The Festival of Sugar
and Love 9
Downhill
Skateboarders from all over the Hawaiian island’s gathered on February 25th
and 26th for the third and final event of the 2016 – 2017 Hawaii
Winter Outlaw Series season. As always, closing it off with a bang was the
Festival of Sugar and Love 9. Can you believe it’s our 9th year?! Time flies when the vibes are good and the
crew your working with is even better!
This festival
followed the same format as we have been running it the past few years, a race
on one day with a day long freeride on the next.
On Saturday morning
we all gathered at the loop, which is our freeride venue and campsite crammed
into one epic mountain top park. We did some mellow skating and some hardcore
cruising as we waited for all of our racers to show up and get signed up.
At just about 11am, everyone was signed up so we drew heats and headed for the race hill… THE SCORCHER.
If you’ve never herd
of The Scorcher, it’s probably the gnarliest race course we’ve ever had on the
series circuit. Under a mile long, 3 back to back hairpin turns completed with
some of the worse/best pavement around… cracks, grass, huge holes you can’t
roll over and some w concave in the road. But every year we race this hill the
skill level ups itself again and again making these factors look minor.
When arriving to the
race hill, I pulled out a broom for racers to clean what they wished to clean, then practice runs began. From the very first run on the hill all skaters were
looking fast and confident for how nervous they sounded to be skating the
hill. Though runs were clean, everyone
kept fairly spread out. Round 1 will be a whole new game when both riders want
to be down the hill first.
After about 5
practice runs everyone was looking too comfy which means it’s race time!
We refreshed
everyone’s memories on who’s in their heat and we started up the hill. In true
Scorcher tradition we let each heat choose when they want to go, what their
start method would be and if there would be any special side rules. Once
everyone was geared up and ready to go, round 1 was ON.
It seemed like the
Scorcher veterans were the ones anxious to get on the hill and get it over with
while the first timers waited till the last possible chance to go.
Round 1 was pretty
intense! Close racing, multiple passes within each run with hardly any crashes.
After back to back
demonstrations of insane skateboard racing and a handful of racers eliminated,
we were down to our final 6 racers.
Past series champion
Zach Newman vs 2 time Scorcher champ Dante Alston, Big Islands Brian McOuat vs
Scorcher first timer Justin Marriot, and another past series champion Dakota
Camp vs another Scorcher first timer Kawai Marks.
To make things a
little more exciting, Maui’s Zach Newman and Dakota Camp are currently tied for
first with a 1st and a 2nd under their belts after the
first two events…AND Brian McOuat is closely following in 3rd. SO,
if Zach and Dakota both make their heats, our final will determine the series
champion. If Zach and Dakota both loose and Brian makes his heat, he will be
the champion. If they all loose we will have a side race for the overall title.
This round is going
to be good!
First up was Brian vs
Justin.
Both riders had solid
starts, Brian getting in front going into the first hairpin. Both riders grip
right through it and start into the steep straight. Brian held his tuck
straight into a big frontside drift, Justin was closely behind sliding
backside. Brian felt the pressure and tried to link up, but the Scorcher
pavement just wouldn’t let him causing him to slide out on the exit of the
turn, BUT Justin couldn’t hold on either crashing into him. They both quickly
get up and grab their boards, Justin getting his feet back on his board first.
Brian jumps on right in back of him going into the last turn, but couldn’t make
it back in front. Justin takes the win.
Next up is Dakota vs
Kawai.
Again another clean
start to both riders gripping through the first corner, coming into the steep
straight in front is Scorcher first timer Kawai. Both regular footers tuck hard
into big, fast backside drifts. Kawai cleanly links to the inside, then so does
Dakota. Back into their best tucks going into the last left. Both riders throw
tiny predrifts into the corner and rail right through the bumps, cracks and
grass. Holding the lead till the end was Kawai.
Now its Zach vs
Dante.
Clean, fast starts.
Riders are within a foot of each other in the first left. Dante gets the lead going
into the steep straight, but Zach s right in his bubble. Both regular footers
hit one hand backside drifts, Dante links clean to the inside but Zach
struggles to link causing him to go a little wide and loose speed. Dante kept
clean through the last corner coming out on top.
Our top 3 for the
final round is now 2 time winner Dante Alston along with the two Scorcher
virgins Justin Marriot and Kawai Marks. All Oahu shredders.
This also means Brian
is set for the overall series 3rd place title, AND we still have a
tie for the over all series champion. Zach and Dakota will be going head on
head to see who takes the title.
We gave racers a
quick break and let the final three decide if they wanted one, 3 man heat or
multiple heats, round robin style.
In true Scorcher
fashion, the final 3 racers wanted to keep things interesting with a 3 man
final.
Now we have our
Scorcher finalist as well as our top two series point’s racers at the top of
the hill.
First down the hill
will be our Scorcher 3 man final.
3, 2, 1… the 3 riders
are off falling into a single file line during the first turn. Dante in front,
followed closely by Kawai and Justin not far behind. Coming down the straight
Dante held his tuck into his drift while the following two racers stood up to
manage some speed. Dante links his drift clean giving him a nice lead coming
out of the corner. Kawai links in pursuit of Dante while Justin slid out. Dante
keeps clean going into the next turn, BUT Kawai looses it on one of the many
features of the hill and jumps off his board. He got back on quickly but Dante
was gone!
