[2010] SLALOM ST. LOUIS
Moderators: Jonathan Harms, Maria Carrasco, Chris Cousineau, Russel Cantor, Lynn Kramer
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
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[2010] SLALOM ST. LOUIS
Registration is open! We're still workin' on getting a contest sign-up integrated into this site, so for this year, it's once again at
http://67.139.161.195/contest_registrat ... testID=458.
Sign up and come on down/up/out/over!
http://67.139.161.195/contest_registrat ... testID=458.
Sign up and come on down/up/out/over!
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Good to hear
I'm in Kansas City. I plan to make plans to try and make it. My first race. Be easy.....
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
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Cool, Aaron, glad to hear it.
Last year Josh Vantine came over from KC. It was his first race ever, too, and he said he had a good time. Saw him in Austin, TX a few weeks ago, too.
How long have you been doing slalom? Do you ride also longboards, street or those amazing skateparks around KC?
Come on over, and bring some friends!
Last year Josh Vantine came over from KC. It was his first race ever, too, and he said he had a good time. Saw him in Austin, TX a few weeks ago, too.
How long have you been doing slalom? Do you ride also longboards, street or those amazing skateparks around KC?
Come on over, and bring some friends!
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
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I'll bring some friends, but as witnesses only. I've been @ slalom for a few months now, but I've been skating since 1985. Wouldn't call the parks here amazing, but I hit em when the kids are sleeping in and longboards when my attention span will allow.Jonathan Harms wrote:Cool, Aaron, glad to hear it.
Last year Josh Vantine came over from KC. It was his first race ever, too, and he said he had a good time. Saw him in Austin, TX a few weeks ago, too.
How long have you been doing slalom? Do you ride also longboards, street or those amazing skateparks around KC?
Come on over, and bring some friends!
Are there any decent lake/camping grounds you all know of maybe west of town?
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- Topsider
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
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Babler State Park is probably the closest (about 45 min. west) place to camp and has great tent camping facilities.willy demis wrote:I also wouldn't mind entertaining a camping option over a hotel. Please post in this thread what you find! Thanks JBH!
One more thing.. I have plenty backyard for anyone wishing to tent camp. I may have some (indoors) floorspace too. All the couch space has been reserved. I live about 45 min northeast of the race site, so I if you wanting to stay close to the race you might have to opt for a hotel.
Paul
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Babler
Babler , after limited research, looks to be my best option. Just a little jog off I-70 on my way in to set up Friday afternoon. I might be bringing with me a couple young folks. Is there a child off leash area within the park. Or, should I send them off to the zoo for the afternoon? STL's zoo makes KC's look like the petting variety.
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
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There's not a ton of stuff to do at Babler besides hike, bike or fly a kite. There used to be a public swimming pool, but I'm pretty sure that has been closed for a few years. So the zoo would be a good bet. The St. Louis Science Center is also right there on the other side of the highway from Forest Park and the zoo. www.stlzoo.org, www.slsc.org
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Hoping the turn out is still strong even with cancelations. I myself have been teetering on the edge of having to dropout of the race due to a leaky van and dwindling $$ but my sweet lady's stepped up with extra shifts and determination to get me there. Two nights @ a motel have turned into one night w/ a rental car drive @ 4:00am directly to the race from my bed here in Kansas City and a sweaty drive home Sunday night. And no kids.
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
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Aaron, rub some dirt on it, and get there!
We're coming from Dallas (4 of us) and at this point, we have no idea where we're staying, but we wanna RACE! so wherever we end up, it'll be an adventure at the very least! Kinda reminds of skate trips of yore, four (prob stinky) guys in a small car with all their gear on a 10+ hr drive...
Ya never what kinda crap can happen! but hey! these are the things that make life worth living!
Vaya con Huevos,
Glenn
We're coming from Dallas (4 of us) and at this point, we have no idea where we're staying, but we wanna RACE! so wherever we end up, it'll be an adventure at the very least! Kinda reminds of skate trips of yore, four (prob stinky) guys in a small car with all their gear on a 10+ hr drive...
Ya never what kinda crap can happen! but hey! these are the things that make life worth living!
