Pumpstation is on this weekend, last event of the ASRA Conehead Cup. Due to bad weather it was canceled a few weeks ago. It is back on this weekend. Check out the ASRA website for more details. If you are in Sydney this weekend, you gotta check this event out. It is a locals only area, outlaw, but one of the best longboarding spots in the Blue Mountains. A longboarding fun park!!! You just have to convince an ASRA member to give up the location, it is worth the hassle.
This weekend it is all slalom racing, with some time out in between for longboarding.

October 17th 10am to 4pm
Official event page

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Pumpstation is a locals only area, if you are planning to come out for the day, you’ll need to know an ASRA member to get the directions. The address is not posted on the internet.

If you can not make it you can follow the action on the HopkinSkate Twitter page

ASRA calls the race Giant Slalom, but it is GS Australian style. Which means the giant part is extreme speed. The cones are places in a mixture of tight, hybrid and Giant styles. Most of the skaters will be on Hybrid boards because the course has a tight start and finish with a few bruising offsets. The middle part of the course is classic Giant Slalom, with widely spaced cones on a big fast curve of the track.

We have been working on the trophies in the Hopshop all week. This year they are special. Best of all we have found a use for all Jackson’s coned Orangatangs.

See you all at the Pumpstation on Sunday!!!!

Watching the videos, gives you an idea of what an ASRA slalom race day is all about, if you have never been. Everyone is welcome to get involved. Watch, compete, cone marshal or just heckle from the sidelines.

Dont forget to subscribe to our Youtube channel so you dont miss any of our videos. There is one video missing, we’ll post it soon. Fin vs the World Champion. That is Fin (one of ASRA’s youngest competitors) versus Ramon (the 2006 TS World Champion).

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Round 6 Fitz vs Robbo

Round 6 Blackwood vs Sterritt

Round 7 Haggy vs b-Rad

Round 7 Paul Carey vs Sean Mussett

Round 7 Paul Shaddock vs Brad Sterritt

Round 7 Dave Robertson vs Colin Beck

Round 8 Ramón Königshausen vs Nathan Paff

Round 8 Jackson Shapiera vs Steve Daddow

Round 9 PC vs Haggy

Round 9 Dave Robertson vs Paul Shaddock

Round 10 Hagbarth Strom vs Steve Daddow

Round 10 Nathan Paff vs Paul Shaddock

Round 11 Jackson Shapiera vs Ramón Königshausen

Round 12 Steve Daddow vs Nathan Paff

Round 13 Steve Daddow vs Jackson Shapiera

Championship race Ramón Königshausen vs Jackson Shapiera

Racing brackets

These are the racing tables from the day. They show the progression of racers through the rounds. Racers are seeded via qualifying times. Everyone starts in the gold winners bracket. Lose a race and a racer drops to the losers blue bracket. If they lose a race in this bracket they are out. Championship race is between the winner of the gold bracket vs winner of the blue bracket.

DONT forget to subscribe to our Youtube Hopkin Racing channel. Click on the youtube subscribe button below.

This is the first of a series of race footage we will be putting up.

The current European Champion Ramón Königshausen, lined up against the best Australia could throw at him. All of the local in-form skaters were there. Steve Daddow flew in from the Gold Coast, Jackson Shapeira confident after his ditch win the previous day, Nathan Paff from Old Bar, Paul Cary Naccos legend, Haggy Strom ex Australian Champion, and Paul “shadow” Shaddock.

Paul Carey – NACCOS legend

The format of racing was Head to Head in a two tier winner/loser bracket system. After timed qualifying, racers are put in a bracket, fastest vs slowest. Loser from each Head-to-Head race goes into the lower bracket. Winner progresses in the upper bracket. To get knocked out racers need to lose two races. First in t he upper bracket and then in the lower bracket. Eventually the two best racers on the day meet each other when the winner of each bracket met each other in the final race.

To start the days racing, one of the local juniors Fin lined up to race Ramón Königshausen. With much encouragement on the sidelines and from Ramón, Fin got pipped at the line by the 2006 World Champion.

