Results for 4th of July Freedom Race

Terry Kirby · Post by **Terry Kirby** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 11:53 pm

TS Pro JG
Vlad
TK
Noah

Open Not sure, will post later.
GS is running now.

I was impressed with a few racers. Mark Mcree Was amazing, running clean on a very difficult course to run clean on and killing the gs as I left.

Gilmour. He showed us all what is was about today...Very Humbling. I actually thought I could beat him. He was a second faster. Awsome racer.

Vlad, Gave Gilmour a run for the money in the finals but jg's low end pump in the beginning was inpenitrable. Vlad is about 2/10ths off JG.

Pierre from canada, and Jim Z, Open racers who dod very well on a difficult course at speed. TK

Terry Kirby · Post by **Terry Kirby** » Sat Jul 05, 2003 4:01 am

I set the GS course before I left and got the results from Noah via cell... JG 1st
Noah 2nd
Vlad 3rd
UR13 4th
This was an open longboard style course that had some deep cross overs followed by shorter off set cones you had to reach for to make. Everyone had a good time today, TK

John Gilmour · Post by **John Gilmour** » Sat Jul 05, 2003 8:52 am

Great day of racing. Not as hot as last year- but still in the 90's.

If I do this next year- it will be an evening race under the tunnel area.

McCree had the sickest GS run. We watched him go full speed into the course and do a perfect feather slide about 1/3 of the way down the course- simultaneously pumping and sliding. He threw ina few hands down Olson toesides as well. Very impressive for who you might think is a TS racer.

No injuries- but some spectacular bails. Terence hit a bums bag of clthing and did a dimount- three step to knee slide. Shaggy went down and just popped back up. Noah won the sickest wipeout of the day. Full on 4 point slide + belly slide. Ouch! But he never complained- we never found out if he was injured or not.

The guys were really hungry.

AS there was no 1.5 second rule DQ's were fatal. We saw some people racing with true strategy. If the differentials were large racers knew they had to go for broke. If the differentials were smaller they would play it safe only risking the all out run to end in a DQ in the second round. Very good racing. I don't think the higher seeded racer ever DQ'ed.

Some good races. Vlad and me within an inch or so at one finish. Noah and TK toe to toe the whole way down- matching turns. Joe I. won most finesse in criddling. Perfect nicked inside criddle ona huge offset at speed- good strategy.

Wes E running a Luxury version of his dresser drawer- he says now all the R and D money goes into the paint job. Newer model may have metal flake- so long as it does not hamper performance...and so long as Sears stocks it. Wes E was the big winner of hte b- Pro winning a killer huge Barbeque which he promptly traded for something more portable...Set of Flashbacks Courtesty of Solidskate.com.

Glen of Solidskate.com was super generous and truly supports the sport. I asked if he wanted to sponsor the race and what comes in the mail???About $400 worth of stuff. All I can say is WOW! You put a lot of smiles on peoples faces Glen- and got some new skaters as customers.

UR13 and Noah also had fast runs- within .1 of each other. Jim Seiner battled his way to 4th in B-pro with a decent qualifier and then seeding a little lucky. Jim then Parlayed his placing into Wes E's huge barbeque....that's true racing strategy.

UR13 ran a plank with PVD's and hit his line right over the cones- even ran it to a fast time in the GS quadruple pumping a few gates at very high speed..19 inch wheelbase. sick

Terence had his set up dialed from the get go- everyone was using his deck. He set a GS course everyone had fun on and one that people could really show their skills. Tk's help in getting the ball rolling really took some pressure off of me trying to do 20 things at once. Lots of practice partners ended up racing off against each other. TK and Tway were seeded against each other- and Tway uncapped it with his Halftracks- but even with the width strategy could not keep up with the traction offered by the PVD's.

Ilva has also gottena lot better posting good times and beating a few of the guys.

Vlad made me feel like I was out of style. Killed it with the most unbelieveable stodgy boston outfit repleat with pipe and knee high yellow socks and plaid golfing shorts and Polo shirt. Then proceeds to put down blistering times to boot. Vlad- you gotta post a photo of that- even better than the jogging suit.

Special thanks to Nantucket Nectars for the Ez-up and the dozen cases of drinks. Ski Market and Quicksilver also stepped up to sponsor the race. Also special thanks to the Metropolitan District Commission and fidelity investments for letting us use the space.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: John Gilmour on 2003-07-05 02:54 ]</font>

William Tway · Post by **William Tway** » Sat Jul 05, 2003 4:41 pm

<A HREF="http://www.users.cloud9.net/~wbtway/boston.mpg">Boston Pro T/S</A>

Jani Soderhall · Post by **Jani Soderhall** » Sat Jul 05, 2003 4:55 pm

The same video was copied onto this server, as a backup.

Tight slalom in Boston, July 4th.

The video shows the kind of course that was run on the day. Is this JG winning run?

Thank's Tway.

PS. Can you publish the complete results later? Or write an article and send some photos and we'll put it up on the home page.