Vaya con Huevos,
Glenn
Vaya con Huevos
Skatin' Tejas since 1975
Skatin' Tejas since 1975
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
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I thought you sweaty, stinky Texans were gonna post up at P. Graf's house? He said he's got room. Bit of a drive, as Lou can attest, but hey, the price is right. Other ideas: Steve Pederson is staying at the Ramada near the airport and said he might have some room. And Hotwire.com has 3-star hotel rooms downtown (<10 minutes from the park) for around $50 per night. Divided four ways, that works out to, uh... well, pretty darn cheap!
Then again, maybe Aaron will want some company!
Then again, maybe Aaron will want some company!
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
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Yeah, JBH, I think Lou talked to Graf and that's set, but he told me I hafta sleep in the basement.
Hell, I'll sleep on the course! At least I can't oversleep that way, as long as I'm not arrested for vagrancy by Parks & Rec! Ha
Lookin' forward to racin'!
Glenn
Hell, I'll sleep on the course! At least I can't oversleep that way, as long as I'm not arrested for vagrancy by Parks & Rec! Ha
Lookin' forward to racin'!
Glenn
Vaya con Huevos
Skatin' Tejas since 1975
Skatin' Tejas since 1975
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
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Killer Map
JBH,
Nice map mash up!
Have a great race,
Terry
Nice map mash up!
Have a great race,
Terry
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
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From what they told me, Dave Larson, Steve Pederson and Keenan Thompson will be getting in on Thursday afternoon, as will Keith and Michelle Hollien. The Texas Rangers (Lou, Glenn, Biscuits and Paul A.) may also be arriving Thursday, but don't quote me on that one. I suggest you tawk amongst yuhselves. If you all go to the brewery, though, I suggest you pick a designated driver--the beer at the end of the tour is free...
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
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OK, here's my long overdue (and long-winded?) race recap. Pull up a chair...
Thanks to everyone who helped make Slalom St. Louis 2010 a success: racers, sponsors, helpers, passers-by, and last but not least, Mother Nature. After numerous, uh, Misadventures with Precipitation in previous years, somehow this year’s event saw not a drop. Man bites dog? That ain’t news. Slalom St. Louis not rained out? Now that’s news.
This was the eighth year in a row for Slalom St. Louis, making it the second-longest running slalom race in the world. This year’s event attracted 28 riders for Saturday’s single-lane race and 25 for Sunday’s dual 88-coner, making it the best-attended Slalom St. Louis since the first one back in 2003. We’d hoped for up to 32, but local legend Jeremy Jones was in California; the Mississippi boyz, Cat Young and Henry Hester (yes, that Henry Hester) couldn’t make it due to finances, and other hopefuls like Eddy Martinez and Chris Bara were out due to injury. Still, we had several first-time racers (either to Slalom St. Louis or to racing in general), including the Yerke brothers from Lansing, Mich., three Texans, one Kansas Citian, one second-generation STL Dagger (Sasha Goad) and even world traveler Paul Price, who cashed in some air miles and made the trek from Park City, Utah. Thanks to all of you!
Other big news this year: We actually had start ramps!
Start ramps! Skatemodels Chris Favero (red shirt) and David Harris get ready to launch. Photo: Aaron Yowell
In response to racer requests, CAD wizard Paul Graf adapted Eric Brassard’s start ramp plans and built those babies bit by bit in the six weeks or so before the race. They had a bit of a quick transition, but they were sturdy and smooth, relatively easy to assemble, fit in the back of Paul’s pickup truck, and provided plenty of instant go for launching racers into the courses. Slalom St. Louis has sort of prided itself on being a push-start race in the past, but after this year, I think those days are over.
Thanks for one other feature of this year’s race go to Paul’s wife, Laura, for her suggestion that we provide each racer with a metal water bottle instead of buying and disposing of dozens or hundreds of plastic ones. So each racer got his/her own stainless steel wide-mouth bottle and could fill it with water from one of three five-gallon coolers and, if desired, mix in powdered Gatorade or Propel to add flavor. OG STL Dagger Steven Lewis made stickers for the bottles from a PG design (inspired by Lonnie Toft’s Outrageous 8 Wheeler logo). Racers seemed stoked with their functional souvenirs, and there were no recorded incidents of dehydration.
Bottle mock-up
OK, so on to the actual event. Friday, May 28, we had our traditional warmup/work-out-the-kinks fun session at “Spot 2” near the east end of Tower Grove Park in south St. Louis.
