West Virginia Moutain State Slalom Skate 2003

[Vlad Popov]

Dave Gale put on a nice slalom race in the mountains of West Virginia. Too much media and too many curious and cheering spectators is my only complaint.

Gilmour (last minute show, flew in on a private jet, took one practice run, won the hybrid race, nothing new, the usual stuff) remembered to go eat 5 minutes before the lunch break is over. Race is delayed. Gilmour’s nowhere to be found. His first run is a no-snow and a DQ. Time’s passing by. John’s still absent. If he’s not there in 15 minutes or so, his second run is a DQ. I go look for him on one of the adjacent streets. The hill is steep. There’s oil on the road. Crash. Bounce. Pain. Talked to Gilmour before the finals. Explained the situation. He hit his hip on the curb several times before racing. Great sportsmanship.

I think I’m getting the art of sandbagging down. Mr. Soderhall is my greatest influence in that department. Thank you Jani.

Pictures later. No race shots, but some social stuff. As usual. Mountain Skate 03 DVDs should be available soon from some pros. There were, like, 5 TV cameras or something shooting the race.

[Rick Stanziale]

More here http://www.chasestreet.com/rcr/westvirginia03.htm

[Jani Soderhall]

I think I’m getting the art of sandbagging down. Mr. Soderhall is my greatest influence in that department. Thank you Jani.

Don't mention it. This art is open to everyone, although more useful for some.

I see John was in his normal mode. Please post results, times etc so we can get a better understanding of the whole thing.

Pictures will be great!

/Jani

[Vlad Popov]

We don’t have race results (yet). No shots of the podium either. This is as close to the podium shot as it gets. One, Two and PlankkR3.




No race pictures here. I was too busy testing/changing different set-ups. More later.

[Vlad Popov]

So, a word or two about the race.

There were two races on two courses. The first was Hybrid SL. Dave walked down the (moderately steep) hill (with an average surface), threw in a cone here and there and that was the racecourse. Only two cones needed to be moved in a bit. It wasn’t super tight or super loose. Gilmour and I had the same wheelbase at 20 and ¼ inches axle-to-axle, while Parsons ran a 36-inch board with (I believe) a 26-inch wheelbase. Each lane had a separate timer, so jumping on the start made the skater appear to be faster then the opponent, while his actual time could have been slower. There appeared to be 4 major sections on two parallel courses. And because the courses were a bit different, the sections were different as well. One lane (red) was faster, while the other one (white) was preferred by some as more consistent. There were 40 something cones, with .1 sec penalty per hit cone, and 6-cone 1.5-sec penalty DQ. Qualifying consisted of 4 runs. Top 16 qualifiers raced head to head.

The second race was 88 cones at 6 ft straight dual TS. Dave could have fitted 100 cones easily, but the timer switches would have had to be moved and the end sections would have been going uphill. There were 2 qualifying runs, and top 8 advanced. 11th cone was a DQ. Many racers had problems making the course. Most of whom appeared to be using wrong equipment.

Both races were ran smoothly, with no glitches or major delays. Everyone was extremely friendly, John Dillon was at his best on the microphone with Brian Parsons leading the show when John raced, there were many coneheads and conehead-wanna-be’s, TV was everywhere, local restaurants and stores were open, restrooms were clean and Red Bull was everywhere.

[Brady Mitchell]

Vlad...email me the passwurd

[Vlad Popov]

Vlad...email me the passwurd

Brady, your address does not accept mail from my address. The password is a 5-letter word that describes what we did at the bar.

Is it all you could say about the race?

[Rick Stanziale]

Edited for content by the author

[Vlad Popov]

and i wasn't even there...

Damn you, 66! Damn you!!!

[John Gilmour]

cool to see Ricks placings- 6 and 6.

Dave Gale did a great job with this race. There weren't any timing glitches. The hill was good for the general ability level. Surface could have been better- but more often than not I race on worse. Suface gets a 6 out of ten. Unlimted push- but only about 15 feet before the 1st cone. independent timing on each lane- and it didn't seem like anyone noticed. However since the timing was independent I think the analysis of the times will be more helpful. Racers who do not own timers can see if they faded...or if an equipment change made a difference and by how much. I applaud Dave Gale for doing this.

