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Texas Cold Fusion Sizzler

Written by GorillaBiscuits
Thursday, 03 April 2008
[This article comes to us from our man on the ground at the Texas Sizzler, our very own gorrillabiscuits. Read on for a massive blast of stoke from the south. Photo credits Eddy Martinez and Zack Levitt] I've been looking forward towards the Texas Cold Fusion Sizzler for awhile. School has been kicking my ass and I needed to get away from everything. I pick up Sherpa-a-go-go from the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport after a delay and drove straight to Austin. I get there around 10:30pm and the guys were already all there. After a little hanging out, I head back to the room to crash out and wait for the morning. We get to the hill in the morning and cones are being marked and people tweaking their setups and the Red Bull inflatable banner comes up over the finish line. Then the inevitable came...the rain! Lucky us, it only hung around for a little bit before it went about it's way but we were fighting some headwind. The hill dried up in no time and skaters came out from under the tent. The A-Class course was fast and gnarly and people were already practicing. As I was walking back up the hill I see Kenny Mollica walking up the hill! I don't think anyone was expecting him to come out and race, especially when he registers as Andrew Leffler from the Heartland haha. Despite his injury, he was stoked to be on a board again. New faces and well as returning racers were there. We run the A-Class first and the COSS guys just KILL IT! But Mollica turned it up and with a big grin mid-run, he shouts, “I'M GONNA WIN THIS RACE!” and that he did. He took first! Comeback Kid for sure! After the A-Class, we had a lunch break with Wahoo's Fish Tacos. Thanks Jordan and the Wahoo's crew for the support and food! After everyone was nice and full, we set up the B-Class course. As B-class practice was going, Texas Eddy takes a practice run, looking good...until a freak accident happened. Right as Eddy was approach the last couple of cones and the finish line, the generator powering the Red Bull shut down and the banner was deflating right in front of Eddy as he approached it at full speed. It was one of those moments where you think “Is this real?” Is that really happening right now?” There was no way to bail or carve outta the way or else he would risk running into the two metal boxes that hold up the banner or get close lined by the rope holding it in place. So Eddy takes on the banner, it comes down right at his waist, he hits it, and disapears into the banner. First thing Eddy says is, “Is my board okay??” Classic hahaha. His board was indeed okay, the Pavel gave the banner a nice long slash. Eddy wasn't so lucky landing on his back. Although he broke a finger and hurt his back, he still raced! That's a Texas Outlaw! The B-course was still fast and fun. I got to meet a fellow Fullbag friend, Gregory Girard from Canada, who ended up taking 1st place in the B-Class by 1/1000th of a second, just barely edging out Greg Stubbs by a hairline. It was his first race in the United States so we were all stoked for him! Go Frenchie! After that was the DH speedtrap which had the most participants with 34 racers. Everyone had 2 runs each. The Austin Longboard Club and TX Baked Longboard Crew came out to bomb the hills with the wigglers. Needless to say the St. Louis Dagger JBH took first on a borrowed board! He clocked in at 41mph. The next day was Hybrid and Tight slalom which was at Marble Falls which is like 40 minutes away from the hotel. We stopped by The Blue Bonnet Cafe which was delicious. Portions that are way too big, slices of bacon bigger than anything and Texas toast that was like a good inch and a half thick, I love it!!! We finally get to the hill and the inevitable happened again... but this time it only drizzled for a little bit and then it was nice and sunny for the rest of the day. Hybrid was rad and competative although there was some headwind here too. The Pros were up first and youngster ColoRADo skater Joe McLaren beat out Jonathan Harms for 1st place. I think they had to race a couple of times because of timing problems but they were straighted away. Ams class was also fun, Floitgraf barely edge out Austin's own Ryan Smith for 1st place. Wahoo's came out on Sunday too to provide the racers with some grub before we started TS. Tight slalom was pretty..well... tight. The finals for the pro was Zak Maytum and Chris Barker. Cbark took the first round but Zak took the second just enough to barely beat Cbark by 0.017! I kinda struggled with the TS course but I had fun regardless. The end of the day we head back to Wahoo's for the Award ceremony and hanging out. This was one of the best Sizzlers I have been to!!! Too much stoke to go around. I want to thank The Texas Outlaws for working so hard to put on the event, working with the city, scouting hills, thanks to Dan Gesmer for running the timing for us!, thanks to the Mayor for his support, thanks to all the people who came out, Mollica, COSS dudes, Keith Hollien, JBH, Cat, Frenchie!, Topsider, the Outlaws and the Texas longboard crews that came out. A BIG thanks to all the SPONSORS! Jordan and Wahoo's Fish Tacos, Pavel, Fullbag (Thank you for your support!!), Skaterbuilt, Seismic, Radikal Racing Trucks, Longboards by Fatboy, Subsonic, Texas Longboards, Khiro, Pressure Drop Longboards, and Daddies Board Shop and The City of Austin and Marble Falls!!! Thank you everybody for making it an event to remember!! Sorry if I missed anybody or missed anything.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 08 April 2008 )