Sunday, July 16,2000
4 - Man Street Luge
By the extremeathletes.com staff
Qualifying
- 32 athletes compete in 8 Heats that transferred the top 2 to the Quarter - finals and 1-3 positions to the 6 -Man event
- The top 2 in each of the 4 Quarter - finals transfer to the 2 Semi - final races
- The top 2 in each of the Semi - finals transfer to the Final
The first qualifying heat saw the varmint Rat Sult take the lead and cruise to victory over Mark Meadows and legend Freestyle Surfer Christian Fletcher for third. Fletcher came out of the gate in third, (in his third ever Luge race) and surprised many of his competitors by moving on to the 6 Man event.
 Unidentified Luge athletes race down the streets of Providence |
Heat C encouraged the crowd when Slate crossed the finish line in first and the bulky Mason transferred to the Quarter - final. Rogers earned one more race in the 6-man hen he edged out Autry for third.
The fourth heat saw a typical battle between Lee Dansie, Beagle Jarvis, Pam Zoolalian and Dave Rogers. Beagle came fast into the hard right hand turn inside Lee and Dave. At the apex of the corner, Beagle had the lead until Lee pulled up aside him and Pam moved to the inside of Beagle. At the finish, Lee took the win followed by Rogers while Pam drafted by Beagle on the inside turn to the finish. She took the final transfer spot to the 6 -Man event.
Heat E showed worthy for Rob Ruhman when he won this heat and went onto the 6-Man event. The wounded George Orton rode to second and Auld claimed the third spot.
The sixth qualifying heat featured the veteran Street Luger, Biker Sherlock, who quickly garbed the holeshot down the start straight, then headed into the first turn to fast and slid sideways into the hay bales. After the first turn dismay; West claimed the win over Gachoud. Biker remounted to finish fourth, unable to qualify for either of the Luge finals.
The seventh qualifying heat entertained the spectators lining the courses at the mid-way hairpin right hand turn. Coming into the corner, Colabella held second and had Fernando in third drafting him until Colabella miscalculated the turn and ran up into the bales. Unfortunately, Fernando followed him into the bales and ran his board into Colabella body and the bales. Sokol pulled out a lead and cruised to victory across the finish followed by a distant Head for second.
The final heat, Heat H turned to be eventful when Pererya won through the sha-kane downhill while Ozman and Antuna fought for second place. In the end, Ozman went on to the Quarter and Antuna went straight to the 6 Man event later in the day.
After all eight qualifiers, the 4- Man Luge field was narrowed down to 16 athletes, paddling to the first turn to make the four man final event. Quarter A proved all Rat Sult's as Dermmelaere did all he could do to stay on his heels to claim second place. The second Quarter was won Slate who displaced Mason to second spot when Dansie and Rogers hooked up going down the hill. Qualifier C elated Ruhman when he crossed the line for victory. He was followed by Orton closely, however this win proved to be the confidence builder Ruhman would later need. The final Qualifier rewarded us with a battle between Sokol, Pererya, Ozman and Head. Sokol took the victory ahead of Head and Pererya.
In the first Semi - Final, Rat Salt pushed himself to get the holeshot and cruise to the victory. Mason crossed the line in second after a little bumping with down through the switch back section. Though this bumping wasn't anything like his qualifier, where Mason resorted to kicking a competitor in the head when he crossed his line and tried to hold him up.
The second Semi - Final was one by George Orton, who was racing with a broken hand and held up the pack across the finish line. Wade Sokol made a last minute draft pass on the finish straight to earn the last spot in the final.
The 4 Man Street Luge was Rat Salts race from the beginning. He quickly established the lead and trounced down the course while the other three athletes battled for second. In the end it was George Orton crossing for second after Sokol was held at the start and Mason crashed when he went wide into the hairpin and hit the hay bales hard. Shaken up and hurt, Mason forged through the finish and straight to the medic for some assistance.
4 Man Street Luge Results
- Rat Sult - Gold
- George Orton - Silver
- Wade Sokol - Bronze
- Tom Mason
- Rob Ruhman
- Dennis Dermmelaere
- Sean Slate
- Kurtis Head
- Oliver Wagner
- Ron West
