The Crackling, Hog Hill – 20th – 21st May 2017

Race report by Rob Ashby

 This year saw one of the largest fields of European riders competing it theUK’s first race of the season. We had a seven strong team from Sweden including my fellow Kryptonics Ambassador Pelle Gusstafsson, From Germany we had Alex Lutz and Dominik Kowalski. Dominik is currently staying in London and he rocked up on Saturday afternoon looking very dapper. Then representing France we had Vincent Tanguy and Patrick Allan and they were joined by the usual “Frenglish” racer collective of Mmedo Duffort and the Dumont Family.

With the Hybrid course set practice got under way but fifteen minutes in the skies darkened and the rain came down. Sadly it got progressively harder and washed out the rest of the day – for slalom at least. But there was always tea, coffee, cake and banter to be had in the café where Ed was holding court in amongst it all. We were even treated to a bit of “show, tell ‘n’ buy” from Dominik where a few bargains were snapped up by some of the assembled racers. The law of sod saw the sun breakthrough with around 45 minutes of track time left so Louis, Mmedo and Vincent aided by a few others decided to mark the GS course. This would mean one less thing to do on Sunday and allow us to start the GS first thing so as not to impede on track time for Timmy’s downhill events.

Sunday morning saw the sun return and so practice got underway promptly on the GS hill. After a quick rider briefing the timed runs started and the visitors seemed to be enjoying the fast flowing Giant course. The Battle Royale was between Dominik and Vincent, both clocking sub 22 second runs. Pavel team mates Louis Selby and Mmedo Duffort slugging it out for 3^rd and 4^th places and Sam Gordon was also locked in battle with his nemesis Pelle Gusstafsson. Both riders appeared to finding it hard to break the 23 second barrier. Eventually however with the last run in the bag it was the returning Dominik that took the Crackling GS title from Vincent in 2^nd place. Mmedo a nabbed a well earned 3^rd with Louis hot on his heels with a very close 4^th – just 0.2 in it! In his first competitive race ever Rookie Swedish racer Daniel Petersson came in 6^th with an impressive clean run time of 22.51. Also worthy of a mention is occasional racer Joe Baldwin who came 8^th with a raw time of 22.91 picking up just one cone penalty. Keep it up Joe it would be good to see more of you racing in future.

 

 

 

 

A quick, well rehearsed turn around later and we were ready for the continuation of the Dual Hybrid racing and the qualification rounds. With both A and B groups to get through time was of the essence. The cut for the A group was as usual the top eight and the remaining riders made up the B Group for a round of 16. With so many fast European riders in attendance the A Group looked very different from the norm with only Louis and Joe Baldwin making the cut for the home team. Having not made it into the A group Sam found himself in unfamiliar territory and joining him in the B group – Pelle! In fact in total there were 7 Europeans in the B Group, I think this is a Hog Hill record?

 In the A Group round of 8 Joe went out to super-fast low rider Dominik, Sweden’s Victor Martensson eliminated Pavel man Mmedo Duffort after some fine close racing with a margin of just 0.18 seconds. French “The One” Team rider Vincent Tanguy put Alex Lutz out of contention despite both riders sending cones everywhere in their first run; Vincent emerging victorious by just over a second. Louis kept the home fires burning in his match up against Patrick Allan. Britain’s finest ran fast and clean while Patrick picked up 5 cone penalties. The damage already done by the Frenchman in the first run Louis advanced to the round of 4 by 1.38 seconds. 

The Finals saw Dominik paired with the Flying Frenchman Vincent – both riders had similar times so close final was a certainty. In the consolation Round Louis would race against Victor for 3^rd and 4^th place. The first run of the final was incredibly close Vincent crossed the line just ahead of Dominik but four cone penalties handed the advantage to the German. The second run again saw Vincent cross the line with only cones being the difference again. Dominik took first place by just 0.14.  Louis took 3^rd after two close runs against Victor in 4^th.

In the B Group the round of 16 went like this: In the all Swedish heat Rookie Daniel Petersson cruised by Kaj Gustaffson after Kaj DQ’d his second run, Old Southbank LSD Boy Dobie vs. Anton Sundling provided some  really close great to watch racing. Dobie just losing out on cones the final margin 0.56.  Another old LSD Boy, Chris Charalambous raced Andy Turner. In the first run both riders took out cones but Chris had a the advantage going into the second run 1.21 up on Andy. Despite really going for it and pulling out all the stops a crucial error meant Andy DQ’d his second run sending Chris into the round of 8. In the battle of the Paul’s – Coupe vs. Taylor Crush, TC blazed through the first heat and looked like eliminating the Board Collector Extraordinaire but disaster struck when on his second run he incurred 6 cone penalties, Coupe ran clean and went through. UK Pavel Team rider Sam Gordon was paired against Richard Searle. Sam’s years of experience both on the international circuit and at home were no match for “The One” Boss Man. Sam advancing by over 2.5 seconds. Sam’s friendly rival/sometime nemesis Pelle Gustafsson was drawn against John Nicholas. Their first run was close but both riders took out the end section of the course. In the second Pelle ran fast and clean and John hit cones it was as simple as that. Both the Dumont Brothers beat their respective opponents and showed that they are a force to be reckoned with. Aumary took out the ever improving Paul Borrell and a fast fluid Cyprien sent another Swede out of the group beating Johan Grundel who DQ’d his first run and too big a big cone count on the second consigned him to an early bath.  

