portion of the hill packed full of old ruts from qualifying the day before. There was a good blend of fast pace to super technical racing. Jackson Hole only allows racers to enter four classes compared to the five classes allowed by RMSHA. The four classes I entered were Stock 800, Stock 100, Modified 800 & Modified 1000. Sunday Finals My first class up was Stock 800 and there were 8 finalists. I was in the middle of the heat and made what I felt a great run. I felt fairly confident but I ended up getting beat out by Luke Rainey. I should have executed a few different lines to make up some time. My next class was Modified 800. This class had the most entries with around 32 people. There were 12 finalists and I had my lines picked out from the previous run and also rode the lift to make sure I knew exactly where to go. I made a blazing run with a time of 1:16. Fastest time of the day and ended up taking a 1st! Next class was 1000 stock. By this time the hill was getting worse and worse and I had a decent run going until I hit the rock garden and things got a little wild. Still managed to pull off a 4th so it wasn’t too bad. My time actually earned me a 2nd but unfortunately they marked me right at the timing lights because my sled didn’t go completely through. Open Mod was my next class and hill help officials moved a gate where problems were occurring. I had my line picked out in my head and executed it perfectly resulting in another 1st! King Runs Winning Mod 8 & Open Mod gave me 2 chances for Modified King of the Hill, There was only one person to make it up and over for stock king and that was Luke Rainey. Erin Beukelman was the only racer to make it over for Improved King and for Mod King no one made it to the top. It was a high mark competition and I knew after my first run up the hill there was only 20 feet that needed to be gained for the title. My second attempt I avoided the rut and made the high mark but did not make it to the top! King of Kings Run I ran against Luke Rainey (Stock King Winner) and Erin Beukelman (Improved King Winner) for the prestigious King of Kings honor. I was the last person to run and both Luke and Erin ended with a high mark. I wanted to put on a show and I told myself I was going to give it my all and not just win with a high mark but get to the top. I knew where they had got caught up and knew I was going to have to put the Mod to the test. This involved getting up and over a 5 foot headwall. Due to the fact that I had a turbo’d sled and an awesome chassis to work with, I was able to get enough speed before I came into the wall or I would have never made it. After I made it to the top of the wall it was a highway to the top! Overall, I am very happy with the results of Jackson. I was happy to get my King of Kings traveling trophy back and take top honors of the event. The Jackson Hole Snow Devils put on a great show once again! Results Stock 800- 2nd place Stock 1000- 4th place Modified 800- 1st place Open Modified- 1st place Modified King of the Hill KING OF KINGS 2011 Check out all of these great photos from the event! Thank you to everyone that attended and stopped by our booth! 'Til next year!!