The pitch of the hill was very slight for the hybrid course and probably a bit too much for the 88 cone 6 foot on center course. I think a special slalom course would work well on that pitch- though the surface isn't as good as I would like to see for a techsl.


The SPS 88 cone 6 foot on center course was a little tight when combined with the pitch of the hill and the surface roughness. Afterwards Dave and I talked and we thought 6.5 foot on center might be better for that grade and surface. You found yourself gathering a lot of speed early in the 88 cone course and going into wiggle mode by 1/3 of the way into the course. I would rather see the course pumped to much higher speeds and with a slightly looser spacing we might see faster speeds and fewer dq's for everyone. Certainly even with 6.5 spacing you will get to the point of just trying to turn fast enough to make it. I could only take one deck with me on the plane due to weight limits (550 lbs Which we are already over) so I used a Roe Unlimited with Seismic front (with extra soft springs) and PVD R1 (94a bushing light preload) rear with Avalons. In the Hybrid I used silver springs. With a Roe Bottle Rocket and 86a Cambrias the spacing would have been easier for me to handle- but again- it wasn't an easy course despite being straight.

After 60 cones the last 28 cones were killing your legs- and they were coming at you as fast as you could handle. The Cone Dq I think was 9 cones and 10 was a DQ. We had several DQ's Myself (1st qual, 1-4 race with Hollien 1st run), Mandarino (consi round with me we double DQ'd first run), Hollien (DQ- Crashes on 1vs 4 race 2nd run against me.).

In a TS race where Hollien, Mandarino, and myself (all TS guys) all experience DQ's I think it is safe to say the cone dq was too low for the pitch, spacing and surface, and length of course. The likelyhood of hitting cones after the 60th cone was extremely high. A cone DQ limit of 15 cones might have reduced the DQ's to 1-2 for that race, which IMHO is acceptable. Some people did not get to participate- who otherwise might have made for some more interesting racing. Troy Smart doubled DQ'd with the low DQ limit. I think a DQ limit of 15 would have made it more interesting. 15 sounds high...but given the speed, surface, length of course and cone spacing I think 15 would have fit. Looking at the first run of qualifications...it looked like nearly 1/2 the field dq'd their first run. I think it would be reasonable in the future if a promoter see this to change the dq limit to allow more racers to participate- Dave Gale was too busy at the time though as he also served as Starter.

Strategy- in SPS.
Is there such a thing? Yes.

In my race with Hollien I knew he was likely to run cleaner than me so I had to get ahead and try to make it up by crossing first. I hit too many cones and DQ'd. My hopes were to hit some- but be ahead by enough to win on corrected time. Now I entered the next race with a 1.5 sec disadvantage. Again I hoped for a cleaner run and to make it up in time. Hollien knew this and also had to put some gas on the fire. I had a small lead on Hollien early on so Hollien stepped on the gas. A little bit later I heard the sound of plastic scaping the pavement. I was halfway down the course....we had both had DQ's now....but my corrected time would still have to beat his corrected time to advance. I had already hit some cones...too continue full speed?- or to gas off and coast and hope it was enough? I continued full speed and DQ'd Hollien advanced. Keith's burst of speed forced me to go faster- winning him the round. Good Strategy on Keith's part.

In my race with Mandarino We both Dq'd first run. I thought I had better put in a good fast run- if it was close at the line I would lose in corrected time. Dave gale started us off. I saw Mandarino barely push into the course...he had decided to go for a safety run... I thought- well if I can stay clean and just finish ahead I'll advance..better not risk a DQ. I had one unusually very clean run for me- luckily.

Vlad now faced Hollien. Vlad had the faster qualifying time and by the end of the first run had only hit a single cone and by the corrected time had a .9 second advanatege going into the next round in the slower lane. Keith had to go for broke and poured it on- but the differential from the first runw as too much to make up. Vlad cleanly clinched himself 1st place. (even with that hipper).

The Hybrid which was set earlier in the day was a course without many speed chutes to gather speed- as soon as you gathered speed you were hit with offsets. The course required pumping the top section quickly- hammering the top offsets while pumping and then staying light around the middle offsets to avoid wheel chirping and then trying to stay somewhat aero at the end.