 There were some interesting pairings in the B Group round of 8 Daniel would face his fellow countryman Johan, Chris and Paul would race off, Sam was pitted against his semi-naked rival Pelle, and Aumary would race brother Cyprien. 

Daniel saw off the challenge from Johan, Chris showed his style and speed and beat Paul by over a second over the two runs. In the grudge match to end them all (“I’ll never hear the end of it…..” S. Gordon) Sam needn’t have worried – Pelle’s cone count was twice that of his each run! Cyprien led after the first run by just 0.03 against brother Aumary who took out four cones to his one. But Aumary came back stronger and faster than his younger brother and took the heat going through by just 0.24. In the round of 4 Daniel earned his place in the final by beating Chris and Sam would be joining him after a high cone count cost Aumary dearly.

In the consolation round Chris DQ’d his first run leaving too much to make up on his second and had to settle for 4^th place leaving Aumary to grab the 3^rd place on the podium. ….and so to the B Group final.
The first run saw two very fast, clean and close runs with Daniel just edging Sam at the finish by 0.28. Try as he might Sam could not make up the ground in the last run. He picking up two cone penalties at the end of the course pumping it going for the line. A delighted Daniel Petersson claimed his first race victory, a very worthy winner he was too and had skated very well throughout the day. Another speedy Swede to watch out for!

 The prize giving saw vouchers for Kryptonics wheels, bearings and schwag from Octane Sport and product from Jimmy Z for the winners handed out and a Jimmy Z complete to overall winner Dominik Kowalski. Following the prize giving the merry band of racers wished each other well and went their separate ways until the next time.

 

 

The Usual BIG Thanks Dept:

 Sam Gordon for his top notch work in front of and behind the scenes

 Michael Stride and Octane Sport for their unerring support, providing ramps, timing and prizes

 Lyn and Richard Case – for ramp storage

 Andy Turner for ramp transportation and getting involved in just about everything during set up and breakdown.

 Kryptonics – for the awesome wheels!

 All of our other event sponsors

 The Course Setters

 Timmy and Louise of DAS Industries all things longboardy and sign Up

 Ian Coles, Sylvia, Dave and all of the staff at Redbridge Cycling Centre

 St John’sAmbulance Service

 Coupe Limousine Service

 ……And finally a special big “Thank You” to everyone that raced and helped out with writing things on whiteboards, set up/break-down and van packing – it always makes things easier and quicker when everyone mucks-in!

  

The Crackling 2017 Results

Hybrid A Group 

1. Dominik Kowalski (GER)
2. Vincent Tanguy (FR)
3. Louis Selby
4. Victor Martensson (SWE)
5. Mmedo Duffort
6. Patrick Allan (FR)
7. Alex Lutz (GER)
8. Joe Baldwin

 

Hybrid B Group 

1. Daniel Petersson (SWE)
2. Sam Gordon
3. Aumary Dumont (FR)
4. Chris Charalambous
5. Cyprien Dumont (FR)
6. Pelle Gustafsson (SWE)
7. Anton Sundling (SWE)
8. Paul Coupe
9. Paul Taylor Crush
10. Dobie Campbell
11. John Nicholas
12. Johan Grundel (SWE)
13. Andy Turner
14. Paul Borrell
15. Richard Searle
16. Kaj Gustafsson (SWE)

 Official Timekeeper: Rob Ashby

 Giant Slalom

(Raw times, cone penalties – 0.2 secs – in brackets)

 

1.    Dominik Kowalski (GER)        21.45 

2.    Vincent Tanguy            (FR)               21.94 

3.    Mmedo Duffort                          22.21 

4.    Louis Selby                                22.41 

5.    Victor Martensson (SWE)        22.02              (2)

6.    Daniel Petersson (SWE)         22.52

7.    Patrick Allan (FR)                     22.71              (1)      

8.    Joe Baldwin                               22.91              (1)      

9.    Sam Gordon                              22.99              (2)      

10.  Pelle Gustafsson (SWE)         23.03              (4)      

11.  Alex Lutz (GER)                        23.29              (3)      

12.  Paul Coupe                               23.85              (1)

13.  Anton Sundling (SWE)                       23.72              (2)      

14.  Cyprien Dumont (FR)              24.15 

15.  Kaj Gustafsson (SWE)                        24.06              (1)      

15.  Chris Charalambous               24.26              (1)      

16.  Paul Taylor Crush                    24.60 

17.  John Nicholas                          25.00

18.  Richard Searle                          24.81              (1)      

19.  Aumary Dumont (FR)              24.84              (1)      

20.  Andy Turner                              25.02              (2)      

21.  Dill Hill                                        24.80              (2)

22.  Paul Borrell                               25.48

23.  Trevor Hickey                            25.75

24.  Alec Brown                                25.96

25.  Andre Paro                                26.52              (2)

26.  Gavin Palfrey                            27.03              (3)

Tezzan Redman (SWE)                  29.87              (7)      

 

Official Timekeeper: Rob Ashby