Race Report: Newton's Nation Day 1

Details: Published: 26 November 2010

Silva Qualifies #1 In Bathurst!

Bathurst, Australa - Douglas Silva uncorked an amazing run in today's timed qualifying to earn the number one qualifying position going into tomorrows qualifying races. Silva posted a time of 1:00.371 that broke the existing track record of 1:00.814 set by Martin Siegrist in 2010. Mischo Erban had led for most of the session with a time of 1:01.058 and he was stoked to come out in 2nd.

"My allergies were killing be the whole day but eased up just in time for my run! Felt so good to breathe and skate fast!", said Erban. Patrick Switzer was third with a time of 1:01.122. "I'm loving the course at Newton's. I've been feeling fast & dialed. said Switzer. Defending Newton's Nation Champion Kevin Reimer was 4th with a time of 1:01.179. Scoot Smith rounded out the top five with a time of 1:01.479.

A development war has broken out between the wheel manufacturers. Silva earned the number position today riding Abec 11 wheels. Erban was on Seismic wheels and Switzer was on Orangatangs. All three riders are factory supported and have been doing a lot of development work for their respective manufacturers to create faster racing wheels. Switzer said, "Today I was testing some hard, prototype Orangatang wheels with undeniable success.

Newton's Nation is the richest race of the 2010 IGSA World Cup Series and is featuring a $20,000 purse. It is also part of a three day music and action sports festival that is featuring some of the biggest bands in Australia. The Australian Skateboard Racing Association (ASRA) is organizing the competition and has put up the prize purse themselves. They have devised a way to offer live timeing and scoring of the event on their website so everyone around the world can follow the action live. You can follow this link to catch all the action live!

ASRA wanted to do something different for this race to create more head to head racing action. In cooperation with the IGSA a new, race format has been devised for the event. Today's timed qualifying runs were only the first phase of qualifying. The qualifying positions earned by the riders will now place them into two seperate qualifying races. Those who qualified in an odd numbered position will be placed into one bracket and those who placed in an even numbered position will be placed in another. Since Silva and Erban were the number on and two qualifiers, Silva will have the number one position in the odd bracket and Erban will be number one in the even bracket. The top 30 finishers in each bracket will automatically earn a place in Sunday's 64 rider final. Those who finish outside of the top 60 will be placed into a final "Repacharge" bracket where they will race for the final four qualifying positions. The new format should offer plenty of racing action for the spectators.

Australian favorite Jackson Shapiera suffered a huge crash exiting Forrest's Elbow in the final minutes of practice resulting in a dislocated shoulder. He was taken to the local hospital where it was more extensive damage was discovered to his rotator cuff. "Jacko" is out of the competition but fortunately surgery does not appear necessary at this time. Shapiera's Sector 9 teamate George Mack from Vancouver, Canada crashed in a seperate incident and sprained his ankle. He sat out timed qualifying but is still hoping to compete in tomorrow's qualifying races if the ankle improves overnight.

Newton's Nation
Open Downhill Skateboarding
Timed Qualifying Top Ten

1. Douglas Silva, Brazil                   1:00.371
2. Mischo Erban, Canada               1:01.058
3. Patrick Switzer, Canada              1:01.122
4. Kevin Reimer, Canada                1:01.179
5. Scoot Smith, Canada                  1:01.479
6. James Kelly, United States         1:01.531
7. Christoph Batt, Switzerland         1:01.683
8. Louis Pilloni, United States          1:01.718
9. Andrew Chapman, Canada         1:02.290
10. Stefan Rufli, Switzerland           1:02.889

Women's Downhill Skateboarding
Timed Qualifying Top Three
1. Katie Nielson, Canada                 1:06.056
2. Dominique Vukorep, Canada       1:06.734
3. Brianne Davies, Canada              1:06.756

Junior II Downhill Skateboarding
Timed Qualifying Top Five

1. Merrick Wildash, Australia           1:03.626
2. Connor Wagner, United States    1:05.157
3. Gabriel Gwynne, Australia           1:06.739
4. Joshua Evans, Australia              1:09.067
5. Myles Borchardt, Australia           1:09.675

Street Luge
Timed Qualifying Top Five

1. Nick Duffield, Australia                 1:00.855
2. Yvon Labarthe, Switzerland         1:01.557
3. David Kelly, Australia                   1:02.507
4. Abdil Mahdzan, Malaysia             1:03.285
5. David Anderson, Australia            1:03.638

Classic Luge
Timed Qualifying Top Five

1. Yvon Labarthe, Switzerland          1:02.924
2. Nick Duffield, Australia                  1:06.306
3. Abdil Mahdzan, Malaysia              1:06.307
4. David Anderson, Australia             1:06.423
5. Phillip Champion, Australia            1:07.662

Inline Skating
Timed Qualifying Top Five

1. Sean Cunningham, Australia         1:01.678
2. Scott Peer, United States               1:02.663
3. Tobias Woehrle, Austria                 1:03.057
4. Dean Eisler, Australia                     1:06.505
5. John Meyer, Australia                     1:07.435

World Cup News

Race Report: Newton's Nation Day 1