The weather is beautiful, traveling pro’s have set the course, locals are amped… it’s time for the The Caliber Hawaiian Death Slalom Duel. On January 14th , wheel turners from all over gathered to shred this one of a kind race course. Keeping your slides in check and keeping clean lines is the name of the game!
Team Caliber plus some extra guest’s ( Liam Morgan, Aaron Grulich, Peter Eubank, Nick Ronzani, Dave Tannaci, Christen Gregerson, Kody Noble, Matt Kinzle,) came out to session the Aina with us and get in some of the good Hawaiian vibes. While enjoying their time in the sun… they helped us set up a steep, fast, zig zaggy, course to race down. Cones were placed along a steep hill making gates racers would have to go through. The gates made it so that riders needed to have both fs and bs slides on lock, no matter if you are regular of goofy. BUT the course had a speedy finish so you had to make sure your set up wasn’t too wobbley. And to make it a little more hairy, racing was a 1 vs.1 format.
Pono C getting the hang of the course... Always with style.
When arriving to the hill the 20 or so racers were given some time to familarize themselves with the previously unseen course. The first few run’s seemed to give the skaters a hard time as everyone was trying to go full speed through the gates. After a while everyone started figuring it out, sliding nearly the whole course to keep in the gates… some riders even throwing 180s, switch slides and such because it was their fastest line.
Once everyone felt comfortable, Round 1 got started. Watching the skaters race this course was very entertaining from the start. Many strategies came into play in this race that we don’t normally see. TON’S of sandbagging from the start line in hopes that the front person would blow it. Others got out in front trying to use big carves and wide slides to block the narrow gates. After the first round of intense back to back heats, we had cut the rider pool in half… it’s time for round 2.
In round 2 the skaters had the course pretty much dialed. Tight heats with close riding and crucial passes. It was great getting to see some of our locals go up against some of the top names in the downhill game, even winning some of their heats.
This heat between Kody Noble and Kj Nananelua was INTENSE.
Making it into round 3 we have 6 Hawaiian’s and 2 Calibro’s battling it out through the cones. Peter E. takes out young gun JT in the first heat. Jeff and Cookie went back to counting cones to determine the winner. Cookie moves on taking out a couple less the “ cj kang”. In heat 3 KJ vs Maika, close racing led to a crash where KJ missed a cone… Maika finishes clean and moves on. In the last heat, Ben vs Liam M. both riders made it through their runs clean and close… Liam making it to the finish line first.
Now we are in the semi final’s and its 2 Hawaiian’s and 2 from Cali still going. In the first heat Peter E. and Cookie start off in the slower section close. Pete in front and Cookie closely behind. As they came into the steep challenging section they both slayed the course. Pete went all stand up and Cookie all hands down. But the stand up game won on this course. The second heat was Maika and Liam. The Californian got out in front keeping his lines clean with the Hawaiian doing everything he could to stay close… but it wasn’t close enough. Liam swooped the win to go into a all Cali final against Peter. The consi finals went first. Cookie vs Maika. Both riders were hitting the course with different styles from the others all day and it was rad to see them race each other. Cookie kept his hands down, while Maika chose to do stand ups half of the time. Using his in only a couple corners. In the end Maika beat cookie down the hill to take 3rd.
KJ going into the fast bottom section.
Now the finals were up, Liam Morgan vs. Peter Eubank. Both riders were close off of the start, tucking through the first section. As they enter the steep section both skaters pull perfect lines, all stand up through the cones. The end was once again full tucking towards the finish… and coming across the finish first is Liam, closely followed by Peter.
Death Slalom Champ Liam Morgan. Getting Greasy.
When the competition was done, everyone took a couple more freeride runs, cleaned up and headed to the beach for the results. The top 4 skaters were more then stoked with the tons of gear and cash they got for shredding all day. After awarding them H.W.O.S anddddd the Caliber team still had a bunch of schwag to give away! So we started doing all kinds of fun activities to give away the goods, including beach sprints. When EVERYONE who attended finally got something, we all jumped in the ocean… Pete naked… and enjoyed the rest of our day on the North shore of Oahu.
HawaiiWinterOutlawSeries Event 5 – The Calliber Hawaiian Death Slalom Duel
1st Liam Morgan 185pts
2nd Peter Eubank 170pts
3rd Maika McWayne 165pts
4th Cookie 160pts
5th – 8th Jeff, JT, Ben, Kj 148pts
9th – 16th Pono C, Toa, Mackenzie, Christen, Kody, Nikko, Grant, Aaron 127pts
17th – 24th Brandon, Matt, Evan, Mason, Keola, Eric, Nick, Roland 103pts
All photos taken by KJ's amazing mother.
Thanks to all the sponsors who made this possible!
CALIBER TRUCK CO.
Blood Orange Bushings
Loaded
Orangatang
Longboard Larry
Randal
Fireball Wheels
Rip City Skate
808 Skate Hawaii
Sector 9
WheelTurnerHawaii.com
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