ISSA - International Slalom Skateboarding Association

who will be this year's ruler?

the super g is just one of the goals we have to accomplish in the open class, but our euro am representative did it AGAIN blazing through the course and setting himself apart from the rest with a very very good time.
this is better than a good crime story.

go VINNNZZZZZZ go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

well done Vinzzz!
very nice for us to have such training partner

This is sooooooooo great!!!!!!!


congrats vinzzz! You're the best, you'll win all the races, I'm sure of it!

Damn, when I think about the fact that I saw you beginning a bit more than 2 years ago at Charlety You did such a huge way since!!!

See U for a slalom and pina colada session when you're back

Cheater........He must race in pro, he's not an Am.....

hahaha
next year david next year let him grab all there is this year
2 years is not much for getting so good
i'll try and deliver some heavy competition next year,which will be my second year around then.maybe it works?

Congratulations Vincent! Well done.

Now we'll have to update the Naphte ad to read "World Champion"!

/Jani

Congrats ( one more time... ) to my team mate !!!!!
Nice shot Jani, I'm just at the top of Vincent's helmet !!!

vince qualifies 1st on special also
he has more than a second to the next racer

things look good
damn

prepare for the T-SHIRT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


what a show

GRATULATION VINZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ !!!!:-)

CONGRATS FROM BERLIN`S PAPE BRATS !!!!!!

cheeeeeeeeriooooooo

Vinz is the NEW CONE KILLER.......


.....Congratulations Vincent.

Best Greetings


from Grevenbroich

Jadranko Radovanovic wrote:SANDBAGGING

sure looks like it from the results.

given the time vince is on board his victory is more than ok in my book.he made a big jump this year,exactly at the beginning of this season.
so why say it's sandbagging.
one year to be number 1 is the best that can happen,right?

besides that vince is one of the nicest guys around.

he was 97 in 2003 in am
2nd in 2004 in am
1st in 2005 in am

so dont tell me its only been a year he has been good. He should have gone pro after last season.

oh man mike

why so upset?

are you competing in races?

just a question...
did he take anything away from you?
or did he behave unfair in any way?

maybe it would be better to explain your bitterness about him competing in am class.

see,lst year,vince was an unstable rider,this year i signed him on and all of a sudden he became rock-solid.the only one in the am-class to beat him was heiko.heiko decided to go pro during the season,because he was also pushed into it by people who told him to quit racing amateur.
i don't understand your sandbagging on this certain rider.
let's put aside that he is on my team and a good friend to most of us.
i think what he does is right and just.
he wants to crown his amateur career with the ultimate victory.
he worked hard for it,so PLEASE let him have it without any bitter feelings.

there is a few other folks out there with a longer amateur career on the book than vince,since these are not so successful nobody asks or complains.
is it just because he is so good?

Donald Campbell wrote:oh man mike

why so upset?

are you competing in races?

just a question...
did he take anything away from you?
or did he behave unfair in any way?

maybe it would be better to explain your bitterness about him competing in am class.

see,lst year,vince was an unstable rider,this year i signed him on and all of a sudden he became rock-solid.the only one in the am-class to beat him was heiko.heiko decided to go pro during the season,because he was also pushed into it by people who told him to quit racing amateur.
i don't understand your sandbagging on this certain rider.
let's put aside that he is on my team and a good friend to most of us.
i think what he does is right and just.
he wants to crown his amateur career with the ultimate victory.
he worked hard for it,so PLEASE let him have it without any bitter feelings.

there is a few other folks out there with a longer amateur career on the book than vince,since these are not so successful nobody asks or complains.
is it just because he is so good?

I agree with donald at 100%

Vinz is a good friend of mine, and we had the opportunity during the past months to discuss this issue of going pro
I think that vinzzz didn't wanted to cross the am-pro line to quickly, it was just his second complete year on the slalom tour, and this year is kind of the year of the maturity in am, it was not yet completely the case last year, despite his level was already veeeeeery good...
this year, it's the first time he's attending the worlds... so, just the normal way to progress to the pro class

Heiko going Pro after Paris. And Vinze was as good as Heiko...

At the first big race (Grüningen) after Paris, Heiko was under the top 10 in the Pro !

And Vinze won the amateur's so far as i know.

After Paris, we were in Latvia. Me and Vinze decided to race in the Pro, because it won't be fair for the Am's. Our results: Vinze had a 11th and 9th me a 15th and 10th place. And the times were realy closed.

One week later in Stockholm, Vinze won all disciplines you can compere the times in the Giant slalom (the same course for Am's and Pro's) Vinze had the 12th best time of the day. DOn't forget all the Amerians who were there.

Look in Antibes. Luca's qualifying time was 14.06 with 3 cones, Vinze had 14.26 with 7 Cones !

If you now look on the quali times in Morro, Vinze is a second faster than the 2nd place !

It isn't intresting if someone win a finale by 1 or more second's !!