We were able to get times and an interest 4 runs were allowed for qualifying which allowed for trying different race techniques on each run to see which yielded the best times. I discovered that double pumping late in the course was slower- stopping this improved my time from 21.xx sec top 20.xx sec.

Brian Parsons was on fire...nothing seemed to be causing him any difficulty with the course. He pushed a 36 inch deck through it without a problem. Vlad did catch him at the end through use of special Euro sandbagger techniques. Vlad had his personal timer working- so I think he knew his real times. Vlad and I raced almost the whole day as both of were paired for qualifiers and met again the knock out rounds.

Now on to some more important points.

Dave Gale had the TV crews out in FULL FORCE. Adrenaline TV was there as well as ABC news affiliates and several other news crews. I figured that this was an opportunity to get slalom on the news and tried to help the camera men out with getting good following camera angles and held some of their cameras for them. Again the news crews don't always look for the fastest camera angles- we do have to assist them to get good footage. Having a golf cart or some type of way for them to get the angles would help.

They were very concerned with me dropping the cameras. (though they did not seem concerned about me dropping the interview lady) I had to carry a $60,000 camera and then a $150,000+ camera. No criddleing went on on those runs. I also did a few shots with a camera strapped to the underside of my board. Having the news crews there means our potential audience outstripped the spectators present- ideal I think for letting people know the sport is out there. Also slalomskateboarder.com was mentioned several times. Having TV crews present is important and if a person happened to hear about SEVERAL slalom events in the course of a year...then I think we may get more participation.

What I would like to see is excerpts of the TV spots spliced into this web site.

Other odd highlights. I had to fight back from a 1.5 second advantage in my second run with Eric Moore because service was slow at the restaurant I was eating at- made me nervous since Eric has gotten much much faster. Mark McCree continues to be his own teams best competition. Wes E looking very fast- his paint jobs ofthe planks keep improving. Troy Smart looked a littel fried from all the travel- but still got 5th in the hybrid on his 36 inch Pocket Pistol. Brady raced. 66 looked fast. Aaron Morris put in a few greally good hybrid runs in practice but likely burned out a little early from over practicing. I rode the interview girl tandem on a longboard- but in the stand up position. Everyone was scared to race Parsons and was floored that Parsons was in second place in qualifications after the 2nd run...Brian was stoked stoked stoked- couldn't happen to a nicer guy. I freaked when I saw Parsons time- it forced me to take all my qualifications runs and dig deep to try and find some speed in the course.

MIA yet signed up were Cliff Coleman, Mike Masey and UR13 which would have made for some different racing.



Red Bull was very nice to supply a racing Red Bull arc- and Red Bull cool looking tent with DJ. Not to mention endless Red Bull. There was something very cool as we made our approach at 800 feet seeing the Bridge as well as the Red Bull Arches and tent- we knew we were there. That Landing strip was hairball. only 20 feet wide and 2000 feet long with a hump in the middle so you couldn't see the whole strip......and it curved- hairball- and we just cleared the trees on takeoff.....barely. If I had brought another deck....who knows???...it was that close. We heard the stalling indicator going off as we cleared the trees- next time we fly in to the other airport- besides the airport was closed for the weekend- even though the FAA landed us there...go figure. The plus side? We took off at 5:45 and were back on the ground in New England by 8:30 and I was able to carry my leathernman tool on the plane. We only burned about 100 gallons of fuel. To be able to drive there and back and compete in the same day would have been impossible without the private plane.

Code: Select all

[Brady Mitchell]

Copy and pasted from ncdsa for those to read who don`t go there...

On 10/20/2003 Brady wrote in from 66.21.xxx.xxx:
MSSS 2003 - What a friggin blast!

I want to congradulate Dave G on a truly great event. Great location, courses, and beeeuuutttiffuulll weather. Kudos brutha knucklehead!!

I`d also like to thank the sponsors of the race, Red Bull, 3dm, Comet, Radikal, Bozi, Tracker, ABEC 11, Pleasure Tools, Nahne, and any others I might have left out. I`d expecially like to thanks Mark McCree and those that contributed to the "I got Scabs here" fund.

Congradulations to the podium winners, Vlad, JG, and Powder Boy (KH). You guys raced hard as heck. There were some others of note that really impressed me like Aaron Morris. Dylan and Josh will have thier hands full. BP and even Wes E from the DC area. And all of you`s better watch out for the St Louis boyz, they are looking sooper fast, and watch out for 66, he seems to be practicing a lot.

