Goldendale, WA, USA – Ramon Konigshausen put in a great run posting the fastest time in todays first round of qualifying for Sunday’s Maryhill Festival of Speed Downhill Skateboarding race. The Swiss racer set a time of 3:08.903 on the twisty, 3.5 km (2.2mi) Maryhill Loops Road. James Kelly from Petaluma, California was second with a time of 3:09.325. Joshua Torres who also hails from Petaluma shocked the establishment by turning in the third quickest time with a 3:10.036.
Two stand out Junior II racers (14-17 yrs old) Max Wippermann and Brendan Davidson also surprised many with outstanding qualifying runs that placed them fourth and fifth respectively. Wippermann ran a 3:11.111 Davidson rounded out the top five with a 3:11.263. Zen Shikaze was sixth, Tim Del Rosario-Rojas was seventh, Billy Meiners was eighth, Alex Tongue was ninth and Riley Taylor rounded out the top ten . With so many new faces cracking the top ten, there were a number of favorites who found themselves outside of the top ten looking in. Some of the notables were last years Maryhill Champion Zak Maytum in 11th, three time World Champion Martin Siegrist in 12th, 2009 World Cup Series Champion Mischo Erban in 13th and former World Champion Scoot Smith in 14th.
Qualifying is ultra important at Maryhill this year. With 207 skaters registered in the Open Downhill Skateboard class and only the top 96 making it into Sunday’s race, qualifying is fierce. After tomorrow’s second qualifying run, the top 92 racers will automatically make it into the Open race. Those who qualify in positions 93-140 will be placed into a “Repacharge” or last chance race. The top four finishers from the last chance race will earn the final four starting positions in the Open race. For those who qualify outside of the top 140, their weekend of racing will be over after qualifying.
Tomorrow’s final qualifying session will be an action packed, pressure cooker. Expect everyone to go for broke. Kevin Reimer set the track record at 3:06.424 last year. Light winds and warm temperatures are forecast during qualifying. The track record could fall tomorrow. We’ll have all the details here at IGSAworldcup.com
Abec 11 Maryhill Festival of Speed
Open DH Skateboarding
1st Run Qualifying Leaders
1. Ramon Konigshausen, Switzerland 3:08.903
2. James Kelly, United States 3:09.325
3. Joshua Torres, United States 3:10.036
4. Max Wippermann, United States 3:11.111
5. Brendan Davidson, Canada 3:11.263
6. Zen Shikaze, Canada 3:11.645
7. Tim Del Rosario-Rojas, United States 3:12.604
8. Billy Meiners, United States 3:13.130
9. Alex Tongue, United States 3:13.512
10. Riley Taylor, Canada 3:13.757