Paul Graf, Friday fun session. Photo: Chris Doan
Dave Larson and Steve Pederson set a loose, fun course, and about 15-20 racers gave it a go at one time or another before calling it a night and heading to O’Connell’s pub for some of the best burgers and fish ’n’ chips in St. Louis.
Saturday’s single-lane race got going at about noon and ran until 6:00 p.m. The meandering “drunken bumblebee” course had spacings ranging from 6.5 feet straights at the start to wide, swooping offsets at about 25-30 feet at mid-course, followed up by mini-stingers of four to five cones interrupted by more offsets, all while negotiating an off-camber gradual right turn followed by a sharper left turn near the end.
Evan Tolley near the top of the single-lane course. Photo: Scott Spaeth
Derek Yerke about to hit the hammer on the wide offsets near mid-course. Photo: David Tolley
Jonathan Harms doing his best to stick around the widest off-camber offset. Photo: Steve Pederson
Racers could take as many runs as they wanted during the six-hour jam session, and most got anywhere from five to eight runs in – enough to learn the course, clock their best time and, in most cases, wear themselves out by day’s end. Some riders peaked early, among them Paul Price and Keith Hollien. Price jumped to a first-round lead with a time of 25.692. “Carbon Footprint”* Hollien briefly grabbed it with a 25.042 in the next round, only to see Price grab it back with a 24.948 in his second run. Both riders flirted with breaking the 25-second barrier the rest of the day but couldn’t quite crack it, thus leaving the door open for upstarts Lou Statman and Steve Pederson. In contrast to Price and Hollien, Statman and Pederson started the day with slower times but kept improving as the day went on. Pederson was the first of the two to crack 25 seconds, only to have Statman bang out a 24.813 soon after. A couple of runs later, though, Pederson uncorked his best time, a 24.420, to get the last word on Statman. Both riders took a few more runs but were unable to drop their times further. Somewhere along the line the race co-organizer (this guy) got out from behind the timing table and took a couple of runs. They weren’t clean, as the best runs by Hollien, Price, Statman and Pederson had been, but one of them tripped the timer in the low 24’s, enough to nudge Pederson for first place.
Racers then pigged out on a free BBQ at the nearby Turkish Pavilion until dark.
Turkish Pavilion (a.k.a. KFC Pavilion)
Afterwards, a few brave souls sampled some of STL’s finer downtown parking garages, while others called it an early night and got ready for the dual-lane race the next day.
Sunday dawned bright and clear and, amazingly, stayed that way all day. I guess sacrificing that baby goat did help after all.
SUNDAY, DUAL-LANE RACING
In honor of the race’s eighth year, Sunday’s course was a dual-lane 88-coner that followed the right-left S-bend of the road. A rough spot at mid-course prompted the addition of an 89th cone so racers could avoid the rough spot but still enter the course from the same side at the start.
Steven Lewis (L) and Jason Yerke (R) during practice on Sunday. Photo: Jennifer Riesenmy
Jason Yerke (L) and Paul Graf (R) during qualifying. Photo: David Tolley
And the view from the top. Chris Doan (L) and Paul Price (R) do the twist during qualifying. Photo: David Tolley
After qualifying, the 25 racers were separated into groups of eight, with a run-off for the eighth spot in the C group between Indianapolis’ Willy Demis and Kansas City’s Aaron Yowell. First-time racer Yowell had the speed edge on second-timer Demis but couldn’t quite meet the 10-cone DQ limit, so Demis advanced to the bracketed racing.
Head-to-head racing went fairly true to qualifying, except in the B group, where 7th-place qualifier Paul Graf ended up in a spirited battle with 1st-place qualifier Derek Yerke. Graf dug himself a deep hole by hitting nine cones in the first run to trail Yerke by almost a full second. Graf then beat Yerke to the line by almost a second in their second run, but it wasn’t quite enough to overtake the young buck from Michigan, and Yerke became the B group champion. Graf took second, followed by Jeff “Big Stick” Goad in third and Dave “Pops” Larson (60 years young and faster than ever) in fourth.
Guess who (L) and Dave Larson (R). Photo: Mark Lewis
Chris Favero beat Ben Buckles for the top spot in the C group, followed by Evan Tolley, who took third place after dispatching his own father, David Tolley, in the consolation round. Onlookers tried to persuade David and Evan to make a bet on the outcome (winner gets to cut off the loser's goatee). Evan briefly considered the offer (see photo), but alas, 'twas not to be.
