Burcin's Blog: Western Jr. Championships

Number 1 J2

Hey Guys, March is always a crazy month and so far it hasn’t disappointed. I have had 7 races in March so far with many more to come.

The highlight of my March so far was the Western Junior Championship series in Schweitzer, Idaho. This series was 2 Super G’s, 2 GS’s, and 2 slaloms. This series was during the same time as J2 nationals in Mammoth, California, which was the one downfall. I qualified for J2 nationals, however my coaches and I decided I would be better off going to the Idaho series for a couple reasons. The main one was that I could get 4 tech races at Schweitzer instead of 2 at Mammoth. It was a tough decision because J2 nationals is a really fun event but I think we made the right choice because I had a great series in Idaho.

The first races were the Super G’s, which isn’t my best event but I had 2 solid races. The first one I scored a 92 and the second one I scored an 84. It was really nice to get two Super G scores in 2 days! The next races were GS and I had two solid races again. The first day I ended up 21st, 4th for j2s, scoring a 61. The second day I ended up 12th, 4th again for j2s, scoring a 53. The 53 is my lowest score so far in my FIS career, which was pretty cool. To end the series there were 2 slaloms. My good race streak ended in the first slalom in which I DNFed first run. However I made up for it the second day coming in 17th, 2nd for j2s, scoring a 58. With all those good results, I ended up winning the overall j2 for the series, which was a good bonus.

Overall, it was a really fun series with some great races! However, coming back to the east coast was not as fun. It is warming up fast and the snow isn’t faring well. I had an Eastern Cup GS race at Stowe, Vermont today but it was canceled due to extremely soft snow and fog. It was a real bummer but there is another GS tomorrow and hopefully they can get it off! After these Eastern Cup GS races, I have 2 Eastern Cup slaloms at Waterville, New Hampshire on Sunday and Monday. It is suppose to get up to around 70 on these days so the races could get pretty interesting!

To end my season, I will be heading off to Panorama, British Columbia for a FIS series similar to the one in Idaho, 2 Super G’s, 2 GS’s, and 2 slaloms. It should be some great opportunities to end my season on a high note. As of right now, I have 57 slalom points, 57 GS points, and 88 Super G points, but I am looking to lower those some more before seasons end.

Good luck to all the SRD racers and have a great end to the season! Lets hope the snow lasts!

.)) Kyle Burcin