Death Race 2003 – Skatelab

A slew of skaters came from all over the place to participate in the Death Race. Pros from 4 decades were among…

A slew of skaters came from all over the place to participate in the Death Race. Pros from 4 decades were among the approximately 60 riders to compete against a few additional skaters young and old, boy and girl.

The main event got started at 8:00 p.m. after a hectic 2 hours of practice. It was apparent after the first 5 riders that making the whole course was going to be a tough time. Only one of the competitors at the time had a score after 5 and 3 of them fell off on the first jump or wall ride. I made the list as an alternate at the last minute so I was in the line-up alongside tons of epic skaters.

The course outline (try to follow and I’ll go step-by-step): Take off was from the big slant from the deck of the bowl. Gain speed and jump the box (BC = between cones), then straight up the street course (BC) and to the slightly transitioned slant to wall with a cone a foot above the vert line. Go OC (OC= over cone) either way and back through the street flat BC. then Back over the box BC to the big slant wall. Go OC on the right side of the slant (and way high and over I might add) then back down again over the launch box. This then spit you out onto the lower street course level where you had to go quickly over the angled pyramid BC and up to the big transitioned quarter pipe with Pool Coping OC ( this wall saw the most action as far as tricks go). BC on flat to the tight vert wall where the OC was placed precariously near the edge. Here’s the double back BC through the flat back to the Pool Coping OC., then back BC on the top of the pyramid. BC on flat up the hump BC (This was a little off set and took some getting used to) then down the hump through the timing gates and out. Whew!

As the race was nearing the end of the first run and it was my turn to go and my nerves were playing games with me. I had seen some great runs and the best times were all within a second of each other. I would have been happy to get a timed run in on my first try, but I was jamming real fast and over carved the tight vert wall whose cone was pretty close to the edge and I ran out of riding room and had to abort the mission. On it went back through the order.

Once the times were compared the top 8 were selected to take 2 more runs to get a winner. The times were closely bunched together and the 8 (below) skaters went for it. Good thing someone brought the cow bell and gave it the true Olympic racing atmosphere because they began flying through the course and the crowd backed ’em all 100%. When the Masonite dust settled the results were tallied and the awards ceremony got rolling. The thanks were many: Skatelab, Deathbox, Osiris Shoes, Hackett and his wife, the cone kids (who had to replace a lot of cones), and the rest of the race crew. Hackett was awarded best shaka finger (broke it), and Brad Edwards was awarded best style.

It was a fine Friday night for racing.
Results:

Brian Patch 1st
Eric Nash 2nd
Jeff Budro 3rd
Brad Edwards 4th
Jesse Parker 5th
Brayhan Lopez 6th
Cabbage 7th
Tony Magnusson 8th