Quantcast

The 2009 Dirty Bird DH Race!!!

motomike

Turbo Monkey
Jan 19, 2005
4,584
0
North Carolina


For the last couple months we have been working well under the radar putting together a new fall DH race at Hawksnest Ski Resort in Seven Devils, NC. Its called the Dirty Bird and will being taking place on August 22-23 (sat-sun). The track is just about finished now so we have decided to go ahead and let everyone know finally! There will be many details to follow, but I'll go ahead and try to answer some questions that you may have...


EDIT: all information added

Race entry fee is $50.00 for all classes. Register on site on Saturday or Sunday before the race. Cash or check only please, and there is an ATM located in the Hawksnest Ski Lodge for your convenience.

We will have 7 classes total, including Pro men/women, Amateur men/women, Intro men/women, and Junior (18 and under). Depending on the turnout of women for the classes, we may need to combine a couple classes.

There will be a cash payout for the Pro categories that will be determined by how many people show up to race. ie, more registrants, MORE money goes to pros. We will pay top 5. Expect a good chunk of cash for winning the race!

Top 5 in Amateur, Intro and Junior categories will all receive product from our great sponsors. As stated before, since the Juniors in the southeast have been very competitive this year and devoted to racing, we are giving away an Eastern black betty dirt jump frame to the top Junior to make sure that they go all out!

We have a schedule finalized, I just need to get a hold of Liam and get it posted up. We originally had Pro qualifying on Saturday afternoon, but have since moved it to Sunday the day of the race to save about $500.00 on insurance. This only means MORE money for you racers!

Food: we will have at least a couple food vendors on site, as well as a few kegs to keep you hydrated. There is also a "trail grill" up on the hill next to the Whoops section that we have installed into the ground. Bring some charcoal and grill up whatever you want!

Race Schedule:

Saturday

Registration 9:00am to 1:00pm
Practice 10:00am to 5:00pm (probably with a short break for food/water)

Sunday

Registration 9:00 to 11:00
Practice 9:00 to 11:00
Riders Meeting 11:30 at the Lodge
Pro Seeding Runs start at Noon
Races begin at 1:00 beginning with Intro class and ending with Pros.


Track Videos

Original video with our own Dirty Bird rap song...

And a little more professional edit showing the completed track...
 
Last edited:

TryFour

Monkey
Aug 20, 2007
119
0
Nice work guys! We'll be looking forward to it.

And if you're taking votes, I'm in for a YES for slalom!
 

mtbman1127

Monkey
Mar 10, 2008
243
0
Raleigh, NC
Looks awesome...do you think its short travel bikeable? Kinda looks like it on the vid but its hard to tell...all i have is an Enduro thats why im askin
 

Mulestar

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2007
1,061
0
in the dirt
Looks awesome...do you think its short travel bikeable? Kinda looks like it on the vid but its hard to tell...all i have is an Enduro thats why im askin

Yup...its rideable on most any bike. You gotta slow it down but you can make it down on a hardtail if you want. The track is designed to be fun for all levels of riders...manageable for everyone but lots of options for fast cats to step it up.
 

Metal Dude

Turbo Monkey
Apr 7, 2006
1,139
0
Smackdonough, GA
Hell Yah! Sick Boys! didn't know you guys could flow... on the mic, that is. We'll have to do a compilation,
they used to call me Icepick back in the day. Should fit in good with you guys, being from the ATL
and having the dirty bird prowess! I'm usually more on the hardcore battle tip but, I can flow as well.
Look forward to the new spot, you guys been building like F@#K!!!!
Good Job
 

Mulestar

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2007
1,061
0
in the dirt
Hell Yah! Sick Boys! didn't know you guys could flow... on the mic, that is. We'll have to do a compilation,
they used to call me Icepick back in the day. Should fit in good with you guys, being from the ATL
and having the dirty bird prowess! I'm usually more on the hardcore battle tip but, I can flow as well.
Look forward to the new spot, you guys been building like F@#K!!!!
Good Job
Thanks Chuck! That's the only reason I didn't make it down to race slalom, we've just been trying to stay really focused on hawksnest so we could make it a reality. The track really is amazing, You'll love the tight turns and jump sections coming from a slalom background. A slalom rider will have a true advantage on this course as steep berms, tight turn combos, and rollers are all over this track.

I really hope we can make slalom happen too, making me feel guilty talking about all the slalom venues falling off too! Just need to get some sponsors before we move in on expansion.
 

Metal Dude

Turbo Monkey
Apr 7, 2006
1,139
0
Smackdonough, GA
Word! I know how it is, alot of work gets overwhelming after so much building. Gotta ride too!
I'm happy to see you guys are building so many Dh trails up there. Gotta come visit.
I will try to help out with any slalom projects you might guys come up with!
 