Evan Tolley tells his pop, "Don't make me cut you, mang!" Photo: David Tolley's camera
The highlight of the A bracket had to be the amazing victories of Steve Pederson, who barely edged Tod Oles by .004 (that’s four THOUSANDTHS of a second) in the round of eight and then nipped Keith Hollien by .08 in the consolation round. Pederson’s two podiums earned him some vindication after he’d missed the two previous years’ races due to last-minute circumstances. Apparently the guy just likes to live on the edge.
Steve Pederson (R) on his way to the narrowest victory of the weekend, over Tod Oles (L). Photo: Aaron Yowell
The A group finals came down to yours truly against the savvy veteran Price. Price ran clean in the first run while I got nailed for ridin’ dirty with six cones.
JBH (white lane) and Paul Price (red lane) doing battle in the 88-coner. Photo: David Tolley
The second run was close as well, with Price laying down his fastest time of the day and me almost repeating the stuntman-like crash ’n’ roll of my second qualifying run. I swerved hard right after the last cone to regain my balance, almost cutting off Price’s exit lane, but somehow we both managed to remain upright and ride it out. In the end my sloppy runs somehow ended up edging out Price’s precision. After the close racing and the close call, I think we were both relieved we didn’t have to take any more runs!
Podium pics (sorry, you're gonna have to imagine the actual podium):
C Group podium, L to R: Evan Tolley, Chris Favero, Ben Buckles. Photo: David Tolley
B Group podium, L to R: Derek Yerke, Paul Graf, You Know Who. Photo: David Tolley
A Group podium, L to R: Paul Price, JBH, Steve Pederson. Photo: Steve Pederson's camera
Chris Doan's fish-eyed view of the prize bounty.
SPONSORS--THANK YOU!
As in previous years, numerous sponsors stepped up to provide generous amounts of prizes for the race. I would like to thank each of them personally here.
Pleasure Tool: This Washington-based company has sponsored Slalom St. Louis every single year it’s been run. If you’re looking for great, long-lasting bearings at the best price anywhere, you owe it to yourself to check out www.edsbearings.com. They ship FAST, too. Thanks again to Ed and Stephanie Lynn!
Radikal Trucks: Keith Hollien ponied up a beautiful set of Radikal Talon hangers, plus an assortment of axles. Talons are an amazing piece of equipment that fit numerous hangers, allow for varying axle widths and a variety of spherical bearing or bushing options to fine-tune your high-speed ride. Big thanks to Keith for this bad-ass prize. www.radikaltrucks.net or keith@keithhollien.com
Mile High Skates: Mile High’s Mark Chandler solidified his rep as a premier purveyor of fine skate goods by sending numerous sets of his MHS blue-sealed bearings, plus a large assortment of his creative and striking bumper stickers, including my new fave, “I [HEART] ASPHALT.” www.milehighskates.com
Concrete Wave magazine: CW Publisher Michael Brooke graciously sent a bunch of his cool new embroidered patches along with a few other goodies. Almost every racer ended up with one. concretewavemagazine.com
SK8KINGS: Three lucky racers walked away with gift certificates from Sk8Kings, plus an assortment of cool new Sk8Kings stickers, all courtesy of Maria Carrasco. www.sk8kings.com
Abec 11: Brian Holden hooked us UP, with T-shirts, multiple sets of ZigZags and – wait for it – a set of the brand new lime 77mm Centrax wheels. Somewhere, approximately 27 kids on Silverfish are turning lime green with envy. www.abec11.com
Seismic: Dan Gesmer also hooked us up with a set of his peerless blue 69mm Hot Spots, purple Hot Spots and other goodies. If you’ve ridden them you know how good they are. If you haven’t, you don’t know what you’re missing. www.seismicskate.com
Gravity: At the suggestion of Peter Metzger (see below), I contacted Gravity’s Kevin Kennedy about sponsoring this year’s race. Kevin was super-enthusiastic and came through with a FAT package of cool stuff: hats, stickers, a beautiful deck and an assortment of gooey Gravity rollers including Burners, Drifters and Hi Grades. Thanks, Kevin, and thanks, Gravity! www.gravityskateboards.com
Khiro: “Khiro Bob” Hinrichs once again blessed us with a bounty of cool accessories: risers, shock pads, wedge pads, three kinds of bushings (in every durometer they make), stickers… Khiro is another company that supports skating, big-time. www.khiroskateboardproducts.com
And last but not least, two home-grown Midwestern manufacturers stepped up as well: Bees Knees Skathletics and Metzger Skates.
