Switzer, Davies & Lally Win Maryhill!!!

Goldendale, WA, USA - On a day that must be considered the craziest in the history of the IGSA, Patrick Switzer battled the elements to win the 2009 Maryhill Festival of Speed.  Throughout the day, the weather was constantly changing from sunshine to strong winds to pouring rain and back again.  This cycle occurred no less than six times through the day.  Douglas Silva from Brazil finished in 2nd and James Kelly was 3rd.  Rounding out the top six were Nathan Lang in 4th, Mischo Erban in 5th and Scoot Smith in 6th.

Click through for Women's and Luge results.

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Brianne Davies Three-peats!!

Brianne Davies shows off her $750 check for 1st place.  Photo John Ozman

 Brianne Davies continued her domination of Women's Downhill Skateboarding with a convincing win at Maryhill.  Davies was the #1 qualifier and l won all of her heats enroute to her victory.  She looked set to have a good battle with her arch rival Katie Neilson who qualified in the #2 position, but Katie injured her foot in a crash and was unable to give a serious challenge.

Finishing in second was Dominique Vukorep who is having a great first season of downhill skateboard racing.  In third was Glenna Evans and fourth was Glenna Evans.

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Lally Sweeps the Weekend in Streetluge!

 
Andy Lally wins the Street Luge Final.  Photo John Ozman

Auto racing star Andy Lally had a rare week off so he decided to spend the week resuming his luge career at Maryhill.  #1 qualifier Matthias Lang from Germany and Lally first battled it out in Qualifying and on Sunday, they resumed their fight.  Lally sailed through the race winning each of his heats by a considerable margin.  Lang on the other had took it easy in all of his race heats doing only what was needed to advance to the next rounds.

Lang had broken his ankle at World Cup Round #3 in Padova, Italy and is still nursing it back to health.  The last thing he wanted to do was push it too hard in the rain and crash.  He had also opted out of Saturday's King of the Hill race for the same reason.  In the Semi Finals, Lang's conservative approach paid off.  Mike McIntyre had been fast all day.  In Semi #1 it was Lang, Christopher Hicks, McIntyre and Louis Bouchard.  McIntyre and Hicks both went out quickly but suffered crashes on the wet track.  Bouchard and Lang took a more conservative approach and earned a place in the finals.

In Semi-Final #2, it was Lally, John Rogers, Charles Lavoie and Bob Ozman.  Lally rode fast and precisely to a wire to wire victory.  Coming into the last corner John Rogers was second and Lavoie a close third.  Rogers spun out enabling Lavoie to transfer to the final.  Ozman also went past to finish third.

In the Consolation Final, Rogers earned the victory and 5th place.  McIntyre finished in second, Hicks 3rd and Ozman 4th.
 

 
Once Matthias was in the final, his conservative approach was thrown out the window.  He was the two tie defending Maryhill Champion and had set the all out track record on Saturday at 3:01.908.  Lang wanted the three-peat.  He took off fast and into the lead.  Lally was close on his tail and stalked him the entire way down the hill.  Coming off Seismic Cowzer Corner, Lally was in his draft and got a run.  He found a dry stip of pavement and there ws nothing Matthias could do as Lally went sailing by.  He completed the pass just before the final corner and then rode on to victory.  Lang had to settle for second with Bouchard finishing a close 3rd.

In Classic Luge, the riders used the GP Format.  For the first two runs, all the riders who qualified in odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, etc) were placed in one heat and those who qualified in even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, etc) were place in the other.  Two large heats of 11 riders each were sent down the hill.  Riders were then gridded up for their second runin the order of finish.  Those who finished in the top 5 on their second heat went on to the winners bracket.  Those who finished 6th or lower went into the Consolation bracket.

For the first heat of the Final and Consi-Final, the riders were placed into the bracket by their finishing positions of run #2.  Their finish positions in the first run of the finals determined ther grid position for the all important 4th and final run.  How each rider finished at the end of the 4th run would determine their final placement in the race.
 

 
The class was filled with riders who were crossing over from Downhill Skateboarding including Jon Huey, Adam Yates, Billy Meiners, Andreas Johnson, Katie Neilson and Open Downhill Skateboarding winner Patrick Switzer.  With lots of fun racing and simplicity, the class is gaining a lot of popularity.

Street Lugers Andy Lally and Louis Bouchard finished 1st and 2nd.  Adam Yates in his first ever Classic Luge race finished 3rd.

 For all the final standigns and points, go to IGSA's site.

Big John Ozman is the Volcano

Silverfish Longboarding.com supports all forms of skateboard racing and especially the Maryhill Festival of Speed.  If you're racing we have two things to say:  wear proper gear and put together photos & a report so other skaters around the world can pick up on some of your stoke!  See you out there!