It has been a big week of releases from the Loaded crew in California.

Tan Tien

Arriving on Friday in the Hopshop is the 2012 Tan Tien graphic release. Currently only available in flex 2. We have no more old graphics in flex 2. There will be limited numbers of original graphic Tan Tien’s if you want to hang one on your wall or you need one for the skateboard collection.

New Dervish Sama

There is a new Dervish, her name is Sama. Release date in the Hopshop and worldwide is 28th May. You can read all about the new Dervish on our product page.  The Hop summary is: bigger kicks on the nose and tail, it is 4cm longer, half an inch wider, smaller wheelbase at 31.5 inch, griptape means no more spray on grip and an extra softer flex pattern (flex 3).

It is an awesome new deck. I was at the Loaded HQ in California in January and got to have a sneak peak and was very impressed with the development at that stage. It will be a big seller in 2012. I will definitely be buying one for my quiver. We will retire our shop Dervish and replace with the new version. If you want to try out teh new Dervish, drop into the shop at the end of May and get your steez on.

There is a sneak peak video by the two Adams below. It will definitely cheer up your day. If you have never seen the original Dervish video, watch it first to get the insider jokes.

What happens to the old Dervish?

The old Dervish will be retired, and only the Dervish Sama will be available. For the skateboard collectors out there, there will be limited numbers of the old Dervish. As we get the last of the stock, we’ll put them online. Buy them while you can. When Loaded changed the Dervish graphic last time the original graphic sold out in a week.

So much has been happening the last few weeks, Jackson slipped this one on Vimeo and I forgot to post it up.

It was a big Hopkin Racing Team tour to New Zealand. It was a lot of fun, team loved it, and we hope to do more team tours in the future.

Mischo Erban is back from Bathurst where he showed why he has the title of the fastest man in the world on a skateboard, by winning Newton’s Nation.

He will be in the Hopshop from around 2pm today. Signing a few posters, handing out speed tips and singing Happy Birthday to Lea Robbo. Yes, it is all happening in the shop. We have ice cream cake for Lea, it is also Kanufi’s birthday and the World Champion is hanging around with nothing much on! We might have to put him behind the counter to serve customers.

Drop in after school, or if you have time this afternoon, come in and say hello.

Dont forget to wish Lea happy birthday.

This is the big one. FINALS DAY!

The top 64 riders will be racing for IGSA points and ASRA cash. Mischo looks unbeatable but Batt showed that even Mischo can be smoked in a time trial. Is Dalua sand bagging and waiting for finals day to show how fast he really is? Will P Swiss run the new Orangatang protos again today? Is it Sector 9′s day or will the Landyachtz Canadian cowboys burn the hill and win all the glory?

We go live at 10am. Click on the video to get the count down.

Striker and Blackwood will be on the microphones calling all the action. Could be the biggest day in skateboard racing in Australia. You don’t want to miss a minute.

Did you see yesterday’s video? Definitely a dream come true. High quality video streamed around the world in a big enough bandwidth that everyone can enjoy and watch. Striker was awesome, he made qualifying interesting!! Striker was taking phone calls all day and text messages, all broadcast live on Youtube. If you want to contact Striker today his mobile number is (overseas) +61 405 446 477 (within Australia) 0405 446 477. Dont call too early, check the video below and make sure we are broadcasting before you start sending through messages. Today is an awesome day of racing, a triple tree, so three trees of 64 racers! Plus at the end of the day we’ll have the $1000 top ten shootout. Starting from the 10th qualifier, they get a timed run which sets the fastest time. Then 9 and 8 and so on until the fastest qualifier has a chance to beat everyone in a timed run. The fastest time gets $1000. See you on the mountain.

It happens once a year and it starts tomorrow = Newtons Nation.

It is not too late to enjoy all the weekend’s action, read on, we tell you how you can get involved.
We have a special discount code for tickets and where you can see Newtons streaming online live for the next three days!!

What is Newtons Nation?