BKS is a product of the hearts and hands of Jason and Derek Yerke. They make every one of their boards by hand, from laying up the plies to laying down the graphics. Their boards are solid as f*** and truly unique. Jay and Derek brought one of their Shank tight slalom models down to give as a prize. The winner of this awesome custom deck was a very stoked Sasha Goad. (“Princess Salsa” was also the recipient of a special cash gift from an unnamed West Coast benefactor for being the top female racer. Not bad for her first-ever race!) One further note about these brothers: These guys are skaters to the core. Intending to camp out in my back yard, they drove from Lansing to Chicago, parked their car and took the Megabus to STL, and then skated from the bus station to Tower Grove. Nothin’ but respect, guys. www.beeskneesboards.com
Bees Knees "Shank" model. Photo from BKS website
Finally, Peter Metzger of Metzger Skates kicked down for not one but two complete boards: his own Mini Mini decks (with hand-lettered custom graphics), Ace 00 or Tracker Midtrack trucks, Biltin bearings and Retro BertZ wheels. (One got raffled off – winner: Tod Oles – with the proceeds going to the nearby “KHVT” DIY skatepark, and the other went to our amazing timekeeper, local park rider and longboarder Jennifer Riesenmy, who ran the timer and entered the data like a pro.) Like the Yerke brothers, Peter puts out high-quality products with a personal touch. www.metzgerskates.com
Peter and Jen with Metzger Skates Mini Mini complete. Photo: Jen's camera
Thanks to all the skaters, sponsors, helpers and everyone else who helped make Slalom St. Louis 2010 such a success. See you next year!
More photos:
http://tinyurl.com/DTolleySTL2010Pics (David T.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kkissel/se ... 176816776/ (Kurt K.)
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?ai ... 1601306911 (Scott S.) (copy/paste whole URL if link doesn't work)
Thanks to everyone who helped make Slalom St. Louis 2010 a success: racers, sponsors, helpers, passers-by, and last but not least, Mother Nature. After numerous, uh, Misadventures with Precipitation in previous years, somehow this year’s event saw not a drop. Man bites dog? That ain’t news. Slalom St. Louis not rained out? Now that’s news.
This was the eighth year in a row for Slalom St. Louis, making it the second-longest running slalom race in the world. This year’s event attracted 28 riders for Saturday’s single-lane race and 25 for Sunday’s dual 88-coner, making it the best-attended Slalom St. Louis since the first one back in 2003. We’d hoped for up to 32, but local legend Jeremy Jones was in California; the Mississippi boyz, Cat Young and Henry Hester (yes, that Henry Hester) couldn’t make it due to finances, and other hopefuls like Eddy Martinez and Chris Bara were out due to injury. Still, we had several first-time racers (either to Slalom St. Louis or to racing in general), including the Yerke brothers from Lansing, Mich., three Texans, one Kansas Citian, one second-generation STL Dagger (Sasha Goad) and even world traveler Paul Price, who cashed in some air miles and made the trek from Park City, Utah. Thanks to all of you!
Other big news this year: We actually had start ramps!
Start ramps! Skatemodels Chris Favero (red shirt) and David Harris get ready to launch. Photo: Aaron Yowell
In response to racer requests, CAD wizard Paul Graf adapted Eric Brassard’s start ramp plans and built those babies bit by bit in the six weeks or so before the race. They had a bit of a quick transition, but they were sturdy and smooth, relatively easy to assemble, fit in the back of Paul’s pickup truck, and provided plenty of instant go for launching racers into the courses. Slalom St. Louis has sort of prided itself on being a push-start race in the past, but after this year, I think those days are over.
Thanks for one other feature of this year’s race go to Paul’s wife, Laura, for her suggestion that we provide each racer with a metal water bottle instead of buying and disposing of dozens or hundreds of plastic ones. So each racer got his/her own stainless steel wide-mouth bottle and could fill it with water from one of three five-gallon coolers and, if desired, mix in powdered Gatorade or Propel to add flavor. OG STL Dagger Steven Lewis made stickers for the bottles from a PG design (inspired by Lonnie Toft’s Outrageous 8 Wheeler logo). Racers seemed stoked with their functional souvenirs, and there were no recorded incidents of dehydration.
