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Headline archive 2009
These are the headlines of www.SlalomSkateboarder.com as they appeared in 2009.
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[December 17 2009]
The 2010 ISSA Board of Directors has changed. Retiring from the board this year are Paul Price and Marcus Rietema. The board would like to thank both Paul and Marcus for their efforts. Jani Soderhall and Pat Chewning will become honorary board members, having access to the Board of Directors forum, and providing valuable input, but without voting rights.
New to the board this year is Joe McLaren of Boulder, Colorado. As many of you know, Joe is great all-around skater, a Jr. World Champ and a Pro National Champ. It will be great to have a young skater's vision and perspective on the new board of directors. Returning to the board this season are Gary Fluitt, Dan Gesmer, Jonathan Harms, Wesley Tucker, Peter Klang and Joe Iacovelli, who took a two-year hiatus from the ISSA to hone his skills as a professional wrestle
Board elections concluded on Dec. 5, 2009. The new board has been at work behind the scenes figuring out what they can do for slalom in 2010. The board will be announcing a number of changes that they will be initiating this coming season, including rules updates, insurance programs, race promotion support and racer-recognition plans. Look for details on these and other plans in coming weeks.
The ISSA rankings for 2009 got out of sync during the season. Results from many races were not submitted to longtime rankings guru Hans "Corky" Koraeus, so the rankings are missing several race results that will affect the rankings until they are submitted. The board is trying to chase down the missing results. If you have race results that are not showing up in the 2009 rankings at www.slalomranking.com, please e-mail them to corky@slalomskateboarder.com. If you raced in an event that is not showing up in the rankings, please get in touch with the race director and get those results submitted.
In 2010 the winners in each category of the rankings will be recognized by the ISSA with a very cool trophy and highlighted in Concrete Wave magazine. Other benefits for top-ranked racers are being considered as well.
[August 17 2009, by Emrik Larsson]
"It all started with slalom skateboarding, back in the days", says Robert Thiele, born in the then called Czechoslovakia, but nowadays living in Germany. During the iron curtain days the Czechs built their own wooden decks, got wheels smuggled in from the west, and were able to skate. Ramp and street skateboards were hard to find, so due to the lack of equipment, slalom and high jump became the two biggest forms of skateboarding in the 80's. Some 20 years later, slalom has resurfaced and a lot of the old Czech skaters like Thiele, Dalibor Danhel and others have returned to skateboarding. Not only competing themselves but also helping a new generation of slalom skateboarders.
The small town of Policka (app. 200 km from Prague) has a long tradition of hosting slalom competitions, and actually had a European championship back in 1990.
Over 70 skaters arrived from all over Europe, and even though missing some slalom-experts, the event was a huge success. The friendly Czechs arranged a very well organized competition and had thought of everything during the weekend.
Friday started with Super Giant slalom, on a steep hill 10 km outside of the city. A race out in the countryside, close to cowbells and local farmers, was a perfect start. Czech veteran Petr Janoušek won the AM section with a strong run, followed by Robert Thiele, third place by Viktor Hadestrand from Sweden.
The course had huge offsets which made it hard for some of the Pros (and Ams like myself) to figure out the perfect line. The only American participating, Martin Reaves, said the course was one of the fastest he had ever ridden, but managed to find the perfect speed and took top honors, almost a second and a half before runner up Fabian Björnstjerna from Sweden. Third place went to Swedish Pro rookie Viking Hadestrand, who really showed no fear at all cruising down the mountain. In the women section Sandrine Fereirra from France found enough speed in her second run to win.
After the race everyone had a great beer-time, but even though the price for a large beer must be the lowest in Europe (not even 1 euro for 50 cl.) most of the riders went to bed early.
Saturday had two races: Special and Hybrid. The Special slalom was held on the Policka square, an old traditional race, single lane, at some points going upwards, not downhill. A lot of the skaters thought this to be more of a "joke-contest", but almost everyone tried the course (and the results did count for the overall title). Dominic Kowalski, Germany, even though always complaining about too many flat races, became "the fountain king" for the third time in a row. Robert Thiele won the AM-section (and a lot of Ams muttered: " why isn't he in the pro-section"). Joyce Wheeldrake from Canada joined the small female race crowd and also raced around the fountain, but was beaten by Ferreira.
The 2nd Saturday race was more of a blast, dual lane Hybrid (even though the course looked like a Special to me). Up until then the organisation and the races had run smoothly, but suddenly, protests were made against wrong timing, wrong cone-count etc. At these times you wish the sport had tighter regulations about everything (following the ISSA rules). Well, after a lot of debate, Robert Thiele, once again won the AM section. Second place to French rider Christopher Dupont and third place to the focused and talented Gustavs Gailitis from Latvia. In the women section Sandrine Ferreira beat Latvia's Lienite Skaraine.
The king of fast tracks: Latvia's Janis Kuzmins managed to beat Sweden's Mika Hadestrand by an inch in the Pro section. Third place to D. Kowalski.
The setting, right in the middle of the small city, was perfect. Saturday was also party day. The skate-party was held outdoors with heavy rock, lot's of drunk and happy Czechs, plus some of the skaters guzzling down a beer or two. Faces in the crowd included the German crew, Sam Gordon, Louis Selby and Paul Price from the UK, Kaj Partaj from Sweden and of course Joyce Wheeldrake.
