Athletes Compete in Hangtown MX Race
Showing their love of high-paced action on and off the snow, U.S. ski and snowboard athletes traded in their winter equipment last weekend for motocross bikes at the seventh annual Monster Energy MX Crossover at Hangtown Motocross Classic.
Always a dominant force in any sport he decides to compete in, Shaun Palmer (South Lake Tahoe, CA) won the event.
Palmer took a group of action sports athletes to task, including two-time Olympian Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA) and three-time X Games gold medalist and snowboardcross teammate Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, CA), among others. In the end, Palmer was victorious over the group.
Rahlves, who has been riding since he was 13 but only got into competitive motocross 10 years ago, finished fifth after going down in a turn.
"I have a little issue with crashing. I was doing pretty well. I got the holeshot [between two bikes] out front and I was in third for a while. I held my own, but I went down and got passed which put me in fifth," Rahlves said. "I was hoping to get on the podium and I had the speed but I made a mistake."
For Holland, it was his first time competing in a motocross race, but he couldn't have been happier with the outcome.
"I had a great time. I rode the track and looked at the track how I would in snowboarding," Holland said. "I knew exactly how much speed you need to match transitions and to make it over gaps, but it's doing it on a totally different tool.
"My two goals were to have fun and to not get hurt and I accomplished both of those so I'm fired up."
Now it's back to summer training for the athletes with Palmer and Holland set to attend their first snowboardcross camp of the summer mid June.
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Athletes Compete in Hangtown MX Race
