The Devo Town Series presented by Zia Taqueria and Ska Brewing held its season finale Wednesday at the Factory Trails on the Fort Lewis College campus.
After holding a cross-country race and two enduros, the series concluded with a short-track race with the cyclists doing either four or six laps around course.
“We try to provide something for everyone,” said Devo’s executive director, Levi Kurlander, noting that the series is easy, cheap and has a low barrier of entry. “Kids get great race experience that you can’t replicate.”
On Wednesday, the B-race kicked off the competition with cyclists pedaling four laps around the course basically as fast as they could.
Kai Lokey led the first two laps, but Max Johnson eventually passed him and held on to win the race in 23 minutes, 48.16 seconds. Lokey finished second out of the 27 competitors in 23:51.93.
Out of the eight female competitors, Betty Holcomb had the fastest time (26:27.82) and finished eighth overall.
The A-race then followed and started out fast with a mass sprint to the first singletrack turns.
Riley Amos, Stephen Davoust, Guy Lesham and Ivan Sippy soon pulled away from the pack and battled for the lead.
Amos and Davoust, however, got some separation and continued to dual.
“Steve is so good at riding corners, I was just trying to hit it on the straights,” Amos said.
Amos said he passed Davoust and started to get a little separation, but then took a wrong turn and had to double back. Davoust then crashed, and Amos went around him to take the lead.
Multiple riders in both races crashed.
Amos eventually won the race in 30:07.27, just 1.51 seconds ahead of Davoust. Leshem finished third in 30:44.07 while Sippy crossed fourth in 31:11.26.
While Amos said it felt good to win, he called the race, “just a good workout with buddies” and “nothing but fun.”
“It’s super-casual,” Amos said. “It doesn’t matter how you do, it’s just a good time.”
The A-race also had four female competitors racing with the males in the 26-biker field. Ruth Holcomb was the first to finish in 33:51.07, placing 12th overall. Michaela Thompson finished 13th in 34:40.96.
The race was also the fourth and final one of a shortened 2021 season that saw more competitors this year.
“We had a bigger turnout than usual,” Kurlander said. He said the first race of the year usually gets about 50 riders and then 20 to 30 compete after that. This year, over 60 rode in the first race, both enduros sold out with 100 competitors and the finale had 53 bikers show up and compete.
“It’s been really fun to get the series going again,” Kurlander said.
“It’s fun to have these races here,” Amos said, adding that he got faster by chasing cyclists who were faster than him when he was younger.
A-race finishers
1. Riley Amos 30:07.27
2. Stephan Davoust 30:08.78
3. Guy Leshem 30:44.07
4. Ivan Sippy 31:11.26
5. Rotem Ishay 31:55.53
6. Sam Vickery 31:56.65
7. Beckett Ledger 32:10.91
8. Keiran Eagen 32:21.54
9. Jesus Vargas 32:50.07
10. Samuel Morrison 33:42.98
11. Jarier Laureano 33:46.56
12. Ruth Holcomb 33:51.07
13. Michaela Thompson 34:40.96
14. Nicholas Elliott 34:45.18
15. Chase Connors 34:49.00
16. Natalie Quinn 35:19.18
17. Miles Venzara 35:21.38
B-race finishers
1. Max Johnson 23:48.16
2. Kai Lokey 23:51.93
3. Emmett McManus 24:58.35
4. Michael Montgomery 25:04.04
5. Dillon Burns 23:51.68
6.Betty Holcomb 26:27.82
7. Tilia Clausen 26:29.32
8. Tim Calkins 26:48.75
9. Sam Hil 27:05.85
10. Kris Warner 27:07.92
11. Cooper Wells 27:09.59
12. Sam Yount 27:12.32
13. Rowan Lott 27:12.91
14. Mira Quayle 27:16.59
15. Patrick Matlock 27:19.48
16. Dylan Timmerman 27:21.18
17. Maple Damien 27:31.07
18. Quentin DeLuca 27:41.45
19. Ellie Shaw 27:41.80
20. Did not check in 27:56.33
21. Jack Cuthbertson 29:09.46
22. Opal Barber 29:48.28
23. Kirk Morrison 30:00.35