Karl Floitgraf · Post by **Karl Floitgraf** » Sun Jul 06, 2003 1:26 am

This entire expience was awesome. I was great to meet everyone. I had fun cooking everyone's lunch. I even got a couple runs in (a broken arm doesn't set me back)

Props to Wes E. who pumped 8 city blocks at 2 am behind JG's Mercades.

Thanks guys for the great time.

William Tway · Post by **William Tway** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 3:51 pm

<A HREF="http://www.users.cloud9.net/~wbtway/boa ... ">Complete Results From Boston T/S A&B Pros</A>

Excel Spreadsheet

*The top 8 qualifiers raced A Pro
*Small number indicates qualifying position.

Pierre Gravel · Post by **Pierre Gravel** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 4:35 pm

Man if not for the mixup, i would have faced my buddy JimZ in the semi, would have toasted him anyway.. haha

Thank you JG for a great race and for letting us sleep at your place, we'll be there racing next year. Was also really fun to put faces on those names, PVD, Mark Mc Cree, WesE, Joe (thanks for makin me try your Radikals) Vlad, Noah, Tway, Ilva, Henry, and all the other racers, i was glad to meet Shaggy again and race him.

And last, i wanna thank Terence and Sandy Kirby for their generosity and hospitality, they made us feel at home. (thanks TK for those rare small pivot cups)

I had a great time.
-Pierre (Peter Z ??)

Vlad Popov · Post by **Vlad Popov** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 8:45 pm

Boston Photo Albums are more or less done.

Just got home. More later.

Later.

Karl Floitgraf · Post by **Karl Floitgraf** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 9:13 pm

Great Pictures Vlad!

John Gilmour · Post by **John Gilmour** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 7:02 pm

Karl, 15, had an accident. He was skating in a crosswalk and a BMW SUV cut him off. He swerved .....into a Ford. Struck- ended up on the hood broke the windshield, the Ed Economy Streetrider deck ended up broken as well.

Broken Sholder, double fractured left leg. Karl went to Children's Hospital where he still is and has been since Thursday July 10th. He will likely have to stay for a few more days.

He had surgery and pins put in his leg and ended up with complications from "compartmentalization syndrome" where the muscle swells inside the muscle sheath and the sheath has to be slit open so the limb doesn't die from lack of circulation.

Those who saw Karl cone marshalling at July 4th remember he already had his left arm in a cast. Wes E. helped coach Karl and taught Karl some foot braking techniques. He was really enthusiastic about slalom after the July 4th race.

Likely he is in traction- the entire left side of his body. This has been a hard month for the Floitgraf family- Karl's Aunt broke his left wrist. Karl's Dad, Wolfgang, broke his left wrist also riding the Streetrider about 2 weeks earlier.

We wish Karl a speedy recovery.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: John Gilmour on 2003-07-19 13:51 ]</font>

Vlad Popov · Post by **Vlad Popov** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 7:30 pm

Carl, you’re extremely lucky! Could have been worst. You could have hit the Beemer.

Victoria says hi to “Lucky Carl”.

Wish you a quick recovery!

John Gilmour · Post by **John Gilmour** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 1:52 am

May we call it a soccer related injury? I hear a soccer mom was driving the beamer.

Vlad Popov · Post by **Vlad Popov** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 7:03 pm

Carl’s injury wasn’t slalom-related because he was on a (too long of a ) longboard.

Speaking of longboards. Dalv stopped drinking for a week and he appears to be in the production mode. We might see a 5 ft-long “Dalv Economi” PlankkR model in a near future.

John, what was axle-to-axle wheelbase on that board?

John Gilmour · Post by **John Gilmour** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 6:24 am

I don't know the axle to axle length. But my guess is about 42 inches.

If Karl had been on a shorter deck he might have had more manuverability to avoid the other car. The extra 20 inches of wheelbase were likely expensive. Hospital bill estimates- surgery + care + hospital stay may exceed $100,000.00 making each additional inch of wheelbase cost about $5000.00

I'm going to go visit Karl tomorrow at Children's Hospital in Boston.

I think flex is key in longboards- Ed Economy has it dialed. I gotta get another one- I'm going through withdrawl.

Karl Floitgraf · Post by **Karl Floitgraf** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 5:48 pm

I'm doin okay, thanks for all the calls and the sympathy. I am in the hospital, but I am goin home today. I kepp everyone poste4d later on

Thanks guys.

Karl Floitgraf · Post by **Karl Floitgraf** » Sun Jul 20, 2003 2:28 pm

I am home and feeling better. And in retrospect the hospital stay wasn't that bad, wouldn't you like beautiful blonde nurses wait on you hand and foot for 9 days?

I'm still bored though, wheel chairs are allways more fun when you don't need them.

Thanks Wendy for visting it really raised my spirits. Thanks Vlad and Alex for calling.

-Now that I'm home you can reach me at 781-444-1312.

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