(Scott Peer courtesy
of USA
Roller
Sports)
"Racers were
greeted by warm and sunny weather at the final
races of the 2000 International Gravity Sports
Association (IGSA) Westwood Ski and Sports Club
race series. "
-Scott Peer
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"Practice started in the
morning on all three streets, with riders being
able to choose which event to practice first. Then
the races started just before noon, with practice
continuing after the races on each street. "
-Scott Peer
This Buttboard course features a
steep, straight, fast start. At 40+mph racers drop
into a parking lot where they "coast" the rest of
the ever tightening turns around parking islands
and cones. Every turn is fast enough to require
braking or sliding.
Photo from Dave
Auld's event coverage
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Chris McBride recounts his
experience into the first turn:
"This was only my second time on
a butt board. I kept reaching forward with my hand
to turn, much as I do on my streetluge. This is not
a good idea on the butt board. The second time it
happened I ended up hitting the island in the
center of the parking lot. These islands having
about a three foot pile of dirt in them. I knew I
was going to hit, although I was still trying to
turn. I figured I would slam into the dirt. Well I
hit the island, and moments later I saw pavement
flying buy underneath me. My first thought was "Wow
I cleared the island." My second thought was, "wow
this is going to hurt. "
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A safety lesson can be learned
from the high speed impact which threw Chris
several yards.
Because the buttboard is not dropped, it was high
enough to slide Chris's tailbone OVER THE TOP of
the curb. Chris was smart enough to get his hands
and feet above the curb line as well. The "burn"
seen on the deck is from the sudden acceleration of
his leathers. His metal trucks snapped off when
they hit the concrete, but Chris's spine did
not.
Merely dazed, Chris was able to continue racing on
a replacement board.
Photo from Chris
McBride's event coverage
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"The field was exceptionally
strong, with riders coming from as far away as
Boston and Washington State to enjoy the friendly
racing atmosphere and pleasant southern California
weather."
-Scott Peer
This was a great event for sport
cross-overs.
(Right) John Gilmour (Slalom King) leads Dave
Rogers (Street Luge King )and Lee Dansie
(Speedboarding King) across the transition
boards.Lee shocked everyone by winning practice
rounds on his giant slalom board!
(photo by Dave
Auld)
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So I decide the loosen the
trucks, but still did not have a good idea on the
line required. I had the hole shot again....and
psyched I hit the wooden transition boards at the
bottom, but had over loosened the trucks and caught
the wobs...took about 20 feet to fix that, but now
I was late into the turn..... that would make me go
wide at the end-----but to my horrors everyone was
to the outside of me already. My apologies to the
guy I took out- thankfully no injuries for the both
of us as we really smacked hard along the whole
sides of our bodies and he was launched off his
board. Not wanting to be a dick, I didn't sprint to
the finish- and apologized as I really shouldn't
have entered- but I did have a lot of fun- and this
did inspire me to get back into Luging/butt
boarding again. I choose D. Lott's LUGE SURVIVAL
GUIDE for one of my prizes. You can imagine me
chuckleing on the plane ride home reading it when I
got to the rules section and saw EXACTLY my crash
outlined graphically in the book. For such a short
book there is a lot of useful info crammed into it.
Thanks DL. Mental note to self---read it a couple
times more..and actualy practice and run the course
at low speed first. ;
-John Gilmour
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"It would be hard to pick a
faster group of riders for a classic skateboard
(buttboard) race. The difference between advancing
and being eliminated was often a few feet.
In the end, Darren
Lott, the
tireless promoter of the sport and world speed
record holder triumphed, with Dave Rogers squeaking
ahead of Bob Ozman for second place."
-Scott Peer
Not only was the finish
determined by inches, the lead swapped places
several times as the finalists went through the
last turn.
(photo by Chris
McBride)
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John Cazin felt a little rusty
during practice and so volunteered to shoot the
racing with Darren's video camera.
Darren edited the digital
footage in iMovie, producing this Quicktime file.
(It's a big download - 3 meg) Click on the picture
to the right to download it.
It shows the very close racing
and the few fun non-inury crashes.
(The "Interesting Special
Effects" sounds are the actual sounds slowed with
the footage. )
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1. Darren
Lott
2. Dave Rogers
3. Bob Ozman
4. Jason Johnson
5. Pat Moody
5. Bazzle Baz
7. Chris Chaput
7. Rob Ruhman
9. Dave Auld
9. John Rogers
11. Lee Dansie
11. John Gilmour
11. Chris McBride
11. Scott Peer
11. Earle Ross
DNS. John Cazin
DNS. Brad Edwards
***17 competitors*
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