Bottle mock-up
OK, so on to the actual event. Friday, May 28, we had our traditional warmup/work-out-the-kinks fun session at “Spot 2” near the east end of Tower Grove Park in south St. Louis.
Paul Graf, Friday fun session. Photo: Chris Doan
Dave Larson and Steve Pederson set a loose, fun course, and about 15-20 racers gave it a go at one time or another before calling it a night and heading to O’Connell’s pub for some of the best burgers and fish ’n’ chips in St. Louis.
Saturday’s single-lane race got going at about noon and ran until 6:00 p.m. The meandering “drunken bumblebee” course had spacings ranging from 6.5 feet straights at the start to wide, swooping offsets at about 25-30 feet at mid-course, followed up by mini-stingers of four to five cones interrupted by more offsets, all while negotiating an off-camber gradual right turn followed by a sharper left turn near the end.
Evan Tolley near the top of the single-lane course. Photo: Scott Spaeth
Derek Yerke about to hit the hammer on the wide offsets near mid-course. Photo: David Tolley
Jonathan Harms doing his best to stick around the widest off-camber offset. Photo: Steve Pederson
Racers could take as many runs as they wanted during the six-hour jam session, and most got anywhere from five to eight runs in – enough to learn the course, clock their best time and, in most cases, wear themselves out by day’s end. Some riders peaked early, among them Paul Price and Keith Hollien. Price jumped to a first-round lead with a time of 25.692. “Carbon Footprint”* Hollien briefly grabbed it with a 25.042 in the next round, only to see Price grab it back with a 24.948 in his second run. Both riders flirted with breaking the 25-second barrier the rest of the day but couldn’t quite crack it, thus leaving the door open for upstarts Lou Statman and Steve Pederson. In contrast to Price and Hollien, Statman and Pederson started the day with slower times but kept improving as the day went on. Pederson was the first of the two to crack 25 seconds, only to have Statman bang out a 24.813 soon after. A couple of runs later, though, Pederson uncorked his best time, a 24.420, to get the last word on Statman. Both riders took a few more runs but were unable to drop their times further. Somewhere along the line the race co-organizer (this guy) got out from behind the timing table and took a couple of runs. They weren’t clean, as the best runs by Hollien, Price, Statman and Pederson had been, but one of them tripped the timer in the low 24’s, enough to nudge Pederson for first place.
Racers then pigged out on a free BBQ at the nearby Turkish Pavilion until dark.
Turkish Pavilion (a.k.a. KFC Pavilion)
Afterwards, a few brave souls sampled some of STL’s finer downtown parking garages, while others called it an early night and got ready for the dual-lane race the next day.
Sunday dawned bright and clear and, amazingly, stayed that way all day. I guess sacrificing that baby goat did help after all.
SUNDAY, DUAL-LANE RACING
In honor of the race’s eighth year, Sunday’s course was a dual-lane 88-coner that followed the right-left S-bend of the road. A rough spot at mid-course prompted the addition of an 89th cone so racers could avoid the rough spot but still enter the course from the same side at the start.
Steven Lewis (L) and Jason Yerke (R) during practice on Sunday. Photo: Jennifer Riesenmy
Jason Yerke (L) and Paul Graf (R) during qualifying. Photo: David Tolley
And the view from the top. Chris Doan (L) and Paul Price (R) do the twist during qualifying. Photo: David Tolley
After qualifying, the 25 racers were separated into groups of eight, with a run-off for the eighth spot in the C group between Indianapolis’ Willy Demis and Kansas City’s Aaron Yowell. First-time racer Yowell had the speed edge on second-timer Demis but couldn’t quite meet the 10-cone DQ limit, so Demis advanced to the bracketed racing.
Head-to-head racing went fairly true to qualifying, except in the B group, where 7th-place qualifier Paul Graf ended up in a spirited battle with 1st-place qualifier Derek Yerke. Graf dug himself a deep hole by hitting nine cones in the first run to trail Yerke by almost a full second. Graf then beat Yerke to the line by almost a second in their second run, but it wasn’t quite enough to overtake the young buck from Michigan, and Yerke became the B group champion. Graf took second, followed by Jeff “Big Stick” Goad in third and Dave “Pops” Larson (60 years young and faster than ever) in fourth.