Newtons is the biggest gravity sports festival in Australia. ASRA and Hopkin Racing are involved in organising the ontrack racing. Newtons is the second leg of the IGSA World Cup. All the best skateboard racers from around the world are in Australia and will be racing this weekend in Bathurst NSW. The start line is at the top of Mt Panorama near Castrol Tower.
Competitors will go through the Esses, Dipper and around Forest Elbow and finish on Conrod Straight. They will travel at over 95kmph and will finish a run in 1 minute! Spectators can walk the mountain and watch from almost any advantage point. All this wrapped around a festival that has music, BMX, skateboarding, Parkour, Mountain Bike downhill and so much more.

Starts tomorrow Friday 27th and goes through to the downhill finals on Sunday 29th at around 3pm.

Tickets

It is still not too late

It is not too late to get tickets and to come to Newtons Nation. We have a special discount code you can use when buying at Ticketek:

gnarly

If you use that code you get 5% off any ticket purchase.

If you want to camp at Newtons, you can buy a camping ticket at the Ticketek checkout or you can buy a space when you arrive at Bathurst.

Accommodation

If you dont want to camp, there is a recommended hotel on Conrod Straight: Rydges

I dont have an online booking code but if you mention “Newtons Nation”, if you book over the phone or in person, there should be a discounted room rate.

Ticket pricing

You can get all the details on ticket pricing at Ticketek

Here is a quick run down:

3 day pass is $136

Concession pass is $95

There are tickets for individual days like Saturday or Sunday. One of the best priced tickets is for the downhill finals on Sunday:

Adult $38

Concession – Students with ID $22.50

Family of 4 – 2 adults & 2 juniors (Admits 4) $85.00

Family of 5 – 2 adults & 3 juniors (Admits 5) $95.00

Sunday Finals

You can drive out on the day!

Maybe you can not get a day pass go to the whole festival. Or you are too young for a festival and your folks are not interested. YOU could come out for the finals on Sunday.

Bathurst is only 3 hours drive from Sydney. It is an easy drive, and not complicated.

You dont have to pre book your tickets, you can buy them at the gate but you will not get your 5% online “gnarly” discount.

Sunday is when all the real racing starts. It is the final tree of 64 of the best downhill skaters racing off for $10,000 in prize money. Starts at around 10am, so if you leave Sydney by 7am you should get to see all the racing. The finals will go on to about 3pm. If you leave then, you’ll be back in Sydney for dinner. How easy is that!!

If you get a few mates together, convince you dad to drive, you can buy one of those family tickets and get your dad and 4 mates into Newtons for less than $20 each ($95 family ticket)!! Bargain. Cheap enough for your mates to all pitch in $20 each for petrol money to sweeten the deal for your dad.

Watch it live

Newtons will be on Youtube

Can you believe it? The whole of Newtons will be web streamed 8 hours a day, for three days.

Yes you can watch it at home on your computer. It is more fun being there but if you can not make it, then watch all the action at home or at a friends house.

You could even have a Newtons party!

You can see the web stream on Youtube. There will be a link or vision on the Hopkin home page and also on Newtons website.

Hopshop is closed

Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Due to all the radness on Mt Panorama this weekend, we have closed the skateshop. Actually, everyone that works in the shop will be ASRA volunteering and running the racing on the mountain. Therefore we have no choice but close while the festival is on.

Online never closes, you can order online, and we are back in the shop on Monday.

See you on the mountain!

I know it has been a few days, but here it is.

It was an awesome weekend. The Sydney downhill scene grew up on Mt Keira. It is where the Hopkin Racing team honed their skills and introduced new riders to downhill. There has always been a dream to hold an event on this mountain. ASRA has spent nearly two years negotiating with Wollongong Council to get the event cleared and sanctioned. The commitment and dedication of a few has resulted in an amazing new track on the World Cup scene. However, all dreams need to be funded. There were three important sponsors: Ourselves (Hopkin Racing). Orangatang Wheels and Landyachtz longboards. Both those companies have gifted the Australian longboard community with a sponsorship deal that will stoke us for many years. It was a big ask and we are grateful for the support. The other people (skateboarding’s power couple) that contributed and never get a mention is John and Christine from JHS Distribution, without their generous support we would not have had the capital to run Mt Keira. These events survive on a knife edge of funding.

