Mustache Derby Recap by Sean Graves
Recap – Sean Graves
Photos – Crystal Graves (what a tag team huh?)
The 2nd Annual Clearfield Downhill Event, themed this year as the Mustache Ride Derby, was a perfect success. Riders from all over the east coast met up in central Pennsylvania, along with 4 Canadians that made the trip. The event drew in 29 racers, roughly a dozen other skaters and at least that many spectators, all with steezy mustaches to show.
The weekend events started late Friday night when “The Canadians” arrived in Clearfield close to midnight. We spent a few hours hanging out and had a nice carpet slide session. Dmitri threw down some sick 360 shuvits, while Matt K worked on some new moves yet to be named, on a few naked decks. I think carpet sliding is going to be the next big thing. For those looking to start, a nice plush carpet works better than and area rug.
I woke “The Canadians” up early Saturday for a fun morning session. We hit up a few hills nearby. Then I headed to the County Fair mid morning with Wayne (also in Friday night from the Poconos) while they continued to ride some local runs.
As we all returned from our morning affairs… Phat Dean, Joe, and Jamie showed up. I found “The Canadians” watching some gopro footage from their session at my place. We packed up from there to meet up with other riders coming into the Lake to cookout and skate. Right before we pulled out for the Lake, the mail man brought the last prize for the race, along with a copy of Second Nature.
It was such a nice afternoon we all hung out at the Lake for a little longer than we had planned, but that left time for more skaters to get in and come out riding with us. I took everyone out to the ‘dog run’ and luckily the dog was tied up as we all bombed passed. We had a blast skating with around 15 riders. We enjoyed 4 man draft trains and lots of breezy passing.
A little after six we rolled out and headed back to the lake for some dinner and more skating. There was a big cookout, a few more riders and friends waiting down at the Lake. We had a session on the Lake hill and enjoyed some freeriding in the wide empty parking lot, as more skaters pulled in through the evening.
We headed back to my house after dark and watched Second Nature. After “The Canadians” went to bed the rest of the crowd went outside to enjoy a few beers on the overgrown jungle patio. With everyone else asleep around two… J-Raw, Anna, Pat Schep, and I ventured out to Walmart to get some food for everyone for breakfast.
The next morning when I woke up, my house was packed with people and reptiles sleeping all over the place. We had Ludo and Sylvain sleeping on the pull out couch. Pat S with Jeremy’s lizard Red Rover on the recliner, Dmitri on the love seat, Matt K on the big couch, Ray sleeping on a cot in the kitchen, Darrel at the dining room table, Anna and Jeremy in the playroom; Alex, Luke, and Jamie in my sons’ room, and my kids all sharing beds in my daughters’ room. Let’s not forget Blair who slept out in his truck in my driveway, the two snakes, tree frog, two dogs and a cat.. It was like Full House meets Dog Town and they party at the Zoo. Everyone enjoyed some coffee, doughnuts, fruit and bagels for breakfast and I headed out to meet the rest of the riders at Walmart at 9am.
Once we had everyone together we caravan-ed to the race hill.. With all the riders sorted out, we had a total of 29 racers registered. Everyone got a couple practice runs in while I got heats organized. We ran 7 heats of 4 and 1 five man heat for the first round. After the first round the top 2 advanced and the last 2 created ‘ The Other Guys Bracket.’ In that bracket King finished 1st, followed by Will, Dre, and Gordon.
From the original bracket the official semi finals was made up of a heat with Pat S, Dmitri, Rob M, and Ludo. As that heat went off, Matt K ran out and spanked Pat S so hard in the ass he was knocked off his board. The other three riders did not hear us yell to stop and they continued on their way down the hill with Rob M winning the heat, passing Dmitri and Ludo like ‘The Flash’ in the final turn. The other semi final was Andrew, Matt K, myself, and Wayne. Since Pat was knocked off his board, I decided that he could ride with the second heat and 3 would advance.
As we came around the final turn four wide, Wayne and I ran out of room and Wayne took me into the guard rail. The crash looked a lot worse than it was, as I was wrapped around a pole and my ankle was stuck between Wayne’s truck and board. I escaped with a little road rash and a nice head ache. Wayne was lucky to be wearing his leathers. He left a nice long streak on the hill and the guard rail took a big bite out of his board.
Because so many things went wrong in the semi finals I made the executive decision to let everyone try again! This time both heats went down without a problem and Dmitri, Ludo, Matt K, and I went on to the finals. In the consolation heat Rob M finished 1st followed by Pat S, Wayne, and Andrew.
In the finals everyone pushed out right next to each other and as we came around the top turn it was Ludo in front followed by Matt K, myself, and Dmitri. As we came into the start of the S turn Dmitri and Matt passed Ludo on the outside and were able to take a nice line into the final turn to finish 1st and 2nd. With Dmitri and Matt forcing Ludo to take an outside line into the final turn, I was able to best Ludo at the line to finish 3rd.
The event turned out to be a great success with everyone enjoying a great number of runs down the hill and we only had 2 cars interrupt the entire event. As everyone gathered at the top of the hill we gave out prizes to ‘The Other Guys Bracket’ and then awarded the best mustaches. There were a lot of sweet ‘staches on the hill, but Phat Dean stole the show in the real ‘stache contest. Since he wouldn’t take a prize I had him pick the ‘Real Mustache’ winner Pat Schep. Andrew Boreland won the fake ‘stache contest with a huge blonde homemade mustache. Jeremy Ross also won a Bliss Mini for his heroic efforts in diving over my 1-year-old son as he crashed off the road.
Once all the prizes had been given out we enjoyed a picnic lunch brought along by my wife and continued to skate down the hill, as well as in the lot at the top of the hill. A good number of people brought their minis, so we were sure to enjoy a couple mini runs as well.
A great many thanks to everyone who came out to the event and made it such a fun weekend. Also thanks to my wife for dealing with all the skaters around the house and making sure everyone had a place to sleep and food to eat. Thanks to Jamie for helping me keep everything organized. Finally a big thanks to Bentley Longboards, Bliss Longboards, Phat Deanz, and Jati Boards and Rayne for sponsoring the event!
Results
1st Dmitri K
2nd Matt K
3rd Sean G
4th Ludo T
5th Rob M
6th Pat S
7th Wayne P
8th Andrew B
Crystal Graves Photos
http://s761.photobucket.com/albums/xx258/The_Pink_Files/2010%20Clearfield%20Mustache%20Derby/
Blair Caldwall Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/botofusup/sets/72157624684475078/with/4873880677/
Laura Keeney Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skunktechboards/sets/72157624582303779/
