Chris & Jono thinking about a move

Photo by: Tish Gorman

USAIRS Kickoff: Stops One and Two for New Race Series

By Tish Gorman

What has Speed Skating done to anger Mother Nature? It never fails – hold an outdoor skating meet in south Florida in January and it’s like an open invitation for "MOM" to do her worst. The week before the Palm Beach Challenge was 80 degrees and the week after the tournament was also in the 80’s, but the weekend of the competition, temperatures dropped into the 50’s and it rained. Luckily most of the rain had passed by Sunday night when the skaters moved from the indoor competition to Brian Piccolo Park to begin the first event in the USA International Racing Series.

Brian Piccolo Park is a wonderful facility sponsored by Broward County Florida. The park boasts a cycling velodrome that also includes a 200m-banked track for skaters. The newest addition to the park is a skateboard/aggressive skate and BMX park just adjacent to the velodrome. The park is always humming with activity. Although the skating track is not the normal parabolic track favored by FIRS for competitions, it provides a wonderful opportunity to practice international style race strategy.

Many skaters didn’t come prepared for the chilly weather on Sunday night. Plenty of hotel blankets and other makeshift warmth apparel were in evidence. The chilly weather didn’t chill down the enthusiasm of the skaters. 25 World Class men, 11 World Class ladies and more than 50% of the indoor racers in all age divisions came to hotly contest the distances on the track. Team Pines and SuperWheels showed up in force, bringing some of their young Colombian guests to spice up the competition.

The most hotly contested age divisions were the middle age groups. The 9-10 year old boys division held four national champions, while the 11-12 year old boys showed us that even the little ones are learning about teamwork. The 13-16 year old boys sported the largest division after pro men – needing four heats for the short race.

For the 9-10 year olds, Team Florida’s Donald Saltmarsh, Southern Speed’s Leif Bisping, and the Martin brothers from GT Speed battled it out with no single skater dominating the races. Leif Bisping showed what long legs and fast feet could do with the sprint on the banked-track, coming in first for that distance with Donald Saltmarsh and Chance Martin not far behind. But the long distance was another matter with Dillon Martin taking the gold, brother Chance the silver and Steven Canon the bronze. The split continued on the road with Leif repeating for the gold on the short, but Dillon winning gold on the long race.

In the 11-12 age group, GT Speed’s Dallas Hebert and UTV’s Rushton McCormick, both members of the Mohema junior team, showed excellent teamwork in the younger age divisions, but Eric Emanuel from Team Florida put his own stamp on the races and was the upset winner in the long race on the road. He was able to hold overall for second behind Dallas while Rush took third.

In the 13-16 age group, it was a battle between Patricia Botero and Jennifer Ibarra, for first place. Botero appeared to be a better sprinter, while Ibarra had the endurance. They traded one-two placements during both the track and the road races with Botero coming out on top. For the men in this age group, it was a three way battle between Jordi Montegue from Stardust, Kevin Pearsall from Rolling Warriors and Greg Gorman from GT Speed. All of these guys claimed a gold in one race. In the end, however, it was consistency in all the races that placed Montegue at the top of the leader-board for the first two legs of the series.

The World Class division contained much of the talent from the 2005 USA World Team and many other skaters who will be in close contention at this year’s Outdoor Nationals.

Jilleanne Rookard claimed 3 golds and two silvers to put in first place. Amber Yarborough showed how the consistency factor benefits a skater. Although she did not win a race, she had 2 silvers and 4 bronze medals, which placed her in second place for the first two legs of the series. Brittany Bowe skated only four out of six races due to prior commitments, but was able to collect three golds and a silver before having to leave the competition. She will definitely be a force to be reckoned with in Tampa.

In World Class for the men, Team Labeda, in their new purple and silver uniforms, fielded a large group of competitors. With Steven Carter and Josh Wood leading the team, they worked together and kept the pace high in many of the longer races. However, Joey Mantia, skating for Powerslide, showed that he has not taken any time off during the normally slow winter months. He dominated the racing on both road and track and never lost a race. Sebastian Cano was amazing on the track, showing that practice at Brian Piccolo Park definitely makes perfect. Sebastian could not be dropped and collected two silver medals, while Christopher Creveling took the other silver on the track. On the road, Jono Gorman claimed two silvers just behind Mantia, and Bret Whitman was the surprise winner of the final silver. Bret has just returned to inlines after extended time off. Eddie Alvarez, crossing back from his ice training, competed this year for the first time in the World Class division. Although he took a nasty fall, he showed true grit in continuing the racing and doing very well. He will definitely be a factor as he matures.

Technology has become a big part of the inline skater’s world. It used to be that you would NEVER change wheel sizes, frame length and frame type without much meditation and consideration. However, in the past two years, the wheel and frame manufacturers have provided us with so many different choices, that in order to have an edge, you may have to change equipment depending on the type of race. Several skaters started out on 4 x 100mm wheels, but switched to 5 x 90mm. However, the interesting thing at the Palm Beach Challenge is that there was no clear dominating wheel and frame setup. Skaters skating on the 5 x 84mm were keeping up with the 5 x 90mm in the longer races on the highly curving road course. The 4 x 100 frame was not the clear favorite on the track, as leg speed seemed to be more important than roll. This was true for all age divisions, however. We noticed that Donald Saltmarsh wore 4 x 90mm wheels, Chance and Dillon Martin were on 4 x 84mm and Dallas Hebert was skating a 5 x 92mm frame. Of course, if you ask any of the skaters, they will have their favorite, but it is obvious that changing frames and wheels for the type of race does not hold the taboo that it once did.

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