Guess who (L) and Dave Larson (R). Photo: Mark Lewis
Chris Favero beat Ben Buckles for the top spot in the C group, followed by Evan Tolley, who took third place after dispatching his own father, David Tolley, in the consolation round. Onlookers tried to persuade David and Evan to make a bet on the outcome (winner gets to cut off the loser's goatee). Evan briefly considered the offer (see photo), but alas, 'twas not to be.
Evan Tolley tells his pop, "Don't make me cut you, mang!" Photo: David Tolley's camera
The highlight of the A bracket had to be the amazing victories of Steve Pederson, who barely edged Tod Oles by .004 (that’s four THOUSANDTHS of a second) in the round of eight and then nipped Keith Hollien by .08 in the consolation round. Pederson’s two podiums earned him some vindication after he’d missed the two previous years’ races due to last-minute circumstances. Apparently the guy just likes to live on the edge.
Steve Pederson (R) on his way to the narrowest victory of the weekend, over Tod Oles (L). Photo: Aaron Yowell
The A group finals came down to yours truly against the savvy veteran Price. Price ran clean in the first run while I got nailed for ridin’ dirty with six cones.
JBH (white lane) and Paul Price (red lane) doing battle in the 88-coner. Photo: David Tolley
The second run was close as well, with Price laying down his fastest time of the day and me almost repeating the stuntman-like crash ’n’ roll of my second qualifying run. I swerved hard right after the last cone to regain my balance, almost cutting off Price’s exit lane, but somehow we both managed to remain upright and ride it out. In the end my sloppy runs somehow ended up edging out Price’s precision. After the close racing and the close call, I think we were both relieved we didn’t have to take any more runs!
Podium pics (sorry, you're gonna have to imagine the actual podium):
C Group podium, L to R: Evan Tolley, Chris Favero, Ben Buckles. Photo: David Tolley
B Group podium, L to R: Derek Yerke, Paul Graf, You Know Who. Photo: David Tolley
A Group podium, L to R: Paul Price, JBH, Steve Pederson. Photo: Steve Pederson's camera
Chris Doan's fish-eyed view of the prize bounty.
SPONSORS--THANK YOU!
As in previous years, numerous sponsors stepped up to provide generous amounts of prizes for the race. I would like to thank each of them personally here.
Pleasure Tool: This Washington-based company has sponsored Slalom St. Louis every single year it’s been run. If you’re looking for great, long-lasting bearings at the best price anywhere, you owe it to yourself to check out www.edsbearings.com. They ship FAST, too. Thanks again to Ed and Stephanie Lynn!
Radikal Trucks: Keith Hollien ponied up a beautiful set of Radikal Talon hangers, plus an assortment of axles. Talons are an amazing piece of equipment that fit numerous hangers, allow for varying axle widths and a variety of spherical bearing or bushing options to fine-tune your high-speed ride. Big thanks to Keith for this bad-ass prize. www.radikaltrucks.net or keith@keithhollien.com
Mile High Skates: Mile High’s Mark Chandler solidified his rep as a premier purveyor of fine skate goods by sending numerous sets of his MHS blue-sealed bearings, plus a large assortment of his creative and striking bumper stickers, including my new fave, “I [HEART] ASPHALT.” www.milehighskates.com
Concrete Wave magazine: CW Publisher Michael Brooke graciously sent a bunch of his cool new embroidered patches along with a few other goodies. Almost every racer ended up with one. concretewavemagazine.com
SK8KINGS: Three lucky racers walked away with gift certificates from Sk8Kings, plus an assortment of cool new Sk8Kings stickers, all courtesy of Maria Carrasco. www.sk8kings.com
Abec 11: Brian Holden hooked us UP, with T-shirts, multiple sets of ZigZags and – wait for it – a set of the brand new lime 77mm Centrax wheels. Somewhere, approximately 27 kids on Silverfish are turning lime green with envy. www.abec11.com
Seismic: Dan Gesmer also hooked us up with a set of his peerless blue 69mm Hot Spots, purple Hot Spots and other goodies. If you’ve ridden them you know how good they are. If you haven’t, you don’t know what you’re missing. www.seismicskate.com
Gravity: At the suggestion of Peter Metzger (see below), I contacted Gravity’s Kevin Kennedy about sponsoring this year’s race. Kevin was super-enthusiastic and came through with a FAT package of cool stuff: hats, stickers, a beautiful deck and an assortment of gooey Gravity rollers including Burners, Drifters and Hi Grades. Thanks, Kevin, and thanks, Gravity! www.gravityskateboards.com
Khiro: “Khiro Bob” Hinrichs once again blessed us with a bounty of cool accessories: risers, shock pads, wedge pads, three kinds of bushings (in every durometer they make), stickers… Khiro is another company that supports skating, big-time. www.khiroskateboardproducts.com
And last but not least, two home-grown Midwestern manufacturers stepped up as well: Bees Knees Skathletics and Metzger Skates.
