The adventure started a day or two before the race, with riders coming from all over Australia including Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia, with two skaters from Norway keen to take on some of the Best hills in Australia.
Most of us met up at the opera house in Sydney on the Thursday night and did a massive china bomb down the long spiral carpark of the Opera house before getting booted and continuing on to my place to sink a few beers. We then got up early the next morning to pick up 3 more skaters from the airport before heading down to Wollongong to ride Mt Keira, which is a 9km winding road paved with butter smooth hotmix, hairpin switchbacks and long straights, with a massive steep drop-off to finish before running out into the flats. On one of the drives back up the hill we counted 16 turns in the top 1/3 of the track. The highest speed of the day was recorded at almost 90km/h down the final stretch.
Unfortunately one of the riders had a nasty crash and was rushed to hospital with a dislocated shoulder, but he was fine once the ambulance driver gave him the ‘green epi-pen’. He was laughing his ass off all the way to the emergency room.
We then stacked the bus full of beer and got wasted on the drive back to Sydney, checking out footage and swapping stories of the fun day followed by a barbecue at my house kindly cooked by my dad, and the company of an additional 2 South Australian skaters who arrived that night. The party went long into the morning as everyone was very excited for the race the next day, but as any downhill skater can tell you, a late nights party can not keep a skater from racing.
We woke up at the crack of dawn and piled all our gear into the bus and started the drive up to the Blue Mountains. The weather was very sour and we were greeted at the hill by a few other skaters and a wet road. The rain had stopped but the road was still soaked, so there was only one way to dry it out…. skate on it. One by one everyone got their gear on and started riding in the semi-slipery conditions, and before we knew it the road was bone dry and the head to head racing would begin.
The track was short but very narrow, with tight corners and not many places to pass. It was a challenge to take the lead and keep it, as most of the racing was side-by-side. If you had the inside line for a corner you would then have the outside line for the next, so there was some very intense racing. The format for the day was double elimination, so in order to be knocked out of the draw you had to lose twice. The first loss sent you down into the loser’s bracket and you still had the chance to battle your way back up to the final, which gave people an incentive to skate even harder if they already had one loss, everything would then be on the line.
The race saw many ‘dark horse’ entrants who were absolutely shredding. Leigh Griffiths from SA was dominating all day, this was his first race and it looked like he had been doing it for years. His style around the corners was so solid and he did a great job to place 5th. Another great ripper was Owen from Canberra with his ’stretch-armstrong’ stance, he beat alot of great riders and also did extremely well for his first race. Other rippers included Steve Daddow, Adadm Yates and Jonathan Lundmark. Everyone skated hard untill there were only a few people left to battle it out for the victory. We had Corey Leeson QLD, Dennis Westphal (from Norway), Austin Moncrief QLD and myself in the final brackets. I defeated Dennis to go into the finals undefeated, and Austin beat Corey to face off against Dennis for a second time in the draw. Dennis had already shut the door on Austin and wasnt afraid to do it again, claiming the victory and having a 2nd shot against me to take the overall win. The final heat with Dennis was the best heat i have ever raced. We were neck and neck from the push right to the finish, no drafting and no passing, side by side and elbows out through every corner all the way down to the line which had to be determined by a slow-mo replay on nearby video cameras. The result showed that i crossed the line first, by only a wheel length. We were both so stoked from the run we were begging to run the finals again just for fun. That wasnt the first heat to be decided by video replay, as there were many close heats throughout the day.
Dave Kelly took out the Luge, while in Classic Luge Adam Sparks had to come from behind to overtake Brad Sterritt.
After the race we all headed back down the mountains to my place for another barbecue and many many beers, with everybody frothing and excited from a great days racing. This was a really great day for skateboard racing in Australia, as it saw so many people come from all over the country to participate and get stoked on longboarding. Big thanks to all the ASRA crew who helped put this race together (Robbo, Bugz, Haggy, Fitzy, Jess, Haylee, Lea) and to the sponsors behind the event; Hopkin Racing and Cre8ive Sk8.
Tags: Jackson Shapiera, Races, Team