My best time was qualifying at #19 in the hybrid race. Kinda sucks on you no-shows as we almost had enough for a 32 man bracket. So with a 16 man bracket, you might say I tied for 17th place. Did I get any points? And if so, are they worth anything?

The second course, the parallel straight with 6` centers on a hill was a monster. After riding consecutive clean runs on the first 40 white cones, I opted not to race once they laid the other 48 cones. I felt I might of been over my head and didn`t want to risk injury with a fall. Especially with those orange soccer cones on the bottom of the red course. But it seems others felt confident with it and so I guess it was my loss not running it. But I had just as much fun (and exercise) cone marshaling that course.

Great event Dave G!! Everyone there looked like they all had big smiles on thier faces.

Oh, and a big thanks to Dave`s wife on the score keeping. I don`t think anything could ruffle her feathers.

More latter, when I've had time to decompress....

And that Vlad/Dalv guy, he had me in stitches the whole time. I felt that unnecessary slam you took on that back road while looking for JG. You were smoking fast.

***My reference to Keith Hollien as "Powder Boy" have nothing to do with drugs.***

[Keith Hollien]

Thanks Dave and Lisa Gale for a great Race. Thanks to C-Nova, Jenn., JD and everybody else who helped make WV a success. Thanks to Red Bull, Radikal, 3dm, Pleasure Tools and all the other sponsers.

John, my run against you that I did the knee slide was because of a muscle cramp in my calf. I was so tired for the second race I was lucky I did as well as I did. I hit 8 cones in each of my qualifing run and had a slight cramp in my calf as I pushed in to the course in the first run. In my 4 final runs I hit atleast 8 cones and did a knee slide on one run. It is very unusually for my to more than a couple cones in a run, much less 8 or more, even in 100 cones. The course was not hard at all and I thought 10 cone DQ was too many. 10 cone DQ was more than 10% of the cones. I thought the DQ should have been 9 cones for 10% of the course. I also thought the cone penalty should have been .2 not .1 second. I thought the course was really pretty easy it was just hard to go really fast. I just wish I had not been so tired. I payed for about 30 min. after the race when my back seized up and it took a muscle relaxer and 4 hours before I could stand up straight.

I want to say it was great to see all the people I already know and the new people I met. I also have to say I need a rest. In the last 6.5 months I have been to 10 different cities in 8 different states for 25 races and boy am I worn out. That does not count Kona since I did not race because of illness. I had forgotten how parts of my body could hurt. I must say I will be better prepared for next year.

Later Keith, Teams Radikal & RoeRacing.

[Slappy Maxwell]

It's comforting to know when the time comes, the Big Guy will be there to greet you with Wes singing 'Stairway to Heaven'.

[Tom Thompson]

ok, I have to ask....

Did someone pay Vlad to do a mountain goat? Rick?

After watching Vlad race, I'm sure it was a "quickie"

[Vlad Popov]

We didn't do no goats. We did a couple of siggies.

How funny, Rick..The master of "edit" abuse. You are!


Does anyone have results with q-times?

[Wes Eastridge]

MSSS 2003 Hybrid slalom
Cone Penalty 0.1 Max # of cones 5
Qualifiers Best run out of 4 runs considered. Adjusted times are in bold.
1 John Gilmour 20.393 -3 20.693
2 Vlad Popov 21.150 -2 21.350
3 Brian Parsons 21.583 -1 21.683
4 Keith Hollien 22.527 -0 22.527
5 Troy Smart 22.757 -0 22.757
6 Bobby Mandarino 22.675 -2 22.875
7 Jonathon Harms 23.089 -2 23.289
8 Mark McCree 23.130 -2 23.330
9 Rick Stanziale 23.237 -1 23.337
10 Wes Eastridge 23.387 -2 23.587
11 Dave Riordon 23.308 -3 23.608
12 Tom Thompson 24.089 -1 24.189
13 Aaron Morris 24.297 -1 24.397
14 Jeffrey Goad 24.215 -2 24.415
15 John Dillon 24.525 -2 24.725
16 Eric Moore 25.031 -1 25.131
17 David Morris 25.881 -1 25.981
18 Mike Stewart 25.671 -4 26.071
19 Brady Mitchell 28.073 -1 28.173
20 Paul Graf 28.091 -1 28.191
21 Marc Fuentes 29.570 -0 29.570
22 Ben Barkey 29.958 -1 30.058
23 Chris Novatny 30.236 -2 30.436
24 Lenny Poage 31.143 -0 31.143