You want to know what happened.

When I arrived on the mountain on Sunday morning, there was carnage. The road was slightly wet from the night, and the corners were slippery. Two big crashes affected the Hopkin Racing Team. Lea went down and dislocated her shoulder, and Luca crashed and smashed the back of his helmet. He was wearing the new Predator, and I have seen the helmet, the Predator saved his life. More on that later, but Luca hit his head at the worst position, at the back, the Predator absorbed the impact, the outer layer took the force and the shell remained in tact.

As the morning progressed the track dried up. Mid morning the heats began and the racing was eye popping. What makes this track so great is the length and gradient. It is fast all the way, not too technical as you can rail all the corners with a bit of air braking, but it is long enough to create close tight races.

The only surprises in the first round was how many Australian juniors were progressing. Particularly Dejan Djukic who quickly got the Striker nickname of “mustard”. You know you have made it when Striker nicknames you! What was impressive about mustard was that he qualified for the final 64 by winning through the repechage rounds. He would only be stopped by the Arbor team riders James Kelly and Duke Degen in the quarters.

Who else kept racing all day was young gun Will Morphett. He also progressed via the repechage and got knocked out in the quarter finals. Can you imagine the nerves of steel this guy had, raced for two days to find himself in a final sixteen up against Dalua, Kyle Martin and Tony Graves.

New Zealand youngster Api also showed that our cousins across the ditch have what it takes. He also made the final sixteen but raced up against Louis Pilloni, P-swiss and Matt Kienzle and was knocked out.

The remaining Hopkin Racing team were knocked out in round two, and no shame in that. There was tight hard fast racing against the best skaters in the world. It goes to show that racing on Mt Kiera is a bit different to freeriding. One mistake or mis judgement and your out.

Every race was super competitive and Round Two was where it all happened. On a race tree, round 2 is where 16 racers do not progress and there are always big names that bow out. The Australian Round Two curse continues for Mischo. He got caught in the rough at the start and fell over on his push. He never recovered and could not catch the field. Where is that rough section? Locals secret, Mischo knows where it is now, maybe he’ll tell you or kept it for his advantage next year!

There were two hero performances within the Hopkin racing Team. That of Kelly Carter and Lea Robertson. Lea dis located her shoulder on Sunday morning. She had it gaff taped up and raced the women’s draw. Made the finals and came a board lengths away from winning on debut in an IGSA World Cup race!! It started to rain during the women’s final and on crash corner Lea had the inside opening drafting Marisa and as she dove in to overtake her board slipped out and she crashed into the hay bales. Marisa crashed too but she managed to get on her board faster and win the race.

Kelly Carter dislocated his shoulder on Saturday. It did not stop him competing in the junior round. He made it to the final. Lead into the final corner getting drafted by Jayden Mitchell, and had one small wob on his board which gave Jayden the opening to pass and win. He lost by a board length but in my mind he did not lose that race, he has just shown that even with a busted wing he is still one of the best juniors in Australia.

That leads us to Jayden Mitchell. Not much I can say, his performance speaks for itself. In the after race ASRA meeting it was generally agreed that the best racer of the event was Jayden Mitchell. There is no award, if there was it would be Most Valuable Racer award. Not only did he dominate the juniors, he matched it with the best in the world and represented Australia in the open downhill final. The Australian scene has been watching his progress over the last 2 years. He has won a few junior races and a few outlaws. He definitely has stepped it up. He was racing on a Early prototype called Olive, another longboarders pro model, who knows, it could be released under Jayden’s name!

I was on the finish line for the finals. When it started to rain, we all yelled over the radio to the startline to start the open standup downhill final first. We thought the track would still be a bit dry but it was too late. Wet track, which resulted in a chaotic final. Most of the men crashed multiple times. It shattered Dalua’s race lines. Only Alex Tongue managed to stay up and finish first. Watch all the videos below, the racers tell the story in their own words of what happened.

