Sea Otter: Dual Slalom Photos

To many, the Dual Slalom is the most anticipated event on the Sea Otter calendar. A crowd-friendly format of exciting one-on-one racing, quick turnaround, jumps, spills, and speed. In the end California native Kyle Strait was crowned victor, but not without competition from some of the world’s fastest.

All great spectator sports draw crowds, and the Sea Otter DS is no exception. AMERICA!

Mick Hannah qualified first, and continued to go fast all day.

Pietermaritzburg World Cup DH winner Greg Minnaar was fourth fastest in qualifying.

Norco’s Bryn Atkinson qualified third…

But lost his rear tire on a particularly sharp berm entrance and couldn’t make up the 1.5 second gap in his second run.

Brendan Fairclough qualified 11th, and made it through the first heat.

#2 qualifier and eventual Sea Otter DH race winner Jared Graves had some bad luck at the top of the course in round 1, ending his day.

Mick Hannah charging in the second round.

Josh Bryceland and Neko Mullaly.

Kelowna BC’s Bas Van Steenbergen was the only Canadian rider to make the 32-racer elimination heats. He was paired up against recent Greg Minnaar and bumped out in the first round.

Danny Hart is a pleasure to watch push his bike through the turns and over jumps. He qualified 14th but ended up in the final 4.

Another rear tire killed by the big left hander, this time Kevin Aiello.

Troy Brosnan is another rider you can’t help but enjoy watching.

Please note, skinsuits are not an advantage.

Brendog tripling one of the rhythm sections between berms.

Brosnan dropping in to pump the backside of a tranny.

On the women’s side, Melissa Buhl was second fastest qualifier and looked significantly quicker than the majority of her competitors.

Danny Hart on the blue course, getting ready to shred some brown.

Plumes of dust were suitable for the sweltering heat at Laguna Seca.

The crowd lined the course up and down both sides.

Cedric Gracia pushing through for an early round win, he would continue on to the semi-final.

Hart on the way to sending Fairclough packing.

Switch sides and try again, but Brendog couldn’t close the gap on Danny.

Norco’s Jill Kintner was unbeatable amongst the women. She had the smoothest style of all of them.

 

Kyle Strait almost even with Gracia approaching the final straight in their first semi-final run, on the slightly-slower red course.

Hart took Brosnan on the blue course, but Brosnan was able to make up the gap on the second run.

Both of these dudes were super fast on the lower section.

Jill Kintner with a big lead in the final round.

Strait and Gracia approaching a long berm, where Strait would take the lead for good.

Brosnan’s winning run over Hart.

Strait getting some airtime on his winning GT race bike.

Kintner over Buhl on the final stretch of their last race. Kintner was a force to be reckoned with on Saturday.

Gracia and Hart head up for one last run together; Gracia eventually took third.

Strait and Brosnan in the final round. Strait’s got a wheel on the Aussie at this point.

Two different techniques on the long and low blaster.

And victory is claimed by the hometown hero.

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So many big names in this race, and names you might not expect to see racing side by side very often. It’s not too surprising to see the popularity of the Sea Otter Dual Slalom. Stoked for Strait? Or were you hoping for someone else?