FCLinder

Turbo Monkey
Mar 6, 2002
4,402
0
Greenville, South Carolina
It's great to see the South on the Rise again for DH. It's to bad I will not be racing anymore anytime soon. Keep up the great work guys!!!! You remind me of 5 guys back in the early 2000's!!!!!

Cecil
 

MTB_Rob_NC

What do I have to do to get you in this car TODAY?
Nov 15, 2002
3,428
0
Charlotte, NC
Looks like a great job is being done. How long is the track? Elevation loss? Will it be a race only venue?
 

Mulestar

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2007
1,061
0
in the dirt
Looks like a great job is being done. How long is the track? Elevation loss? Will it be a race only venue?

Track should be between 1:30 and 2:00 minutes for pros. Elevation loss is just under 700 feet. It is a race/private venue only at this point, but the whole point of the race is to show the mountain how much potential there is for mountain biking in hopes of taking it further in the future.

We plan to have one or more "track demo" days as fundraisers for the race, opportunities for non-racers to check out the scene, and to generate hype for the race.

By the way, I just walked in the door from slinging dirt on the track. Happy to say the drainage systems are working like a charm. There was a nice ~20 minute spell of very heavy rain and all the pipes were flowing proper. The best part was, after the rain stopped, water was completely off the track in about 5 minutes. The track is looking great; we have to stay motivated to finish with a bang because we are only a few hundred yards from the lodge, but we still have some valuable elevation to use.
 
Last edited:

MTB_Rob_NC

What do I have to do to get you in this car TODAY?
Nov 15, 2002
3,428
0
Charlotte, NC
We plan to have one or more "track demo" days as fundraisers for the race, opportunities for non-racers to check out the scene, and to generate hype for the race.
Sounds like a great idea, not only to show interest in the venue, but maybe get some folks interested in making the race.
 

Mulestar

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2007
1,061
0
in the dirt
Glad to hear there's some interest for that type of idea...we'll try to get it rolling on an open weekend as soon as the track's done.
 

sneakysnake

Monkey
Apr 2, 2006
875
1
NC
An open weekend would be awesome. I'll be there if that happens and something isn't already on the calendar.
 

Mulestar

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2007
1,061
0
in the dirt
DBDH update...

LOTS of digging has been going down, but my SLR is busted so I haven't been taking any pics. Luckily I snagged some stills off my vid cam during the dig sesh yesterday. We added the first pedalling section of the track, a high speed, off-camber grass sprint across the ski slope. The lower sections of the track are gonna be super visible for spectators at the lodge. Can't wait to finish this thing and host a demo day!

A couple pics:





 

Mulestar

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2007
1,061
0
in the dirt
Glad you like the rock berm...it rides nicely.

Demo day is coming as soon as possible. We're busting ass to finish the track and build some other fun lines to session.

The maintenance boys at the mountain also mowed us some twisty grass tracks top to bottom on the ski runs that should be really fun to rip on spikes. Hopefully they'll get nice and rough when they're bedded in.
 
Last edited:

Dudebrah

Chimp
May 18, 2009
37
0
Yeah the track is beautiful and will be great for competitors and spectators both. Great balance between technical/steep and berms. Fast + flowy. If you ride the course and don't have fun there's something wrong with you.

If this race goes well it could certainly mean more DH action at the bird, we'll just have to see. In the meantime, keep your ears open for possible slalom or jump jam action race day- we're gonna try to have as many types of riding represented as we can.
 

Mulestar

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2007
1,061
0
in the dirt
Yeah the track is beautiful and will be great for competitors and spectators both. Great balance between technical/steep and berms. Fast + flowy. If you ride the course and don't have fun there's something wrong with you.

If this race goes well it could certainly mean more DH action at the bird, we'll just have to see. In the meantime, keep your ears open for possible slalom or jump jam action race day- we're gonna try to have as many types of riding represented as we can.

yeeeeaaah!

Just ripped a run and the track is dry as a bone and finally starting to bed in on the grass sections.
 

motomike

Turbo Monkey
Jan 19, 2005
4,584
0
North Carolina
***Track Update***

Work has not stopped and we are very close to being 100% finished with the track. The section that we have been working on lately is a really tight berm section that is visible from the lodge and finish line. It took a while to get it dialed in, but now its running perfect and is already hard as a rock. The whoops section will be getting 3-4 more whoops added after testing today proved it possible to skim them. Its coming together so well!

I threw together a few clips of recent work
Dirty Bird part 2 short on Vimeo

track test day coming soon...
 

Mulestar

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2007
1,061
0
in the dirt
Some stills from the vid camera today. These berms are tight.



The pipe is 6.5 inches for reference





Hopefully I'll get my SLR back in action soon and resume taking action shots.