It has been dry so far this week in Bathurst for Newtons Nation which starts Friday. Dalua holds the course record and he is itching for revenge. I would not be surprised if he smashes the course record and becomes the first downhill longboarder to break 1 minute on Mt Panorama.

I could write stories all day. There was excitement in every race. Thousands and thousands of people showed up and crowded the course to watch. Hopefully we have inspired one of those young locals and he or she will grow up and compete in a Mt Keira race in the future and take on the world’s best.

Thank you to the residents of Wollongong for having us in your city. We love the Gong. See you all next year.

Patrick Switzer (2nd) interview

Alex Tongue (1st) interview

Jayden Mitchell (4th) interview

Lea Robertson (2nd) and Ishtar Backlund (3th) interview

Marisa Nunez (1st) interview

The track dried out on Saturday and all the competitors came out to race and qualify fast.

For our overseas readers, the Mt Keira road we are racing on is surrounded by rainforest. It is thick cool forest that does not allow much sun on the road. Although we got sun most of the day, there are still patches on the road where it is damp. It has been a challenge not only for competitors but race organisers. ASRA struggling to keep up with the changing conditions and barely keeping up with its own timetable. However they battled through, sorted out the crowd control and finished the last repechage at 5pm.

As the day warmed up, competitors started changing wheels, from rain wheels to racing ones.

From midday, the slowest racers were on track for their second and final qualifying time. You could see people running around yelling out how much the times were improving, and racers were getting excited. It was dry and the times were tumbling. racers were improving by huge margins, 20 second improvements.

Top qualifying position kept changing. At one time it was held by a Hopkin Team rider, but the day finished with the gun gun Alex Tongue as top qualifier on 113.087. The Australians were fast, but the international riders stepped it up and dominated today. The top ten qualifiers are:

1    Alex Tongue
2    Patrick Switzer
3    Mischo Erban
4    James Kelly
5    Duke Degen
6    Torbjørn Sunde
7    Louis Pilloni
8    Cameron Kite
9    Dillon Stephens
10    Richy Hornbrook

I spoke to Mischo before his qualifying run, and he was spacing like a caged tiger. He blew his first run and was keen to make a mends. You know he will be hard to be today (Sunday) finals day.

The aussies are up there. Cam 8th. Ben Hay 12th. Yatesy 13th. Jayden Mitchell 16th. Robdog 25th. Caspian 27th. There are plenty of aussies mixed in there I have missed. Rob McWhinnie was in excellent form today. Cameron Kite showed he has all the experience to win this event today. He has freerided this hill more than most, and he knows every bump, lump and stump on this mountain.

The big news from Saturday was the juniors. In the main bracket the young Australian kids are kicking arse and taking names. Jayden Mitchell in the top twenty in a World Cup event!! Young Victorian tear away Chris O’Brien showing no respect to his elders. Kelly Carter is out with a shoulder injury after crashing with Gabe.

The juniors also handed some more experienced riders their matching orders in the days repechage. The way the repechage works is top 60 immediately qualify. The bottom 60 all race in a knock out stage to fill the last 4 places. Who were the unlucky qualifiers at 61 to 64 who would have normally qualified but now have to fight the rest of the field to make the Sunday finals?? Jonatan Lundmark,  Jack Kent, Owen Davey and Will Morphett. After 5 rounds of repechage racing – only Will Morphett survived out of the four to not only make it to the finals of the repechage but also win to claim 61st.

The last rounds of the repechage was some of the closest racing I have seen, and the crowd really enjoyed tight racing. There were a few photo finishers. Big upsets continued to roll on. OG riders were sent packing such as Jeremy Rogers, Owen Davey and Jonatan Lundmark. In another surprise was Josh Evans getting knocked out. It was Will Morphett, Jack Glenn (junior), Dejan Djukic (junior) and Mikael “kula” Jensen that all lived to fight another day in the finals today.

I will try and twitter results today. I might have time for some blog posts. Keep an eye on ASRA homepage. All live results will get published there first.