I have a second example from the other site of the atlantic. J. B. Harms. I skated with him at the World's 2004 in the Am. I skated three weeks later with him in West Virginia in the Open class. In April we skated in Athens in the Open Class with the best Rider's Mitchell, Mollica, Carrasco and so on. He was arround the 4th place in the World Am Rankings. This year he had a podium on the Giant in Morro Bay.
He did the same as Heiko here in Europe.

That will be in the history books of Slalom !!

Vinze was never an unstable rider !
He can do all kind of Skateboarding, not only slalom, and he do it very well !

No one want or should to reproach to Vinz !
He is a very lovely and helpfully person ! And he can decide as every other rider, when he want's to go Pro!

In my point of view, it's time for the best 5 Amateur's to go Pro. They wouldn't be under the top 10 rider's,but they are now as fast as the middlefield riders.


/J-Rad

The only obstacle: TS courses like the one in Gruningen.

rmn

Vinz should be allowed to skate whatever category he wants. The only stipulation that I think is fair is that once you skate in the Pro category, you remain Pro. No switching based upon field and course.

Interestingly, that would make you a Pro Civ. Right? I also think it's time for a Master division so we could watch some great racing from the older pros. 45+ maybe?

Now having said that, Vinz's TS qualifying time WOULD have put him in 10th place in the Pro ranks at Morro. His time was faster than Kenny Mollica, Olson, Hollien, Mandarino, etc

Still his choice though.

Joe

We had the discussion in a topic here on the forum before this season for some of the top am guys. There where 2-3 guys who was on the edge. The only guys who was clear was Steve Hinzen and Henrik Madsen who both won European titles in 2004. Another was Anders Hellquist who showed his talent in Paris 2004 and missed some other big events that year. He decided himself to go pro this year.

Vincent was 2:nd in the World Ranking 2004 but his results was still not that great.

- Euros 2004 (European Major)
Vince had two 3:rd places

- Paris 2004
Vince was 1:st and 4:th

- Antibes 2004
Vince wa 2:nd and 3:rd

I think these results are good but not good enough to say you have to go pro. What made him so good this year is that he did get better plus som of his hardest competition from 2004 went pro. Except Heiko who waited until mid season. I think this desicion should be made early in the season and then you just stick with it even if you happens to win competitions. After all that's the idea for am's as well. To win as much as you can.

Congrats to Vinz on your placings, you deserve it bro. What set up was he riding? Eddy Texas Outlaws

@eddy
pavel gunner(his main board during this season-all the wins happened on this deck-he took it through the evolutionary stages and he had the latest model in morro and antibes,which is foam and glass construction,recessed at the trucks,concave,kicktail,slightly longer wheelbase than the roadster)
radikals/i think airflow as a rear truck
3dms

Here's the deck in Antibes:



Nice going Vinzzzzz. Congratulations!

I was never trying to personally attack anyone, I just feel that the top am riders of the previous year should step up to the pro ranks. Last year Pirnack was the top am, now hes on the heels of the top pros. Vinz was 2nd last year and this year would be right up there in the thick of it with the pros. I guess winning everything by a second is fun(oh it is), but I guess its just my opinion that he maybe should have gone pro during the season.

Joe, I have only raced pro in one race, that was the tight at the paris race last summer, because I was too late to make it into the ams. The race I won in Ottawa was an open race with only one or two pros competing. Im slow.

I face the decision of whether to remain am for another season or to try racing pro, but I will llikely enter as an am next year an see where im at, then step up if Im doing well.

But Vinz IS a nice guy and a fast racer, its not easy to perform at your best all of the time and he has shown himself to be a very consistent racer, and I hope I dont have to race him in the ams next season.

I mean no offence.

Let Vinz turn pro now (if he so wishes), and I promise I'll turn veteran soon....


BRAVO VINZ , THIS IS WICKED...

as predicted,here's the shirt he wore in morro-he earned it

Where does it say "Amateur" World Champion?!

Let's pull some legs

rmn

huh?.....I thought Jason Mitchell was world champ!

does it have to say amateur?

some guys are in the know-others not.
some brag around
some don't
some complain
some loose it all

one guy wins


bottom line


get over and with it

shine on guys

Just raggin on ya Don....they're both twice as fast as me

but i figured you needed your chain yanked for posting
THE WORLDS LARGEST AD
here and on NCDSA

no probs chris
i know

i'm proud as hell on all what my team achieved

I was very proud of my friend Vincent and his achievements this week. I personally do NOT believe he should have gone Pro any earlier. It doesn't make sense to change your status mid-season if you want the rankings to properly reflect your results.
Corky was right when he reviewed his results. Vincent was sensible about his decisions IMHO.
Anyway, at almost every Am event someone calls the winner a "sandbagger"...

Oh, Donald, sorry he didn't win every event....but you have to let the old people have some pleasure

And what if Paul Price had NOT DQ'd with a false start on his second run against Jason Mitchell in their second run of the TS...already being 0.7secs ahead? Hmmmmm?

