ISSA - International Slalom Skateboarding Association

Mark McCree wrote: $500.00 CHALLENGE: This is the group as I know it: (It got bigger as others decided to go)

Mark, are you worrying about having to pay too much this weekend?
So, rather than include just your sponsored skaters, you now include all skaters from the US?

I don't know who's skates what and who's sponsored by who, but adding more skaters seems like a sign of weakness.

/Jani

Jani,

All of the skaters on the list ride Radikals with the exception of Gary, who did ,but now runs his new trucks "splitfire". We don't fault him for that though. He will be back eventually!!

I thought our "group" included all the racers In our contingent . When I announced the challenge, I had no idea how many total racers were going.

And no I'm never worried. I'm excited!!

Are you really thinking he will be back one day?

rmn

Hey Ramon - You talk a lot of smack and are always trying to pick a fight here or there. Give it a rest. It's not about Team Radikal vs. The Euros. It's about Team USA vs. The World. Mark has just made it possible for a bunch of us to make it to Paris. Gary, DP, Dong, and Noah may not have a free ticket to Paris, but they are still my friends and skate brothers AND we are all Americans coming to take home as many of your World Ranking points as possible. Hopefully, there will also be a large US representation in Stockholm. So if you want to maintain your status quo world ranking after many of your top points leave Europe, you better start booking some travel to the USA main events.

See you in the rain...

cbark

Jani, from day one it was anybody from the US. We have no control over what you or anybody else heard, but I know I posted over a month ago that our group was ALL racers form THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

See everybody in a couple of days, Keith, Teams Radikal & Pocket Pistols.

Thank's for the clarification on who's who. I didn't want to use the words US/Europe, but I was curious to find out if the intention was Team Radikal against everybody else, or if it was Team USA against Team Europe.

Cool down, no harm intended. I'm just teasing Mark. Some of the money he'll be giving away might actually come from my wallet. You may not know but coneRacing.com is the largest Radikal distributor/retailer in the world.

/Jani

Jani, I am not upset at all. I think Paris is going to be a blast(more fun than last year, I hope). I just wanted to make sure there was not any confusion about the challenge. I personally do not like this whole thing, but Mark had posted before I knew about HIS challenge. Mark is a bussiness man and he has done what he wanted to do(stimulate interest in slalom skateboarding).

Jani , all the money that comes from selling anything Radikal goes to the manufacturing of the trucks and it's parts(they do not even pay for themselves). That means everything comes out of Mark's pocket. Yes, I knew that coneRacing.com is the largest Radikal dist./ret. in the world.

Jani, I have to say I have been looking forward to this race since 5/31/04. It will be good to see you(I have to say everytime I am in Europe, you make me feel like I am at home)and all my friends from Europe. I also want to add that the 3 members of Radikal Team Europe (Aki VonGlasow, Michael Stride and Marcus Seyffarth) are also after Mark's challenge $.

Later, Keith, Teams Radikal & Pocket Pistol.

The US-Challenge...I thought you just wanted to maybe show us "how good Radikal trucks are". But now it got into a USA vs. Europe fight. This reminds me on May 8th....the war is over since 60 years (Martin Siegrist on NCDSA)....No, I don't want to become political...but just imagine...
What actually is your goal now? To show us that you are "still" the stronger ones or just that the truck is so good that nobody can beat anybody riding it?
No, your goal is to make the whole competion more interesting and challenging!

EDIT:

Keith Hollien wrote:I think Paris is going to be a blast(more fun than last year, I hope)

I don't want to take it too serious and I hope you don't take it so too.

I'd like to meet you in Antibes again to compete in a "real" Nations Cup
Mais notre premier rendez-vous sera à Paris! Et je peux peut-être voyager à Morro cette année, nous verrons...

I'm looking forward to meeting all you Americans.



Something funny at the end:

Description of the Dragons Claw on coneracing.com:

"Radikal Dragon Claw
Rather than making the list of its qualities, let's just say it makes competition a bit unfair."

rmn

PS: Sorry my post is a bit too late...haven't had enough time at school to write it there....(in a boring art-work-with-photoshop-lession)

I'm coming to Paris and was looking forward to possibly collecting on McCrees bet. (miracles can happen. Did you see the Kentucky Derby?).

Now I see that I am part of "the group".

Bummer.

