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March 8 + 9, 1997
by CyberWill

USASA Slalom Race and Slopestyle at Homewood

Saturday, the morning's weather started warm and got even warmer as the sun rose into the cloudless sky. There was almost no wind and the temperature got into the mid 50s. A little warm for racing weather. The race course was pretty steep and East facing. The snow was still firm for the 1st run, but did soften a bit for the 2nd. The courses had good flow and held up well for the 53 competitors. They ran booth runs went smoothly with only a 45 minute break in between and had the awards and raffle by 3:30. The course setter had no problems with the management getting up the hill early to get things running. Everything was going too well. All the banners were put away and the race times were being tallied. Mean while there was some trouble in the terrain park on the backside of the mountain. It seems that some words of warning to some people on the blindside of a table, were returned with insults. I was not there, but word has it that the situation escalated to violence. 17 year old Cameron Beck had to be sledded down the mountain and taken to the Hospital. One of the older men was taken away in handcuffs. The eye witnesses were raving about how 1 or more of these older men (with wives standing by) were kicking the 17 year older in the head with ski boots while he was down; all the while threatening that the next kick to his head could be his last. I have traveled to many North American resorts and occationally been treated unjustly for how I look and/or dress. But Home Wood is the last place I would expect anything like this to happen because it is one of the most friendly places I've been. It was just plain unfortunate that all these peoples time lines came together on this day. I will keep you up to date on the legal prodecing as soon as I get word of them.

ambulance
Cameron had to be taken away in this vehicle.


This guy was taken away in the patty wagon wearing handcuffs.

Oh yea, there was a race. Rocky Allen in the open class had the fastest run and fastest combined time. Kyle Frankland took 1st in the master men division and 2nd overall. Bill Smaine placed 2nd in the master men and 3rd overall. Lisa Odynski placed 2nd in the open class (!!!), 1st overall, and had the 4th fastest time of the day. Michele Brach placed 1st in the master women and 2nd overall. Sanae Iijima took 2nd in the master women and overall. Jeff Ching took 1st in the legend men over myself (2nd), closing the gap for one of the many points races to get to nationals.
For complete results and information about coming events (like Nationals) check out the NorCal/Nevada section and the USASA web site.
Sunday, everyone was glad to see that Cameron was there. He was limping and wearing a neck brace; but with the help of Advil he was still ready to compete. Mother Nature gave us another clear day as the sun rose. There were some high clouds in the afternoon, but the sun still shined through and warmed the day nicely. There was little or no wind, so waiting for your turn was toasty with the 97 competitors having to take 2 runs each. Anybody that brought some water was your new buddy. There was some delay getting started due a needed adapter for the CD player. Once they got it going, they kept on going with only a short yellow snow break for the judges in between runs. This was the last regoinal contest of the year to get points to qualify to go to nationals. There were many close points races for a limited number of slots that were decided on this day. The story of the day involved Cameron Beck again; he won the junior men division and got 1st overall. Cameron and Tai MA of the senior men division were tied (for the days overall) on their 1st run. Tai collected the same score again for his 2nd run to give him 1st in senior men and 2nd overall (plus a wildcard slot). While Cameron nailed a 900 (as part of a sloid run) to take it all and qualify for Nationals. Tom Collins did not have the qualifiers list and wildcard list because that was being worked out right then; so I can not report on who is going to nationals, but he should have that and all the rest of this years results posted soon at the NorCal/Nevada section of the USASA web site. The last run was after 2pm, so the awards and raffle did not start until after 4pm. Some of the usually very nice Home Wood staff were pushing the stragglers out the door before we were done with all our business of deciding who was going to get the few wildcard slots. You might want to check out the USASA web site during the week of the nationals (March 25-30) to get daily reports on the action. Tom Collins, some NorCal regulars, and myself will be posting articles, any news worthy events, and results every evening.


Tai MA

Junior Men


Cameron Beck took 1st in junior men and 1st overall.

Senior Men


Tai MA placed 1st and 2nd overall.
Sean Tedore collected 2nd and 3rd overall.

The following are 1st place finishers in their divisions.

Open Class

Ryan Burtech

Breaker Boys

Gioncorlo Laverde

Breaker Girls

Sarah Myers

Ruggie Boys

Roger Carver

Ruggie Girls

Elena Hight

Grommet Boys

Keelan Gardiner

Menehune Boys

Chris Demolski

Legend Men

CyberWill (that's me, your tireless [tired] reporter)

Legend Women

Donna Vano

Master Men

Paulino Barron

Master Women

Sanae Iijima

Senior Women

Susan Martin

Junior Women

Darion Thorp

Youth Men

Stefan Clausen
For complete results and information about coming events (like Nationals) check out the NorCal/Nevada section and the USASA web site.
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Created: 3/8/97 Updated: 3/20/97