By the second and third rounds, the true match ups were providing exciting races. All the early races were single lane races, the fastest qualifier choosing which lane they would skated in. From the 6th round, racing was dual lane, which meant competitors had to race each other twice, one in each lane with the total times combined to declare a winner.

Jackson Shapiera

Ramon met Nathan in round six and easily progressed. Steve Daddow beat Haggy. And Jackson beat Paul Cary. In the following rounds, Haggy met his match against Daddow. And Shaddow battled through the rounds only to get knocked out by Nathan Paff. In the winners bracket the two fastest racers of the day lined up to see who got the easy path into the final – Ramon vs Jackson. Ramon won, Jackson dropping into the losers bracket to race off against Daddow. A long days racing was starting to show. Cones were going down, racers were breathing a bit heavier. The hot Australian sun came out for the the final rounds to add an extra challenge. Jackson managed to beat Daddow for the right to represent Australia in the final against Ramon.

Steve Daddow

The final was a classic race that will be long remembered by everyone who watched it. Ramon was surprised at the start in the first of two runs, when Jackson burst out of the start ramp and beat Ramon to the first cone, the first time Ramon had lost a start all day. Ramon kept his composure and reeeled Jacko in, gaining time on every cone. Jackson found something extra at the end of the course and crossed the line in front by a few pixels. Neither racer knocked over a cone, it was a thrilling race that resulted in spontanous cheering from all spectactors. Australia had stood tall against Europe’s best, but was this just the beginning? Could Jackson hold on in the second race on the red cone course for a major boil over. In the second race Ramon was not going to be denied. He shot off the start and blew Jackson away at the first cone. Jackson tried to keep up but DQ trying to make up the time. His legs jelly from two days of racing. Ramon flew down the course, and won in style, with everyone cheering.

Ramon chalks up another podium win and his first of hopefully many in Australia. Everyone from ASRA hopes he gets back down here for more racing in the future.

Conehead Cup Round One Sidonia Head-to-Head 1st: Ramon. 2nd Jacko. 3rd Daddo

Format was 6 runs for each competitor. No cones down. Best time wins.

Round One of the 2009 Conehead Cup featured one of the worlds best Pro racers from Switzerland Ramón “The Fox” Königshausen. Ramón races for Airflow Skateboards was the 2006 Tight Slalom World Champion and finished 3rd overall in the Pro division of the 2008 World Championships in Sweden. Can Ramón stop Jackson on his home territory?

For anyone that does not know about Kincumber ditch, it is a storm water drain in the hills behind Kincumber on NSW Central Coast. About an hour north of Sydney, this area is blest with beautiful beaches and one of Australia’s most fun drains. Locals skaters maintain the ditch during the year, for their skating pleasure, and put on a ditch slalom once a year for everyone to enjoy. This year, the start ramps were 5 foot tall to launch skaters at speed into the drain. Below is a photo from the 2007 race, it will give you an idea of how beautiful a drain can be, set on a hill in a National Park.

After practice, the first timed run Ramón threw down a time that just amazed everyone. Racing on a small slalom board with Gog trucks, he pumped between all the ditch transitions to increase speed and set a blistering pace. Jackson Shapiera not to be intimitated stayed with the race leader posting a time 1/10 slower. For the next four rounds, the lead did not change, as everyone put in solid times and worked out how to get fast in the ditch. Ramon and Jackson were the stand out racers, posting times a half a second faster than the next two fastest racers B-Rad and Blackwood.

In the 5th round Jackson managed to beat Ramón’s best time and grabbed the lead. Not to be out done, in the sixth round Ramón posted his fastest time and gained back the lead. However in one of the last runs of the day, Jackson, on his Rayne Hustler, pulled out something special and posted a time that would win the day.

Jackson first. Ramon second. B-rad third, Blackwood fourth.

Fourth and Ninth place was separated by only 0.4 of a second.
Full results and official ASRA report see the ASRA website.

Third leg of the Conehead Cup in Canberra. It will be a huge weekend of awesome skating. Dont miss out.
Ditch slalom on Saturday. Head to Head slalom at Stromlo Bike track on Sunday.

Here are the pictures of the venue.