Ski Racing - January 7, 2010

MASTERS
Erik Klemme, the overall men’s winner of the 2009 Molecule F National Speed Series.

Dates

The Molecule F National Speed Series
fires up again BY BILL MCCOLLOM

SPEED

AS RECEN TLY AS 10 years ago, not many people would have thought that Kevin Butler and Bill Tomcich would be 2009 masters ski racing national age group champions. Butler and Tomcich would have had a hard time believing it as well. Butler first saw snow while in high school in southern New Mexico, and Tomcich learned to ski in Virginia. Both soon became avid skiers and capable ski racers by the time they left college, but certainly did not scorch the NCAA circuit.

Butler and Tomcich kept up their skills through freeskiing and the occasional town race after college, but then a curious thing happened to them as they rounded the 40-year-old mark. They stumbled upon the Molecule F National Speed Series; they found they both possessed a voracious appetite for speed; and, in short order, they captured the 2009 Class 4 and 5 age group titles, respectively, in the Molecule F National Speed Series.

The Molecule F National Speed Series is a USSA-organized 16-race series that spans nine resorts spread out over six USSA National Divisions. Park City masters ski racer, Bill Tabar, the creator of Molecule F, saw his spray-on fluoro-carbon wax as a good fit for the speed series and offered sponsorship at the inception of the series in 2002. The series has been growing ever since with as many as 144 racers attending the Park City super G Bill Tomcich

in 2009. Age class winners proudly sport their custom belt buckles, and overall winners receive trophies.

But it’s not about the swag. Speed is the primary lure for most participants, including Butler. He runs a business out of Midland, Tex., but now spends most of his time in Santa Fe, N.M., where he has easy access to training and racing. “I was out of ski racing for almost 20 years,” says Butler. “I got back into it in 2003. Learning how to ski the new skis and rediscovering speed has been such a thrill.” Now Butler already has tickets and lodging in hand for this season, as he looks forward to packing up his six pairs of super G and downhill skis and hitting the entire 16-race series. Tomcich, on the other hand, moved to Aspen after college. He continued to actively ski, but hadn’t entered any races other than the Aspen Town Downhill. That soon changed after the 2006 Town race, when Tomcich felt he left too much on the table. “I wasn’t satisfied with my result,” says Tomcich. “I saw that there was a Molecule F Series race coming to the mountain the next week and decided to enter.” There was no turning back. “Racing speed is just one of great thrills in life,” says Tomcich. “Learning to take the two big jumps at Soldier Mountain, the raw speed at Buttermilk — every venue offers such a thrill.”