Nice shirts though. (please don't send me one).

@chris barker

yeah right ramon talks a lot of smack as it seems on the net.
let's go back to real life: you meet him, you notice he's a good boy, he's superfriendly and the worst thing about him is that he's faster than MOST out there.

i think in this special case it's absolutely ok, also regarding his age, that he is the way he is.

just imagine how boring life would be without the guys from switzerland.

on a side note: if you want him to visit the usa,why don't you guys collect a few bucks to get smoked by him.
what i mean is: you can't ask a 16 year old to fly around the world, or am I wrong on that issue?

I just checked the starting list against the World Ranking and found that out of the 20 racers in the world only 5 are not coming to Paris. This might be the best turnout ever in terms of high level participation.

More than half of the top 50 will be present.

...and that is Pro. Then there will be quite a few amateurs and women too!

I'm looking forward to an exciting race!

/Jani

Kenny Mollica wrote:Vincent-
Will you email me? I have a question for you.

Kenny Mollica

Kenny , did you get my message (Private Message on the site and email)
you can join me at vinzzz2001@yahoo DOT fr or vinzzz@noos DOT fr
If you're ever in Paris, my french cell number: +33 (0)6.60.75.17.32

Slide contest eh??? I'm thinking that must be a first!!! Will the faltown guys be there?? Sergio??? That should go down rain or shine!! Will someone please post up the winner?? Thanks.

it's the third year we have the slide contest !

and the second that's in the rain?

rmn

don't be too bothered by the rain, we have 3 days of competition.
it won't be raining all 3 days (there's a nice weather forecast for sunday and monday).
the trocadero tries up REALLY fast so there will be time for racing.

Pierre-Yves Ritschard wrote:it's the third year we have the slide contest !

Past winners please!!! Thanx.

last year:
1st:Antoine Bry
2nd:Cedric " Shrek" Burel
3rd:Ben

The first year :

1st: Antoine Bry
2nd: Shrek
3rd : Samy the swiss

I'll try to give you pictures and news every night during the competition, I've opened a new topic:
viewtopic.php?t=2690

Thanx for keeping us posted Vincent!

I think what Mark is doing is great for the sport. Good going Mark! It's about competition and Mark is just sparking the fire. Even if those shirts look gay.

it's been raining over Paris all morning, but now the ground is drying, forecasts for the afternoon are good.
There's a french expression: "passer entre les gouttes" means one is smart or lucky enough to (go under the rain and "pass between the drops") get things done while prospects were bad with the help of chance and CULOT. "Culot" is probably that french thing that may irritate...

I want to Thank everyone involved in the PSWC. It was an excellent evnt again with very little that needs to be modified or changed to help make things roll smoother .

I"ll keep it short but wanted to make this post. To Mark and all the US racers it was Great to see all of you sporting your Duds.

Lots of Great times with Great Friends, volunteers, wifes and of course Racers.

Hey Glen, I'll pass along your comments to Hackett. He designed the shirts.

again, props to mark mccree.
without his investment into the sport, we wouldn't have seen what we all have seen.
that's a fact and nobody can take that away from him.

Had the best time in Paris !!!!!!! Check out NCDSA.com on the Gong Show. Tway posted about 20 pictures from the Paris weekend.

Check it.


Thanks Jani and friends for a real good time.

Everyone kicked ass. Fluitt, Pernack, Dong, Mitchell, Ramondo, Richie, Barker,Hart, Strobel, Luca, HACKETT, Olson, and everyone were flying.

The competition is getting very close.

Its not like last year. Not at all.

Vincent, I have some great shots from your victory celebration. I will scan and email this weekend. thanks everyone. We had the time of our life !!!!!!!!

Kenny

it was also good to see you guys in action again.lots of good vibes and heavy competition-
if that was the usa vs europe take,let's have some more .

I want to thank and congratulate Panda and Jani for putting on THE BEST RACE I have ever attended.

I want to congratulate all of the racers for what can only be described as the best level of racing I have ever witnesed. I mean EVER.

All of the Euro racers were phenominal. All of you should be proud. (that means you too Ramondo)

I can't wait for next year.

Hey Mark, I initially thought they looked sort of corny. But they kind of grow on you. And when you see good skaters charging a slalom course wearing them...they look pretty good:



Good going in Paris!

And thanks Vincent for the great photos!