| Houwteq XDH Grabouw, Cape Town ( SA) |
| Datum: | 3.12 - 4.12.2005 |
| Disziplin: | downhill |
| Veranstalter: | SAGRA |
| Homepage: | www.sagra.co.za |
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A Eventinfo:Rad... That was the first race. Blue sky all day long. The wind was strong. Strong tailwind! The course was not so difficult but still very cool. It didn't seem to be very fast. Beni Weber placed a first called "people eating" chicane in the fastest part of the hill. One hayball had to be removed. It was tight. I really like chickenpie. Sorry!
Flat start (headwind) - accelerating big right hand turn - tailwind - flat straight section - steep drop - chicane (full speed, full tuck) - right hand sweeper - finish. Lenght of track approx. 950m, time 59.97sec, topspeed 83.6km/h saturday >>> 92.6km/h sunday!
I won the timetrials with the only time under one minute. The times were close, very close. The wind was a big factor too. It was very interesting. We were only 16 standup riders and so we had a lot of runs. After the timetrials Mike and I went to skate a freshly tared mountain pass. Nice chicanes and monkeys on the road... Unfortunately we had strong headwind and couldn't reach the speeds we excepted... What is more refreshing than a swim in a mountain river?
We went to Stuarts weekendhouse in Kleinmond.
Sunday startet with a fast practise session. The wind was much stronger than on saturday. I didn't realize this at all. Then I slid out in the last turn and fell backwards over a few hayballs. Now my new helmet already has the first scratches... During the raceday this corner took down a few other guys. Stuart was on first position in his 1/4 final heat when he slid out too. Most heats were decided before the chicane. There were only a few passes after the chicken, and these where really spectacular. Ross Snowdon took fifth with a perfect run right before Kent Lingeveldt. The final: once again I didn't start very well. Side by side Luis and I are riding through the first turn. I'm drafting Tibor and then I get into Mikes draft. A little airbrake before the chicken, Tibor and Luis are very close behind me. After my crash I didn't feel so good and had problems with this fast right hand sweeper. I didn't wanna risk anything. Tibor crashed right behind me. I was lucky - Luis too!
Mike Zietsman wins, I took 2nd place and Luis got 3rd. Thanks alot to Gavin and all his volunteers for the cool race. And thanks to RedBull too...
Martin Siegrist, Airflow Skateboards
pictures by Ben Malherbe
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