Last day of competition, had one of the original forms of Slalom racing. Flat, 50 cones, straight, dual lane. Me myself and I managed to crawl into the top five, but Gustavs Gailitis had found some more of that Latvian speed, beat me, and went into third place in the AMs. Fellow Latvian (there were 13 of them in competition!!!) Ainars Jarmacenko pumped himself into the final but, once again, Robert Thiele won it all.
The Pro racing was really tight and there wasn't many 100s of a second separating the top racers. Viking Hadestrand had a fantastic winning streak beating both the Dom. Kowalski, and fellow Swede Fabian Björnstjärna to take one of the final spots. The other place taken by (who else?) Janis Kuzmins. They fought a heavy battle, but due to more consistent racing Kuzmins won. Third place to F. Björnstjärna. In the women section Lienite Skaraine beat Sandrine Ferreira.
It was also fun to watch so many Junior skaters race. There seems to be (at least in Latvia and the Czech Republic), many up and coming stars.
Both Dominic Kowalski and Janis Kuzmins had the same amount of points, so they split the title for overall winner Pro section. Third place to Swede Fabian Björnstjärna. Overall winner in the Am section: Robert Thiele. Women: Sandrine Ferreira.
Three days of slalom racing came to an end. The weather was perfect, the courses ok, the organization very good, and all in all, very happy times in Policka with lots of laughter. The Czechs promised to have a contest next year as well, so hopefully we'll see more of good racing and good beer in 2010.
For complete results, please visit the forum topic:
European Championships 2009 - Policka
[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.
[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]
[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.
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 guns.
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’ group
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.
By Jonathan Harms
Photo by Alex Kwiecinski
First-time racers and grizzled old vets came together in Batavia, Illinois (about 45 minutes southwest
of Chicago) on March 21, 2009 for the first-ever Chicago Cone Crusher slalom race, hosted by the Chicago
Longboard Society (CLS). There were only 15 official entrants, but there were at least that many more
riders who watched and helped: coneheading, taking video and photos and staffing the CLS tent to sell
products and talk to passers-by about longboarding and slalom.
What started as a January “what if?” post by Phil Irzyk on silverfishlongboarding.com turned
into an actual race, thanks to Phil, Justin Richter, Larry “Gecko” Schild and others in the
150-plus members of the CLS. They scouted locations, attended city council meetings and did all the legwork
to ensure that the race would happen. Their hard work was rewarded when the Batavia city council voted 14-0
in favor of allowing the race and agreed to provide police officers and road barriers free of charge. When
the original location needed to be changed, City Manager Bill McGrath even drove around Batavia with Justin
to find a suitable replacement. Hats off to the city for being such a gracious host!
Race day turned out to be sunny and unseasonably warm. The hill on First Street was short (approximately
100 meters) but more than adequate. It was plenty steep for a first-time race – approximately an 8-degree
slope. There were no start ramps, but the steepness of the hill gave most racers all the speed they could
handle. Veteran racer Tod Oles set a fast, flowing hybrid course with cone spacing ranging from 6 to 20 feet,
with plenty of offsets up top, funneling the racers into a brisk wiggle finish. (In fact, Tod's course
was much more challenging than what I would have guessed the first-timers could handle. But after a few times
down the course, every one of them charged aggressively. Most if not all seemed to have some speedboarding or
sliding experience, so the speed didn't seem to faze them. I was very impressed by how quickly they adapted.)
Due to the wide range of slalom experience (for most of the younger guys, this was their first-ever slalom
race), riders were asked to self-declare into A and B groups. Six racers chose the A group and the remaining
nine chose B.
CLS “chief dishwasher” Justin Richter decided not to race, so he served as official starter –
thankfully, minus the bikini top he kept threatening to retrieve – and kept the racing moving along.
Irzyk and “Rosewood Thief” double-DQ’d their runs, so top qualifier Alex “Quiznos”
Kwiecinski got a bye in the round of 8. In the A group, Springfield, Illinois’ Ben Buckles and Chicagoan
Stephen “Topsider” Lavin got the short end of the stick in the cut to 4, leaving Chicago OG Chris
Favero vs. Jonathan Harms in one heat and Claude Regnier vs. Tod Oles in the other.
Kwiecinski may have had a slight edge over his fellow B-group racers by having ridden the monster Big View
hill in Austin, Texas in 2007; he lost only one heat all day as he rolled on to first place. But he got some
serious competition from brothers Jason and Derek Yerke and from Conor Roe, who ended up in 2nd through 4th
places, respectively. Joseph Behm, Brian Ellison and Peter Metzger rounded out the field. All of these guys
looked like they had lots of potential, so keep an eye out for them if they ever decide to get serious about slalom.
In the A group, regular-footers Oles and Regnier looked like twins as they sped down the course in
coincidentally matching red shirts and black shorts. Regnier advanced, as did yours truly after two close
races with “Big Frankie” Favero.
In the consolation round, Oles beat Favero for 3rd place, and in the finals, I managed to edge out Claude
by a couple of tenths. Claude’s marathon efforts to get his new skatepark running had left him with
virtually no time to practice, and his push start was a little slower. With a ramp start, the race could
have easily gone the other way.
After the race, many riders lingered around for a product raffle and shared stories and plans on attending
future races. City Manager Bill McGrath congratulated Justin and said he was looking forward to working with
CLS on making the Cone Crusher an annual event. With the resources of CLS behind it, the Chicago Cone Crusher
has given Midwest slalomers another good event to look forward to.
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