Last weekend in Amatas region next to recreation complex ‘’Rakši’’ an amazing downhill longboarding event ‘’Alpaca speed festival’’ was held (it was also Latvian open championships 2013)!
Saturday in wet conditions the practice and qualification promised a lot of action in speed reaching over 70 km/h. Latvian champion 2012 Gustavs Gailītis won 3rd qualification in a row in Latvian competitions fallowed by Latvian champion 2011 Jānis Jirgens. 3rd was Kaspars Balamovskis, 4th Āris Muitinieks fallowed by 3 superfast Lithuanians – 5th Lukas Kirkilionis, 6th Rytis Stankevicius, 7th Stepas Jonaitis and 8th was Latvian Ints Barkāns.
After the qualification the ‘’King of the hill’’ race was held with top4 guys from the qualification on the starting line – Gustavs Gailītis won in, leaving Jirgens in second!
Sunday was the main day of the whole event – weather was sunny and super hot & riders where ready to push the limits in 4 men heats!
Semi finals where full with surprises – in first semi final on the starting line were Gailītis, Muitinieks, Kirkilionis and Ģirts Vārtiņš. On the start Muitnieks slipped and lost few seconds that theoretically would leave him out of the big final. But thanks to perfect run in rest of the course he managed to catch and overtake Vārtiņš and also Kirkilionis and get into the final.
Second semi final was predicted to be easy for Jirgens and Balamovskis (2nd and 3rd in qualification), but everybody was surprised by Aivars Kārkliņš who managed to draft Balamovskis, finish just after Jirgens and got himself a place in the final for the first time in Latvian races, leaving Balamovskis and Rytis Stanekvicius to race in the small final (consolation round).
Final heat was super intense + it decided who will be Latvian downhill longboarding champion 2013 – after the start Jirgens was in the lead, Gailītis, Muitinieks and Kārkliņš were fallowing closely. In the last straight Jirgens managed to leave everbody behind him and regained his champion title!!!
In ladies final second year in a row Anna Gailīte managed to win over ther sister Elīza Gailīte, who won the qualification and was in the lead half the course. 3rd was Elza Volonte.
In masters group big surprise was Ints Barkāns who left the win for Latvia, leaving favourite Kirikilionis in second and Arguts Skudrēns in 3rd. Junior winner was Ernests Liepiņš.
Huge THANK YOU to lovely recreation resort ‘’Rakši’’, also thanks to sponsors ‘’Battery energy drink’’, ‘’Ripo longboard shop’’, ‘’stampa.lv’’, ‘’FULLBAG skateboards’’, ‘’NRJ reklāmai’’, ‘’ZIMTS”!
Now there will be a pause in Latvian downhill longboarding series because 3 fastest Latvians will participate in World cup event in Czech Republic, also many Latvians will go to World famous KnK longboard camp in Slovenia and of course those who ride slalom will participate in international competitions, that includes also European championships in London! So the next downhill race in Latvia will be 24-25th August in Priekuļi and after that 14-15th September in Madona. See you on the hill !
Results:
| Place | Name, Surname | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jānis Jirgens | 60 |
| 2 | Gustavs Gailītis | 54 |
| 3 | Āris Muitinieks | 48 |
| 4 | Aivars Kārkliņš | 43 |
| 5 | Kaspars Balamovskis | 40 |
| 6 | Lukas Kirkilionis (LT) | 38 |
| 7 | Rytis Stankevicius (LT) | 36 |
| 8 | Ģirts Vārtiņš | 34 |
| 9 | Klāvs Balamovskis | 32 |
| 10 | Artjoms Smirnovs | 31 |
| 11 | Erikas Jaksiboga (LT) | 30 |
| 12 | Alvils Bijons | 29 |
| 13 | Ints Barkāns | 28 |
| 14 | Stepas Jonaitis (LT) | 27 |
| 15 | Arguts Skudrēns | 26 |
| 16 | Ernests Liepiņš | 25 |
| 17 | Anna Gailīte | 24 |
| 18 | Elīza Gailīte | 23 |
| 19 | Elza Volonte | 22 |
