| Teutônia Downhill Speed Teutônia ( BRA) |
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A Eventinfo:Basel, London, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre. I arrive with a 2h delay. Douglas must be waiting since a long time. We´re driving to his house in Sao Leopoldo. This is a suburb of Porto Alegre. Douglas lives there with his mother and grandmother in a very little house. Kent from Southafrica and some Brazilian skaters stay here too. The weather is quiet bad: rain and mist is not what i expected. It´s the same for the next few days. No sun and no skateboarding. It´s getting boring.
Stuart from Cape Town arrives at Wednesday. It´s still raining. But then, on Thursday, the sun is shining. We´re driving to Teutônia. Teutônia is a german colony. These people speak german and live very traditional. Then we see the racetrack. Douglas is laughing. What a hill. Never have i seen something steep and rad like this road. I´m really scared. We´re freewheelin downhill with 150km/h! Whooooop!
This road is crazy. 2km in 1.5 minutes! Over 100km/h topspeed! The road surface is not the best but it´s good enough. There are a few rough patches and cracks. The first part of the track is relatively flat. Nothing crazy. Drop... left hand sweeper... swschsch... Now it´s getting really steep! You can feel a massive acceleration... 70 ? 80 ? 90 ? 95 ? 100 ? 110 ? 120? One more drop and finish. Poboppoboppobopp ? i´m nervous.
We´re closing the road and comunicate by radio. We start the first run in the steep part before the turn. Road clear! Let´s go! I got some wobbles in the highspeed. I can´t lock my knee and i have to stand up. Nevertheless my GPS shows 93km/h. I don´t feel so safe. Do i have the right setup for this road? How can i do my tuck? I tighten my trucks. We all get faster and faster and then we start from the top of the hill. I´m feeling better. After the finsh i check the highspeed on my GPS: 111km/h! I have never gone that fast before. It starts raining and we´re going home. Everybody´s happy, it was a good session.
Douglas and his band have a small gig this evening. It´s a mix of reaggae and salsa. The whole downhill crew is coming. Um Caipirinha por favor!
It´s still raining on Friday. In the evening we´re driving to Lamb´s Lanches. Fabio Lamb makes very good Lanches! Bread, meat, egg, tomatoes, salad, sauce, corn ? delicious! It´s almost midnight when we arrive at the hotel at the Lago di Harmonia in Teutônia. All the 60 skaters stay here. I got an appartement with Beni Weber, Juliano Cassemiro, Fabio Lamb und Andre Preto. My alarm rings at 06:00. But, unfortunately, it´s still raining. I getup after seven and go for breakfast. Despite of the rain we´re driving to the racetrack by bus. After a few hours the second part of the course is almost dry. But the last drop before the finish line is still wet and because of that i don´t ride. There are quiet a few spectators. For dinner i´m eating three plates full of pasta. I can use these carbohydrates tomorrow! And please, please, we need dry roads this sunday!
No, mist and rain again! I can´t believe it. But today the road dries quickly. The warmup has been cancelled and we start directly with the timetrials. The start is in the drop before the corner. My second run isn´t too bad. Unfortunately the timing was done by hand. Douglas wins the qualifying. I´m #7. After a short lunchbreak the 2men heats start from the very top of the hill. The 32 best riders got a bip#shirt. These shirts are nice but too big for most of the riders. Everyone tries to be as aero as possible. Is there anybody having some duct-tape? Stuart doesn´t make it, he´s out in the first round. I got two nice runs. Then, in the round of eight i met #2 of the qualifying: Everton! Three, two, one, go! I stay behind him. I try to pass him, but i can´t get him. Everton´s tuck is awesome and he´s fast! Unfortunately i can´t catch him. I´m out! After the finish line I check my GPS. Wow, what the hell! 118km/h! I can´t believe it. Never did i feel so good after a lost run. I´m really happy! Douglas wins the final by night and Beni wins the streetluge race. The pricegiving was awesome. Happy winners, nice trophies, big cheques! Great!
It was a crazy event. Nice people, good organisation, fast skateboarding, nice girls! Thank you so much Paolo! I´ll be back next year, definitely!
Martin Siegrist, Airflow Skateboards, Globe Shoes, Abec11
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