I forget it Martin. You are a Sandbagger too !!

No, it was only a joke when i wrote this ! And now we had a big discussion about it !

I want to see as many rider's as possible in the Pro class. So you open the way for new amateurs !

All the kids which you see in Grueningen in 2002 are skating Slalom now. There are about 15-20 Kids. We are looking for to make a small Slalom tour for next year. Only for Kids and Amatuers...

/J-Rad

Congrats to you as well Martin. I will never forget how friendly you and the rest of your teamates were at last years Worlds. You Da Man Bro. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws.

Donald Campbell wrote: some loose it all

Some ride loose trucks
Some lose their bearings...

"Some lose their wheels" happens more often....

rmn

I'm a bit late to react, ever a lot of things to do since I'm back from the USA and so many people to thanks.

This Californian trip was an excellent experience. It was my first
adventure in the USA.
All the people I've met there were great!
Big up to Bobby Brozovich and his Nicole, without them it would have
been really hard to come!
like Paul Price: my team & trip mate to So Cal during a week after the Worlds.
Brent Kosick and Steve Olson not only hosted me with Paul but they also
entertained us greatly!
Thank you to all the people of the organization and those who helped
them: Jack Smith, Bill Boothby, Gary Fluitt, Mark Mc Cree, Johnny
Miller... the whole staff and evererybody who helped
A lot of good times, it was so great to met you all, I cannot write
everybody but here's a few: Richy and Maria, Brad J, Jeff Goad, Andrew
Mercado, Martin, Lynn, Bobby M, Jason M, Cliff Coleman (big respect!),
Farid and July, Eddy, Kenny, Jim Korten, Maurus, Keith, Claude, Sergio
Yuppi, Bruce B, Richy Delosos, John Stryker, Correy M, Tim Kienitz, all
the racers and great people I've met.

A few pics here: http://flickr.com/photos/vinzzz/sets/1035354/

I'd also like to thanks all the people that have helped and supported me
during the last season especially

CONERACING.com Jani and Etienne, I've discovered slalom thanks to them
and it's now with them that we try to develop the parisian and french scene
PROLOGISM, my company and everyday sponsor that allow me to travel
and PAVEL sk8boards: Donald is ever trying to push the things forward.
He was a big source of motivation. What better than trying some evolutions of the boards,
made on my advices to nearly each race! If you don't know him, perhaps you can be afraid
by his big mouth, but know that he acts for real and work really hard. Bad boy!

I was so great to skate and travel this year. I had never travel so much before!

I've skate and met so many great people around Europe this last two years:
Riderz and the Parisian crew, the Antibes crew, the ICC gang from
Berlin, the Latvian people, the Swedish skaters, the London gang, the
Köln and German scene, the Zurich connection and swiss sk8 nation, the
Massilia troublemakers, the Vendeean tribe, la Forza Italia and more

thanks bros'

Don't hesitate to come and skate <A HREF="http://pirateslalom.online.fr">Paris</A>
and see you next year racin' Pros

One note for the SANDBAGGIN' thing: I'm only racing slalom since two years and half and I'm racin' for fun
At the beginning of the year is was exciting to begin a new season racing against amateurs like Alexis Lieber & Balthazar , Max Mölmann(De), Heïko, Martin Drayton, Florien Lombardo...
Why should I go Pro - I wasn't ready yet... especially with tight and special races. Know that when I look at these list of amateurs before I realize that all this guys (and not only them) beat me during the season.
Finally I've raced a lot around Europe last year and learn more and more each time.
For people who talked about sandbagging, keep the fun in mind, someone got to win don't be angry about that!
And if you're coherent you're welcome to send me money for the pro fees or expenses for next season: Paypal at this address
vinzzz2001 [at] yahoo DOT fr
or contact me

Thanx for the pictures Vinz, some of the older guys still have an amazin' style.
Too bad I missed this one... and too bad I'm gonna miss the next few ones, due to an injury I had WARMING UP IN FREESTYLE (YEAH, SHIT HAPPENS)

alavoine jean paul wrote:Thanx for the pictures Vinz, some of the older guys still have an amazin' style.
Too bad I missed this one... and too bad I'm gonna miss the next few ones, due to an injury I had WARMING UP IN FREESTYLE (YEAH, SHIT HAPPENS)

Yeah so bad you wasn't there Popol! Perhaps another time.

About pictures:
Does nobody got pictures of the Worlds 2005??
I'll be grateful to anybody that can send pictures of me there at least for familly and friends. I got none

And how to contact Farid?

email: vinzzz2001@yahoo[replace-with-DOT]fr

PS: claude and bruce tell me where I can send your pics from Sweden, with some from Morro as bonus too;)

nice topic...

Nice optic, Etienne...

just got this in from our friend bobby b.

the pavel team rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is this the new Roadster in Paul's hand ?!

always testing around
we tried duvel for building your board burp