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Madison County Gravity Fest
IV, Munnsville NY Sept 31st
2005
Reported
by Richard
Hodkinson.
Photos by Dave
Auld.
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EVENT
A
marvellous event from Dr No, MCGF IV had hot
weather and fine skies. TWO days, an inclusive race
format, with beginner and am luge on Saturday am,
pro buttboard Saturday pm, am luge and funny thing
like bikes and dirtsurfers on Sunday morning, and
Pro luge on Sunday afternoon. Added to this was a
bucket race on Saturday morning (I missed this so
somebody else ought to describe it), and Extreme
Buttboard, which was a supermass buttboard race,
last thing on Sunday (so, AKA Sunday Mass). Cash
prizes were also augmented by the "rider
participation" system where if 3 or more riders
give $25 to the kitty, GSI will match the pot and
distribute prizes among those people according to
their final race position.
Food
was plentiful and often free, water also was
provided trackside, which one might think should
happen at all races. The welcome from the town of
Munnsville, NY was unparalleled, and we ought to
encourage more places to take ownership of their
summer entertainment events! The local lawnmower
company, Ferris, sponsored much of the event, for
which we are very grateful. Notwithstanding, it was
the efforts of the entire town which made this race
so special. There was also an agricultural show
down the road which sadly we were too bsy racing to
see, but which provided a steady stream of
spectators, of whom there were hundreds, and they
cheered, too! Brenda, Smokin' Joe's Canadian
girlfriend and mother of the absent Freakshow Tim,
renamed Beagle to Beavis by mistake, which one wag
logically noted would entail his new full name to
be Beavis Jargle, an excellent Hitchiker's name if
there ever was one. Bob Schwartz brought his jet
luge, petrol tank included, and even demonstrated
it, though he didn't actually run it down the hill.
There are pictures (chris) of Neil fallig over
backwards in his race organiser's chair as well.
Oh, and Richard Hod missed his flight from LA, had
to take a red-eye to Newark, driving up 280 miles
in the morning from 9am (event starts at 7am on
Saturday) and arrived about 30 minutes before the
buttboard race was due to start.
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COURSE
The course is
long, perhaps between one and two miles, not that
steep, but long straights, with top speeds of
60mph. Long straight (?1/4 mile?) into a sweeping
right, a short straigt (200 yards, perhaps) then
turn two, a wide braking left-hander with suspect
camber, and after a long long undulating straight,
a dive into "Crash Corner" a sharp right corner
with decreasing radius turning into an immediate
wide but significant left hander, with a gentle
slope down to the finish 1-200 yards further
down.
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RACING
Final event on Sunday. Sadly no Dean (he only in
cash-prize races), but the run was rather fun and
eventful. 9-wide at the start with little Ashleigh
behind us, paddling was definitely cramped! Down
the first straight was mayhem with people jockeying
for position and space to pass, Hod was knocking
left into Tom Whalen ahead trying to get space
between Whalen and another rider on the RHS.
Happily receiving a knock from behind Hod realizes
he's too side for the gap, but if he puts his hand
on the stomach rater than hold the buttboard, he
can just squeeze through the gap. So he does, and
then runs down McBride on the straight before turn
two, and then Smokin Joe on turn two as Joe -
already an excellent buttboarder - overbrakes it.
Chris McBride overtakes Joe somewhere, after that
too, and perhaps he'll tell it
Prizes for this event wre donated by Kebbek and
by Tim Novak, who gave places 2-4 a brand new
buttboard deck. The winner receives (soon) a
custom-built buttboard by Chris Chaput, kitted out
with Randal R-IIs, Biltin Bearings , and
ABEC-11 Grippins, the new 70mm centreset wonder
wheel.
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Extreme Buttboard, AKA Sunday Mass:
1. Richard Hod
2. Chris McBride
3. Smokin' Joe
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Darren
Lott ©2005
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