The collective intention of the Pirate gang brought us a beautiful day on Saturday. After heavy rains in the three days leading up to the event, and snow at higher elevations, the sky cleared and the sun came out for the SoHum Shootout. The, now legendary, mountain top biker cross course survived the showers and was nearly ideal as riders began practicing saturday morning. The only complaint heard was that the track was a bit slow due to soft ground and wet grass, but as the afternoon progressed the sun did its job and dried the course to packed perfection. The holiday placement of Ride #2 apparently conflicted for many as few aside from the local hard cores were present. Nine riders in all suited up to attack the hill. Practice flowed smoothly as riders took practice boughts against one other. Things were delayed slightly following a digger by Justin Graves. A oneway whip off the courses stepdown shredded Graves' derailleur into his wheel sending him sliding onto the drops rocky run out. A brief intermission followed while parts were pirated and a shifting system of sorts was rigged up. After a couple more runs the riders were prepped to begin. With such a manageable field it was agreed that seeding would take the form of a mass start descent. Riders jockeyed for position throughout the brief sub minute run and crossed the line in tight formation. Winning the seeding heat was points leader Justin Graves with a clean and collected run. He was followed in by last year's Shoot Out winner, Jed Olson. Close behind was inland shredder Chad Mitchell, followed by the never fading threat of Sean Tetrault in fourth position. With an odd number of riders top seeded Graves was given a first round by. Heat one saw young Robbie Rhall, seeded fifth, go up against the experienced Brian Hapgood, seeded sixth. Out of the gate Rhall could not match Hapgood's power as he pulled a bike length on the youth. Rhall remained on Hapgood's wheel and made two valiant attempts to pass, but it was not the kids day as Hapgood held on to advance. Heat two pitted Mitchell against course constructor Star Faraon, seeded 8th. Mitchell cruised to victory with Faraon close behind. Heat three was between long time rivals Rusty Hansen, seeded seventh, and Sean Tetrault. Tetrault was able to advance as Hansen struggled to clean the courses larger gaps. Wrapping up the first round was second seeded Olson easily advancing against first time competitor James Mitchell. Tension quickly mounted as the quarter finals began with Graves facing Hapgood for the right to the semifinals. Graves had a quick start and was leading by a bike length into the first straight. Things took a sudden turn as Graves attempted to pre manual the courses second roller at speed and was violently pitched over the bars, face planting into the third roller. Hapgood hung for a moment while spectators rushed to asses damage of the horrific crash. Graves was soon on his feet and Hapgood rode through to a semifinal berth against Chad Mitchell. The first semi final heat consisted of Olson and Tetrault. Olson misjudged his gate start allowing Tetrault to spring into the lead. Tetrault was able to hold Olson off till the second to last berm where a desperate attempt sent Olson off the bike and advanced Tetrault into the championship. The second semi final heat was between Mitchell and Hapgood, the two battled closely through the top portion of the course but it was Mitchells hardtail which pulled away from the sled of Hapgood to advance. The consolation round followed between Olson and Hapgood. Again a very close heat with Olson taking third on the day and Hapgood claiming fourth. All attention quickly returned to the top as the championship round ensued, Tetrault and Mitchell. To the surprise of many it was Tetrault, whose starts had been consistent all day, with the hole shot. The green Bullit of Tetrault held the lead all the way to the final berm, with Mitchell right on his heels. Tetrault had done an excellent job of holding off the young man's attempts to pass, but a bobble off the second to last jump sent Mr. T into the weeds and allowed Mitchell to slide to the inside where he slipped by the slowed Tetrault to win the day. Following awards th crew played for a bit on the entertaining jumps and sizeable step up on sight. Sadly the afternoon ended on a bitter note. Robbie Rhall and Brian Hapgood pushed to the top of the cross course to film a final run with helmet cam. The same roller that had ended the day of Graves pitched Rhall over the bars and onto his wrist. 5-8 weeks was the word that night after it was deemed broken. Get well soon Robbie.

1st	Chad Mitchell
2nd	Sean Tetrault
3rd	Jed Olson
4th	Brian Hapgood
5th	Justin Graves
6th	Robie Rhall
6th	Star Faraon
6th	Rusty Hansen
6th	James Mitchell