The crowd gathered at the finish for the post race ceremonies.
This was soon confirmed when up walk-
ed Roger. Exchanging greetings and what
not, Roger told me of his enthusiasm and of
his secret weapon. Intrigued, I asked him
for the unveiling right then and there, but I
think he was going for psyche effect and we
retreated to a nearby, putridly fragrant,
alleyway.
What I beheld was, what resembled to
me, a helmet that the creature wore in the
movie 'ALIEN'. Of course, it wasn't, but
the concept was still there. It looked as if it
would work and Roger had all the con-
fidence in the world in his creation.
The competitive spirit was running ram-
pant throughout the field of racers, with
each one incorporating their own forms of
psyche to prepare themselves for the com-
petition. Speed suits were in use by many of
the racers, with varying designs. Cliff Col-
emans' suit was a purplish tye-dye design,
Caedmon Bear devised a set-up that was jet
black with a full hood that covered his head
as well as helmet. Different designs, dif-
ferent cuts, different colors; a parade of per-
sonality and talent.
Bob Denike was not to be outdone in this
race. He came with his own personally
designed fairing helmet, with the same con-
cept and purpose as is Hickeys', but with
slightly altered features. These instruments
of speed are basically prototype material.
This makes me wonder as to what the future
may hold in store with more advanced
models.
30
FINISK
The racers were tense, I was nervous
and my pen ran out of ink. Good thing the
guy right next to me had one sticking out
of his back pocket.
The rules for the race went like this, the
race was run by the track referee, whose
decisions were final and he didn't have the
provisions for appeals. There were a bunch
of things a rider could do to disqualify
himself. He could miss a cone to get
D.Q.ed, or he could not have his board in
the starting box prior to the beginning of his
match or qualifying attempt. He could fall
off of his board and he could not be on his
board when he crossed the finish line.
There was also a dress code in affect at
this event. If a rider was wearing a speed
suit, he didn't have to wear knee and elbow
pads but, if he was wearing just shorts and a
shirt, he had to wear the pads. All of the
riders had to wear gloves and a helmet of
approval. NO WETSUITS WERE
ALLOWED, because last year, I was told
that it was so hot that some of the riders who
were wearing wetsuits, almost passed out.
That means that if one of the riders passed
out on one of the runs, he would fall off of
his board and therefore be disqualified.
The practice runs for the riders had just
commenced and I stood idly by and watch-
ed. It seemed that some of the riders had a
little trouble negotiating the turn at the top,
making their descent a little precarious.
That turn was definitely going to be a factor
in this race. The practice was just about
R CASELLI
over when Duane decides to show up with
his pal Barkley. They were allowed a little
practice and then the contest was under
way.
The racing started out with qualifying
with the top 16 times being forwarded to the
finals and the rest of the racers having to sit
out after a skate session that had just cost
them fifty bucks. The top one through six-
teen were; John Hutson with the fastest
time of 27.75, Cliff Coleman, Paco Prieto,
Caedmon Bear, Perry Fisser, Byron Miller,
Dave Wood, Roger Hickey, Bob Denike,
Rick Blackhart, Mike Goldman, Rick Fike,
Randy Katen, Tim Piumarta, Jack Smith,
and Chris Pettyjohn whose time was 28.73.
As evidence reveals, Roger Hickey
qualified in the eighth spot due to a
technical difficulty he suffered earlier, re-
injuring a game ankle, thus dropping his
time back from the forerunners. This sure
knocked the Hutson vs. Hickey downhill
duel all to hell. Hutson, as it seemed had
this day in the bag, but, down in the ranks,
in the 9th qualifying spot was Bob Denike.
Bob, a San Jose local, is streetwise as all
hell and presented John, a coastal local, with
the tragic possibility of another defeat. Ah-
ha! You see, there is a plot here to be
thickened.
The first round eliminations were nothing
less than eventful. Too eventful to even ela-
borate on. Hutson beat Pettyjohn, Coleman
beat Smith, Paco beat Piumarta, Katen beat
Caedmon, Fisser lost to Fike, Goldman lost
to Miller. Wood got beat by Blackhart and
Denike upset Hickey.
Into the second round already and this
raceful event was going by smoothly, with-
out radical events of the prankish nature.
This was probably due to the presence of
Capitolas' finest beach variety copper. One
of the Mister Machos was even sporting
regulation shorts and Nike's.
Mr. Media Man, D.D. Morin was keep-
ing the crowd informed as the up to the se-
cond information rolled in on the portable
hand walkie talkie. Only until, when mi-
nutes later, the batteries ran down on the
suckers and the course judges and starter
had to rely on smoke signals, hand
gestures, flags, couriers and the like to relay
the important info back and forth, up and
down the hill.
In this round Hutson went against Fike
and in the outcome, Fike just didn't quite
make it. Blackhart and Paco faced off, and
on down the hill with Paco's fairing seem-
ingly a little less resistant to the wind than
Rick's, sending Paco straight into the next
round. Cliff Coleman succumbed to Wash-
ington statesman, Byron Miller, and Randy
Katen had trouble keeping up with Bob
Denike.
I don't know who it was, but someone
behind me in the crowd was saying,
"....that there should be more of a
challenge to this course, such as jumps and
so forth. See if the strict downhillers really
know how to skateboard. An all around
skateboarder would more than likely have
no problem negotiating the slight obstacles,
but on the other hand, the guys who just go
downhill and nothing else (not even kick-
tums), might fall down and hurt them-
selves."
The person who was discussing this with
some common dwid on the sidelines sound-
ed to me like it was a slightly less than
boisterous, Dr. Rick. Now I didn't actually
see him saying this, nor did I see the dwid
he was arguing with, but, what I did hear
was of a particularly interesting note.
One guy wants ramps while the other guy
doesn't because the course is challenging
enough already. This is what I couldn't
understand. This guy who was against the
whole thing obviously wasn't a skate-
boarder. A skateboarder would never say
that something is TOO challenging, unless
he was just, 'sort-of of skateboarder. I
think the idea of some sort of variety to a
course is not a bad idea at all. Lets find out
who can SKATE, really FAST with con-
trol. After all, it couldn't be any worse than
BMX.
The third round. Now it's down to four
riders. John Hutson, Paco Prieto, Byron
Miller and Bob Denike. The four top riders
in the circuit today. If there are any better
downhillers, they sure aren't here today.
Holding an edge coming out of the hairpin, Randy Katen leads Caedmon bear.