Phillips and Naude Lead Qualifying
Glen Phillips on his way to qualifying #1 Images: Sharon Le Grange
Fair Cape, South Africa- Early morning rain greeted all the riders on the first day of the Fair Cape Downhill Challenge, the first event of the year for SAGRA. What was the talk of the week amongst all the riders was how the weather was going to play and as the weather report forecast, it rained for the better part of the morning.
Anton Pratt put in a strong run to qualify 2nd.
Fair Cape is the fastest racing hill in Cape Town and with perfect conditions riders can reach speeds over 100 km/h (62 mph), unfortunately due to the NW wind blowing up the coarse the speeds were kept in the mid to high 80's. None the less riders were super amped to get on the coarse and get some rad riding in. With the help of our dedicated Marshall's and the very efficient Mitsubishi shuttle, the day ran smoothly with plenty of practise runs before qualifies.
A group of skaters on a flying run at Fair Cape
Russel Naude took the top spot in both Classic Luge and Street Luge, drawing consistent runs down the FC coarse. One of the highlights of the event was the increased numbers in the Street Luge category. What was once just a three man category has now grown to ten riders and even included the first female street luger in South Africa taking the 7th spot. Well done to Russel Naude for putting the effort in and getting the numbers up in the Street Luge category.
Dave Hort qualified 5th.
As with the Street Luge so has the Downhill Skateboarding category increased in new riders. Glen Philips, who won the last Fair Cape Downhill Challenge in December 2008 beating two of the fastest riders in the world Misho Erdan and Mike Zietsman in the finals, took the top spot with a time of 1.45.0 beating his next rival Anton Pratt who got a time 1.51.0. to take the number two spot.
Riders packed on the shuttle for the ride to the top.
The weather forecast for race day is a Southwest wind and will bring a much needed tailwind down the FC drop increasing the speed, making racing tight and fast.
| Faircape Downhill Challenge 2010 | ||||
| Qualifying Results | ||||
| Downhill Skateboarding | ||||
| Pos | First | Last | NAT | Time |
| 1 | Glen | Phillips | RSA | 01:45.1 |
| 2 | Anton | Pratt | RSA | 01:50.6 |
| 3 | Richard | Dweza | RSA | 01:50.6 |
| 4 | Matthew | Arderne | RSA | 01:52.0 |
| 5 | Dave | Hort | RSA | 01:54.1 |
| 6 | Paul | du Plessis | RSA | 01:55.0 |
| 7 | Raoul | van den Berg | RSA | 01:55.6 |
| 8 | Terry | Terreblanche | RSA | 01:55.9 |
| 9 | Amin | Gray | RSA | 01:56.1 |
| 10 | Chris | Lubbe | RSA | 01:56.9 |
| 11 | Ben | Malherbe | RSA | 01:58.0 |
| 12 | Josh | Smit | RSA | 01:58.6 |
| 13 | Lloyd | Clark | RSA | 01:58.9 |
| 14 | Attila | Hery | RSA | 01:59.2 |
| 15 | Richard vZ | ??? | RSA | 02:03.4 |
| 16 | Reece | ??? | RSA | 02:04.7 |
| 17 | Gary | Africa | RSA | 02:05.8 |
| 18 | Rudi | ??? | RSA | 02:23.6 |
| Street Luge | ||||
| Pos | First | Last | NAT | Time |
| 1 | Russell | Naude | RSA | 01:37.4 |
| 2 | Waldo | Swieglar | RSA | 01:40.5 |
| 3 | Brian | Isham | RSA | 01:42.1 |
| 4 | Glen | Phillips | RSA | 01:44.5 |
| 5 | jacobus | ??? | RSA | 01:46.2 |
| 6 | Mike | ??? | RSA | 01:47.6 |
| 7 | Maryka | ??? | RSA | 01:48.6 |
| 8 | Monyani | ??? | RSA | 01:50.0 |
| 9 | Rudi | ??? | RSA | 01:50.0 |
| 10 | Duayne | ??? | RSA | 01:54.3 |
| Classic Luge | ||||
| Pos | First | Last | NAT | Time |
| 1 | Russell | Naude | RSA | 01:42.9 |
| 2 | Brian | Isham | RSA | 01:48.3 |
| 3 | Glen | Phillips | RSA | 01:55.3 |
