Magun V2

Price: $650.00

V2 is more lively then the original.  They are 200mm, offer a 50 degree plate, and 8mm heat treated axle….. what else do you need in a truck? Besides being the coolest guy on the block.

Kevin in BRAzil part 2

Yesterday we had the last competition that would involve the Gauchos, the Brasileiros of the southern areas. It was the Downtown Speed Challenge held in the centre of Gravatai, a city, like Guaiba, on the outskirts of Porto Alegre. The inscription was 60 reais, or about 30 dollars, and included one kilogram of raw food such as rice, flour, or sugar to donate to the less fortunate people located in the nearby favelas. The track consisted of a steep start going over a big speedbump where the perfect line had an awkward transition into a flat 90 degree left hand corner heading down in the final straight that had two chicanes made via haybales, as well as a speedbump roughly in the fastest point.

The race format was a verrrrrrrrryyyy interesting one… Muito intresante. You had to race every person in your division and those with the fewest losses would then meet up later on for the finals. The heats were of the two-man variety and that made the racing very heated… As simple as it sounds, you either won, or you lost, and that makes things very heavy. The track was one where you really couldn’t make many passes, as it was short, not at all technical, and the chicanes made it so that the best line was the ONLY line, thus people would get cut off left, right and centre. Again, similar to Guaiba, the push was probably the most important thing. I raced through my heats and had my first loss to Dalua who got me off the push, the 2nd loss was to Silon, one of the fastest of the skaters from the south who slid out in front of me and required a hefty push to avoid crashing. When it came down to semi final time… The points for the top skaters were as follows:

Silon 1 loss – 12 wins

Dalua 1 loss- 12 wins

Myself 2 loss – 10 wins

Macaco 3 loss – 9 wins

This was where the organization of the race went a little hazy… There wasn’t a clear determining factor as to who would meet up with who, nor how the finals would be run… This was one of those races that, being its first year, was going to take a bit more to get’r going solid. It ended up being decided that I would run the semi with Dalua, and Macaco would go with Silon.  Dalua’s mega push got him out front and he went on to win the Semi. This put me up against Silon who hit the inside bale and slid out in front of me for the Consolation round. I ended up getting third, and Dalua, 1^st.

After the race was a nice little ceremony for awards and everyone bantered for a gringo speech, which I was happy to oblige. I was able to stutter out roughly what I needed to and everyone was super stoked. At the moment the south of Brasil is in an emergency state due to torrential rains and I’m unable to head back to Florianopolis to skateboard on my favorite hill. I’ll be trying out a new one soon… Morro da Cruz!

How to steal a super tanker full of oil!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/18/kenya.tanker.pirates/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Kevin in Brazil

This past weekend was Guaiba. The race in the city streets near Porto Alegre. There were about 40 skaters on the hill that were split between the open class and the amateur class. Everyone there was focused on the win, and the track made for some rad skateboarding. The track consisted of four ninety degree corners, with flat exits, and after the small flats there were “steeps” dropping into the next corner allowing for decent speed on course. The view from the top of the race course was similar to that of Vancouver harbour looking across from downtown to the North Shore, though the mountains were more hills there in Guaiba. The day started off with slalom and it was clear to see how much all the Brasileiros love it. I ended up getting 6th in the slalom competition after getting beat by the major fast slalom man, Dalua.

We moved into the downhill after the drawn out slalom competition and it was super rad. The riders were all well versed in their skating at Guaiba as they close the track every few weeks so the skaters can ride it with haybales and everything. I qualified 2nd, just after Dalua by about second on the 46 second course. The most important skill for this race was a solid push and as most people know, that’s where Dalua really shines. The racing was underway shortly after some qualification and heat confusion, as usual at any downhill skateboard race. Having only 17 skaters in the Open class made the race very short. The first heats were only to remove one skater and to even out the numbers for a solid, easy bracket of 16. My first heat was a major pusher, and I ended up getting out in front and taking it. This continued until the Semis, when I was outpushed by a bunch off the start and had to make a pass after the 2nd corner. I was the only one not footbraking for the most technical corner on the track and that made it easy to make up tons of time. When it came around to finals time, it was myself, Dalua, and two other skaters who’d been trading off 2nd behind Dalua for the past two years. Dalua was out front off the push, followed by one of the others and I was close behind in third. As had happened in the semis, I made a pass in the 2nd corner and moved on to the draft of Dalua. He was arriving to the footbrake zone with solid speed and I was a ways behind, but made it all up with his footbrake. I went for an outside pass, hoping to take more speed, but it was impossible to get a clean line with Dalua in front. In the final straight I wasn’t able to make it up, and Dalua ended up taking 1st. Super rad race. Because of my two 2nd place finishes in Teutonia and in Guaiba, I ended up getting 8th place in the Gaucho Circuito do Downhill, the southern-most Brasillian state’s circuit of downhill. It’s my favorite accomplishment in downhill to date… Apparently it grants me the ability to be a Gaucho, a southern Brasillian. I’ll be heading to Florianopolis today or tomorrow to continue shredding my favorite hill.

A te mais,

Kevin