Top 16 Qualifiers, 0.1 sec per cone, 5 Cone max, 1.5 sec penalty for DQ. Adjusted times are in bold.
Round o’ 16
1 John Gilmour 33.471 -0 33.471 21.168 -2 21.368
John Gilmour   2.654 sec
16 Eric Moore 31.871 -1 31.971 25.022 -5 25.522

8 Mark McCree 23.317 -3 23.617 22.996 -2 23.196
Mark McC   0.151 sec
9 Rick Stanziale 23.777 -0 23.777 22.788 -4 23.188

4 Keith Hollien 21.979 -0 21.979 22.680 -1 22.780
Keith Holli   5.570 sec
13 Aaron Morris 24.578 -2 24.578 25.451 -3 25.751

6 Troy Smart 22.763 -1 22.863 23.617 -4 24.017  
Troy Smart   2.002 sec
11 Tom Thompson 23.697 -4 24.097 24.485 -3 24.785

2 Vlad Popov 22.987 -1 23.087 25.125 -0 25.125
Vlad Popo   2.872 sec
15 John Dillon 25.348 -1 25.448 25.536 -1 25.636

7 Jonathon Harms 22.950 -1 23.050 23.333 -3 23.633
Jonathon   0.935 sec
10 Wes Eastridge 22.385 -4 22.785 2?.??? -? 24.833 (DQ due to falling/knee-sliding across finish line)

3 Brian Parsons 22.189 -1 22.289 22.869 -3 23.169
Brian Pars   3.000 sec
14 Jeffrey Goad 23.789 DQ 23.789 24.369 DQ 24.669

5 Bobby Mandarino 24.855 -2 25.055 24.634 -1 24.734
Dave Riord   0.773 sec
12 Dave Riordon 24.713 -1 24.813 24.104 -1 24.204

Round o’ 8
1 John Gilmour 20.975 -3 21.275     0.000
John Gilmour 2.044 sec
8 Mark McCree 23.218 -1 23.318 Withdrew   0.000

4 Keith Hollien 22.402 -0 22.402 22.145 -2 22.345
Keith Hollien 1.078 sec
6 Troy Smart 23.399 -3 23.699 21.826 -3 22.126

2 Vlad Popov 22.430 -1 22.530 21.836 -3 22.136
Vlad Popov 0.880 sec
7 Jonathon Harms 22.913 -1 23.013 22.233 -3 22.533

3 Brian Parsons 21.795 -1 21.895 21.929 -2 22.129
Brian Parsons 2.884 sec
12 Dave Riordon 23.395 -0 23.395 23.113 -4 23.513

Round o’ 4
1 John Gilmour 21.689 -2 21.889 21.026 -4 21.426
John Gilmour 1.106 sec
4 Keith Hollien 22.558 -1 22.658 21.763 -0 21.763

2 Vlad Popov 22.145 -3 22.445 21.929 -3 22.229
Vlad Popov 0.879 sec
3 Brian Parsons 22.477 -2 22.677 22.676 -2 22.876

Final round
1 John Gilmour 20.534 -3 20.834 20.479 -4 20.879
John Gilmour 0.843 sec FIRST
2 Vlad Popov 21.057 -3 21.357 21.099 -1 21.199
Vlad Popov SECOND
4 Keith Hollien 21.982 -0 21.982 22.038 -1 22.138
Keith Hollien 1.012 sec THIRD
3 Brian Parsons 22.412 -3 22.712 21.820 -6 22.420
Brian Parsons FOURTH