BKS is a product of the hearts and hands of Jason and Derek Yerke. They make every one of their boards by hand, from laying up the plies to laying down the graphics. Their boards are solid as f*** and truly unique. Jay and Derek brought one of their Shank tight slalom models down to give as a prize. The winner of this awesome custom deck was a very stoked Sasha Goad. (“Princess Salsa” was also the recipient of a special cash gift from an unnamed West Coast benefactor for being the top female racer. Not bad for her first-ever race!) One further note about these brothers: These guys are skaters to the core. Intending to camp out in my back yard, they drove from Lansing to Chicago, parked their car and took the Megabus to STL, and then skated from the bus station to Tower Grove. Nothin’ but respect, guys. www.beeskneesboards.com
Bees Knees "Shank" model. Photo from BKS website
Finally, Peter Metzger of Metzger Skates kicked down for not one but two complete boards: his own Mini Mini decks (with hand-lettered custom graphics), Ace 00 or Tracker Midtrack trucks, Biltin bearings and Retro BertZ wheels. (One got raffled off – winner: Tod Oles – with the proceeds going to the nearby “KHVT” DIY skatepark, and the other went to our amazing timekeeper, local park rider and longboarder Jennifer Riesenmy, who ran the timer and entered the data like a pro.) Like the Yerke brothers, Peter puts out high-quality products with a personal touch. www.metzgerskates.com
Peter and Jen with Metzger Skates Mini Mini complete. Photo: Jen's camera
Thanks to all the skaters, sponsors, helpers and everyone else who helped make Slalom St. Louis 2010 such a success. See you next year!
More photos:
http://tinyurl.com/DTolleySTL2010Pics (David T.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kkissel/se ... 176816776/ (Kurt K.)
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?ai ... 1601306911 (Scott S.) (copy/paste whole URL if link doesn't work)
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- Location: Quebec, Canada
- Contact:
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
- Posts: 890
- Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2003 2:00 am
- Location: St. Louis, MO
Thanks, Mig and Cat. I love hearing that sort of comments, and that's the way I hope people who attend actually feel about the race itself.
RESULTS for Slalom St. Louis 2010
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Conte ... e-lane.pdf
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Conte ... ingAll.pdf
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Conte ... /AAAAA.pdf
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Conte ... /BBBBB.pdf
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Conte ... /CCCCC.pdf
(fixed URLs--sorry for the initial goof-up)
RESULTS for Slalom St. Louis 2010
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Conte ... e-lane.pdf
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Conte ... ingAll.pdf
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Conte ... /AAAAA.pdf
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Conte ... /BBBBB.pdf
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Conte ... /CCCCC.pdf
(fixed URLs--sorry for the initial goof-up)
Last edited by Jonathan Harms on Wed Jun 09, 2010 1:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- Posts: 107
- Joined: Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:55 am
- Location: Indianapolis, IN
JBH- these appear to be password protected...Jonathan Harms wrote:Thanks, Mig and Cat. I love hearing that sort of comments, and that's the way I hope people who attend actually feel about the race itself.
RESULTS for Slalom St. Louis 2010
ftp://slalomskateboarder.com/www/Contes ... e-lane.pdf
ftp://slalomskateboarder.com/www/Contes ... ingAll.pdf
ftp://slalomskateboarder.com/www/Contes ... /AAAAA.pdf
ftp://slalomskateboarder.com/www/Contes ... /BBBBB.pdf
ftp://slalomskateboarder.com/www/Contes ... /CCCCC.pdf
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- JBH - ISSA Treasurer
- Posts: 890
- Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2003 2:00 am
- Location: St. Louis, MO