Dante takes the win
at the Scorcher for his 3rd time!
Scorcher newcomers
Kawai and Justin get 2nd and 3rd.
Now its time for the
Hawaii Winter Outlaw Series Championship title race.
Two Maui boys.
Zach Newman vs Dakota
Camp.
Boom. Heat has
started and both of these guys want the win, but Zach gets the font position
going through the first left. Coming down the straight both riders are
committed, not moving a muscle until both of them throw their long, one handed
backside drifts. Zach goes to link, but his wheels continue to sugar a little
while Dakota links to the inside. On the exit of the right Zach is going pretty
wide, giving Dakota a chance to pull up side by side going into the last left.
All the spectators could hear at this point is Zach and Dakota laughing having
the time of their life… and not to mention the heat of the season! As they
start to drop into the last left, Zach takes a little wider line but stays in
font, while Dakota dips to the inside right behind Zach. The finish line is in
sight and the racers are within a foot apart of each other in the corner when
Zach hits a crack with some grass growing out of it! Dakota responds quick and
dips even more inside to avoid him and crosses the finish line in 1st
making him our 2016 – 2017 Hawaii Winter Outlaw Series champion.
His partner in crime
Zach Newman in 2nd and Big Island’s Brian McOuat in 3rd.
Following the race we
got in a little more freeride time on the racecourse then headed back to the
loop for a night of skating, camping and good times.
The following morning
we took our time to wake up, we know skaters aren’t good in the mornings…
especially after a night of partying, plus we are already on the freeride hill!
Coffee was consumed,
breakfast was scarfed and wheels were beginning to turn for the second day of
the Festival of Sugar and Love.
This year instead of doing a set 1 hour judge jam session in the past, I threw
together a checklist of things to get done through 4 hour period. This made
things a lot more mellow, yet a lot more fun!
The checklist
consisted of 5 point, 10 point, 15 point and 20 point tasks to get checked off.
5 pointers were easy
things like do a slide, skate a dirt line, do a slappy, find a lilikoi and
such. The 10 pointers got a little harder… fs&bs 360 shuv it slides, pick
up a chicken, skate off the wall into the turn and a bunch of others. Then the
15 pointers started getting challenging with things like switch body varial no
comply slide, fs 360 no comply slide, crail blunt slide, and pick up a pig. And
finally the 20 pointers had things like hike the whole look, best filmed trick,
longest slide and most importantly not getting in trouble all day.
Once the checklists
were passed out, the jam was on!
Lots of riders got
straight to checking off points, while others took their time.
There was nothing but
good vibes in the air.
As time passed some
skaters were banging out every easy thing they knew they could do on the list,
while others challenged themselves to go for the harder things on the list.
Though the format made things relaxed, there was still a lot of strategy
involved in what things you chose to do.
As the skate time
started coming to an end, everyone was putting in work to pump out what they
could.
“1 minute left!”
“ 30 seconds!”
“LAST TRICK!”
And its finished!
Riders calculated
their points, compared the clips they stacked and turned in their checklists.
After getting a
little rest time in and pulling out all the schwag for the skaters, it was
award time.
Taking home the win
with 370 points was multiple time FOSAL winner KJ Nakanelua. In 2nd
with 230 points was Billy E and rounding off the top 3 was Big Islands Brian
McOuat with 225 points.
Thanks to our AWESOME
supporters all race winners, freeride winners and series winners got decked out
with a whole lotta gear and a little bit of cash.
Not only did the
winners take home gear but also every skater in the event took home a prize or
two.
BIG MAHALO to all of
the skaters and supporters who helped us complete another successful Hawaii
Winter Outlaw Series. You guys are keeping the vibes alive on the islands, I cant
thank you enough.
You better believe
that we will be back as always next year, and it’s a big year for us. The event
that was the first of the series that led to all of this, The Festival of Sugar
and Love will be having its 10 anniversary!
You won’t want to
miss out.
We will see everyone
next winter for another Hawaii Winter Outlaw Series!
The Scorcher 7 Results
1st – Dante Alston
2nd – Kawai Marks
3rd - Justin Marriot
The Festival of Sugar and Love Freeride Results
1st - KJ Nakanelua
2nd - Billy E.
3rd – Brian McOuat
2016 – 2017 Hawaii Winter Outlaw Series Overall
Results
1st – Dakota Camp
2nd – Zach Newman
3rd – Brian McOuat
2010 – 2011 Series
Champion – Mackenzie Yoshida
2011 – 2012 Series
Champion – Mackenzie Yoshida
2012 – 2013 Series
Champion – Nikko Kamanuwai
2013 – 2014 Series
Champion – Dakota Camp
2014 – 2015 Series Champion – Zach Newman
2015 – 2016 Series Champion – Dakota Camp
2016 – 2017 Series Champion – Dakota Camp
-Mackenzie Yoshida.