MSSS ‘03 Tight slalom ‘80-cones-straight’
Cone penalty 0.1 Max # of cones 10
Qualifiers Best run out of 2 runs considered. Adjusted times are in bold.
1 John Gilmour 20.281 99.000 -0 99.000 19.581 -7 20.281
2 Bobby Mandarino 20.693 20.293 -4 20.693 20.680 -6 21.280
3 Vlad Popov 20.743 20.143 -6 20.743 99.000 -0 99.000
4 Keith Hollien 21.517 20.887 -7 21.587 20.817 -7 21.517
5 Mark McCree 23.043 23.049 -0 23.049 23.043 -0 23.043
6 Rick Stanziale 23.047 22.147 -9 23.047 24.101 -0 24.101
7 Tom Thompson 23.101 22.301 -8 23.101 99.000 -0 99.000
8 Jonathon Harms 23.486 24.147 -1 24.247 22.986 -5 23.486
9 Aaron Morris 23.927 23.527 -4 23.927 24.193 -9 25.093
10 Wes Eastridge 24.171 99.000 -0 99.000 23.671 -5 24.171
11 Brian Parsons 24.559 23.859 -7 24.559 23.683 -9 24.583
12 Jeffrey Goad 24.794 99.000 -0 99.000 24.294 -5 24.794
13 Dave Riordon 25.672 99.000 -0 99.000 25.572 -1 25.672
14 David Morris 27.525 27.525 -0 27.525 99.000 -0 99.000
15 Eric Moore 27.807 99.000 -0 99.000 27.107 -7 27.807
16 Ben Barkey 33.301 99.000 -0 99.000 32.801 -5 33.301

Top 8 Qualifiers, 0.1 sec per cone, 10 Cone max, 1.5 sec penalty for DQ. Adjusted times are in bold.

Round o’ 8
1 John Gilmour 19.398 -2 19.598 20.632 -2 20.832
John Gilmour 3.654 sec
8 Jonathon Harms 21.744 -6 22.344 21.440 -3 21.740

4 Keith Hollien            
Keith Hollien 0.000 sec
5 Mark McCree Withdrew          

2 Bobby Mandarino 20.694 -7 21.394 22.774 -6 23.374
Bobby Mandarino 1.415 sec
7 Tom Thompson 22.194 -7 22.894 22.389 -9 23.289

3 Vlad Popov 20.458 -2 20.658 20.980   20.980
Vlad Popov 3.000 sec
6 Rick Stanziale 99.000 -0 22.158 99.000 -0 22.480
                             
Round o’ 4
1 John Gilmour 99.000   21.722 DQ   0.000
Keith Hollien 1.500 sec
4 Keith Hollien 19.422 -8 20.222 DQ   0.000

2 Bobby Mandarino 20.734 -4 21.134 20.967   20.967
Vlad Popov 0.807 sec
3 Vlad Popov 19.616 -5 20.116 20.878 -3 21.178

Final round                             
3 Vlad Popov 20.722 -1 20.822 20.343 -4 20.7429
Vlad Popov 0.983 sec FIRST
4 Keith Hollien 20.923 -8 21.723 20.025 -8 20.8248
Keith Hollien SECOND
2 Bobby Mandarino DQ 0 0.000 25.191 -6 25.7909
John Gilmour   1.012 sec THIRD
1 John Gilmour DQ 0 0.000 21.136 -4 21.5358
Bobby Mandarino   FOURTH

[Vlad Popov]

Great format! Thanx! Wes, could you do a similar analysis of the 2003 FCR data so we know the point standings and all? It'll make a good Christmas present?

[Rick Stanziale]

McCree is my white whale

8 Mark McCree 23.130 -2 23.330
9 Rick Stanziale 23.237 -1 23.337

Certainly Trakmate is not accurate to .007 (from the Trakmate website - 1/1000 of second accuracy)

or is it?

and the hybrid....

5 Mark McCree 23.043 23.049 -0 23.049 23.043 -0 23.043
6 Rick Stanziale 23.047 22.147 -9 23.047 24.101 -0 24.101

.004?????

damn

[Wes Eastridge]

Rick, .007 is 7/1000 of a second.
Is one of us missing something here?

Keep on. You'll get "Mr. Mark" one of these days.

[Rick Stanziale]

Wes, yes I know that .007 is 7/1000

I added the Trakmate info but the "edit" tag doesn't appear anymore

[Dave Gale]

Now I'm confused!!
Hey the video is almost finished!! It looks great! Actually it will be done in .00001 seconds

[Dave Gale]

Keith has finished the DVD and it is awesome!! To order one get w/ him @ kbdoherty@hotmail.com