Virage Trucks: From Drawing Board To Slalom Board
[April 2009, by Michael Stride]
In 2008 the Euro and the Dollar starting rising quickly against the British Pound, costs of high end trucks were getting more and more expensive. We decided to develop a UK manufactured truck to allow racers to purchase a good, strong rear truck at and be more in control of supply. I also had some ideas I wanted to see incorporated into a truck and developed the idea of precision axles in the form of reverse machined bolts. As the trucks are CNC'd we decided to add machined speedrings to the hanger, and the bolt/axle, along with reversing the thread on one axle so the tendency to tighten is added as a safety feature.

The machining is done at a small engineering company, where one of the partners is a old skater, and the cadcam work is done by a chassis engineer for a top UK sports car company. Prototypes were made and tested to help design the bushing seats and other aspects like the machined finish. The machinists have recently bought a new machine, so expect a few innovations in 2009/10.

One feature we are particularly proud of is the use of standard grade 8 skate kingpins. In order to get a spherical bearing over the end of the kingpin we hit upon a unique solution, scalloping a small dish out of the collar of the bearing, just enough to get the hanger over in a smooth movement. We combine both hangers with a spherically machined pivot, and this gives a very smooth ride, with tolerences to a fine degree, making the truck feel very precise at the same time. The whole concept was to produce a sturdy truck, that not only performed at the top, but also looked good and was innovative at the same time.

By using an inverted bolt system it means that bearing run on a totally smooth axle, aiding performance. The rear truck has a very steep kingpin angle at the suggestion of Sam Gordon. What we did is mimic the kind of angle many racers were using by either tilting on an adjustable baseplate, or by using a stack of angled risers. We mirrored this on the front truck by adding more angle than most trucks available today.

So far we have sold production versions to 3 continents, and had trucks achieve many miles of testing under the feet of long distance skaters, to prove their strength and performance. We now produce the truck in two widths, with four different baseplates, risers in 3 and 5 degrees and different finishes.

COSS Young Guns Dominate in Texas
Photo by Olivier Charrier
Picking up where they left off last year, Colorado teenagers Martin Reaves and Joe McLaren scored impressive victories at the Texas Cold Fusion Sizzler, the first ISSA-sanctioned event of 2009. Fellow Coloradoans Jason Mitchell and George Pappas were close behind in all three races, but this year’s Sizzler was all about the young’uns.

Reaves, 17, won the Giant Slalom and Tight Slalom events, and 15-year-old phenom McLaren won the Hybrid, edging out Reaves in the final to deny him a three-event sweep. Jonathan Harms, of St. Louis, Missouri, was the only non-Colorado rider to crack the podium, taking second place in the Tight Slalom, which was run as a single-lane race due to time constraints.

Absent were several of the top U.S. racers – including Gary Fluitt, David Pirnack, Chris Barker and Richy Carrasco. But overall it was once again the COSS show, with Reaves and McLaren also serving notice that the old-timers’ days at the top may be numbered.

Veteran Keith Hollien and rookie pro Brad “Jackhammer” Jackman discovered that experience and talent were no guarantee of making the A group. But fellow rookies Karl Floitgraf and Louis Ricard were stoked to qualify in sixth and seventh places, respectively, in the Hybrid.

In other divisions, Georgia’s Marty Schaub won the Masters’ Hybrid over CHI+ILL's Steve Lavin. Six-time World Champion Lynn Kramer beat out Cat Young and Utah’s Trish Erickson to win the Women’s category (although the four women present raced in the B and C groups). “Utah Trish” also came back from a hard fall in Saturday’s GS to finish second to Chicago’s Chris Favero in Sunday’s C group Hybrid race.

As in 2008, this year’s Sizzler included a downhill speed trap event to encourage Texas longboarders and speedboarders to check out slalom. Last year slalom specialists claimed the top three spots, but this year the speedboarders showed who’s boss by taking the top five places, with winner Wes Coleman hitting over 46 mph.

The warm weather and good hills in Austin, Texas, make for a great place to start the racing season in the Northern Hemisphere. The Sizzler has grown from a small, grass-roots event in 2005 to become one of the premier U.S. slalom competitions. Almost 50 racers signed up this year.

Top speeds in the GS were in the mid-30 mph range, and the Hybrid and TS, though occasionally slowed by headwinds, were fiercely contested. Some of the most spirited racing took place in the B, C and Masters’ groups.

Many thanks to Eddy Martinez, Mark “Gumby” Gosser, “Big Ryan” Smith and the rest of the Texas Outlaws for hosting a popular, well-attended event.

ISSA World Ranking - Final standings 2008
[March 1, 2009 By Hans Koraeus]
The final standings, including all results up to Dec 31, 2008 are now available.

World Ranking PRO (4 year) [Pro only, top 20 riders]
(Rolling 4 years, counting results from 2005 - 2008)
1 Jason Mitchell, USA 10815
2 Luca Giammarco, ITA 10581
3 Ramón Königshausen, SUI 10421
4 Chris Barker, USA 10050
5 Dominik Kowalski, GER 9734
6 Janis Kuzmins, LAT 9618
7 David Pirnack, USA 9344
8 Richy Carrasco, USA 9286
9 Chris Hart, SUI 8940
10 Maurus Strobel, SUI 8814
11 Gary Fluitt, USA 8541
12 Christoph Baumann, GER 8435
13 Greg Fadell, USA 8428
14 George Pappas, USA 8034
15 Jonathan Harms, USA 7920
16 Paul Price, GBR 7906
17 Keith Hollien, USA 7815
18 Vincent Berruchon, FRA 7753
19 Claude Regnier, CAN 7607
20 Michael Dong, USA 7549


Season 2008 PRO [Pro only, top 20 riders]
(Counting only results of 2008)
1 Dominik Kowalski, GER 4600
2 Jason Mitchell, USA 4220
3 Ramón Königshausen, SUI 4192
4 Martin Reeves, USA 4165
5 George Pappas, USA 4082
6 Janis Kuzmins, LAT 3966
7 Greg Fadell, USA 3890
8 Mikael Hadestrand, SWE 3613
9 Joe McLaren, USA 3490
10 David Pirnack, USA 3464
11 Henrik Wadsten, SWE 3408
12 Hans Göthberg, SWE 3399
13 Christoph Baumann, GER 3320
14 Chris Barker, USA 3320
15 Richy Carrasco, USA 3315
16 Zak Maytum, USA 3204
17 Paul Price, GBR 3172
18 Jonathan Harms, USA 3160
19 Fabian Björnstjerna, SWE 3101
20 Vincent Berruchon, FRA 3056


In the annual 2008 ranking, Dominik Kowalski set a new record by hitting the maximum score available for a year. By winning at least two events in every Major and Main event he entered, he earned a total of 4600 pts in 2008 and by that outperforms even legends like Luca Giammarco and the current World Ranking #1 (4 yr ranking) Jason Mitchell in their best years.
Our sincere congratulations to the high score.

ISSA Board Members 2009
[January 1, 2009 By Jani Söderhäll]
The ISSA board now consists of the following board members:
Gary Fluitt, Colorado (USA)
Paul Price, London (UK)
Peter Klang, Stockholm (SWE)
Wesley Tucker, (USA)
Jonathan Harms, Missouri (USA) [Elected Dec 2008]
Daniel Gesmer, Colorado (USA) [Elected Dec 2008]
Marcus Rietema, California (USA) [Elected Dec 2008]

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