1981 BELLEVUE OPEN
Overall winner Byron Miller, Giant Slalom.
In one of the most grueling, demanding
and intense races in recent years, John
Hutson proved to the world that he is still
"King of the Hill," by beating the best
racers that skateboarding had to offer at
the 1981 Bellevue Open Skateboard
Contest on September 13th and 14th.
The setting for the multi-event contest
was in Bellevue, Washington-just
minutes outside the metropolitan area of
Seattle. Pulling the difficult duty of both
professional racers and contest
organizers, Rick Fike and Byron Miller
picked the ultimate weekend for the race.
Slated right in-between two thunderstorms,
cloudless skies and near 90 degree
temperatures prevailed.
36
Twenty-five of Washington's and
California's finest assembled on Saturday
morning to begin the first of two days of
intense racing on College Hill. The Cal
contingent consisted of-from Los
Angeles: Roger Hickey and Perry Fisser;
from central Cal, Paul Dunn (of
sandboarding fame); Santa Cruz's own
team of Hutson and Tim Piumarta; San
Jose's pride and joy Bob Denike and
Berkeley's Chris Pettyjohn.
The two events to be held on Saturday
were slalom and Giant Slalom. Slalom
was first, and 24 year old Byron Miller-
who is also a top ski racer on the National
Ski Circuit-won the pro event easily.
Byron said later about his victory on the
near 70 cone course, "I hadn't really
skated cones in about a year. I guess
everybody was pretty rusty."
Hutson had just arrived from the airport
minutes before the slalom event started.
Expecting to race only downhill that
weekend, the Hut brought only his speed
equipment along on the trip. That didn't
make any difference to the locals, for they
conned John into racing anyway. "I had
just stepped off the plane," Hut recalled
later, "and I didn't know what else to do,
so I unconsciously borrowed some slalom
equipment and raced. I was just trying to
be nice!" Hutson's fuzziness showed, and
the once mighty slalom racer just couldn't
put it together on rented gear. The best
David Wood out in front of John Hutson.
he could pull was a low 7th place.
Recapping the slalom event, Miller
collected $60.00 with a winning time of
18.181, Art Morrison took home $30.00
for second place and Olympia skater Rick
Bates skated away with third and a
$20.00 spot.
As the morning wore on the sun
warmed things up, the racing grew hotter,
too. The next event was the Giant Slalom,
the giant it was! One run down the course
took just under a minute to complete, and
the winner was none other than Byron
Miller again! To win you had to have the
fastest two runs out of three tries. Byron's
time of 107.426 was a good two seconds
ahead of number 2 place Rick Fike, and
number 3 Hutson. Miller received a
slightly bigger check of $75.00 for first,
while Fike earned $40.00 and Hutson
$25.00. Without a doubt, the most
memorable event of the Giant Slalom
came from Perry Fisser. The California
luger went into turn two just a little too fast
for his own good, and pulled off a perfect
triple back flip-slip.
Practice for the Premier event-the
Downhill-started immediately after the
completion of the G.S. Downhill road
racing was the name of the game and the
players were the best in the business!
Although these were the same racers that
had squared off at Capitola and Laguna
Seca earlier this year, this was not
destined to be just another race.
College Hill far surpassed the previous
contest sites in intensity and degree of
difficulty. The hill was like none other ever
raced in an organized contest. A fast 36-
38 mph starting with a super hard push-
off, then into three turns. The first turn
was a 90 degree left hander, then a flat
100 yard section that set a racer up for
turn number 2. Turn 2 was a sharp 90
degree right hander that emptied into the
steep drop off that made up the fastest
part of the course. At the bottom of the
shoot comes turn number 3, which turned
out to be the most difficult part of the
course. This turn shoots by at around 34
mph and then the straight shot to the
finish is only 150 yards long.
"It's a tight turning road race that
demands the most control, the most
accuracy, the most skateboarding ability
you can muster. This course demands
everything, straight line speed, balance,
judgment and control..." Hutson described
the course further after taking a few
practice runs in this way, "You could just
roll down from the top and still have to
think about making turn number 3 at the
bottom. Although I'd just like to mention
that we were pushing as hard as we could
at the top!
For Bob Denike, who had just one week
earlier at Capitola nearly beat Hutson on
an easier course, the hill posed a very
interesting problem. "Each time I went to
Downhill fuge artist. Perry Fisser.