South African Nationals, Cape Town November 2001

Reported by Leander Lacey

South Africa held its SECOND National Race as part of the IGSA World Cup Series. This is the last South African National eligable for 2001. Buttboarding was joined by Luge, Inline, Gravity Bike and Standup for a combination of about 50 entries. Another event is planned for January 26, 2002. It will take place in Gauteng and is planned to be the first National Race of 2002.

 

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The event was organised by Karl from Surf Zone, and Simon from Wildfire tattoos. Pieter Annandale came down from Gauteng and won the luge, but otherwise it was largely a Cape Town race.

The course was very technical, and although not very fast, had very fast accelleration and lots of scary corners. (Note how this contrasts was the previous track. -ed)

Due to the technical course there were some surprises and lots of fun crashes. The course started with a nice drop into the right turn 1. But just before the turn there was a nasty speed bump which managed to upset your line into the corner. Then it was a long steep straight, then onto the brakes and into turn 2 which was a gentle but scary right, As you start straightening it was up and over the next speed bump. This gave some air and as you landed it was time to be turning for turn three, a long left hairpin.

Turn 4 was an almost hairpin which was the cause of many crashes due to it being counter cambered. Then it was a drop into turn 5, a left hairpin and finally turn 6 a gentle left and over the finish.

What made the course interesting was the fact that it was not ideal for skating, the road had rough patches in the braking areas and the speed bumps were in horrid positions. But fun was had by all, even the many who crashed. There were fortunately no serious accidents, although the medics were busy patching scraped fingers especially Donovan Coetzee who snapped his buttboard landing after the speed bump, and scraped off one of his nails.

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Buttboard Open
1st -
Leander Lacey
2nd - Richard Knaggs
3rd - Gustav Stutterheim
4th - Michael Swart
5th - Dylan Moore
6th - Simon Portlock

Darren Lott ©2001