Latvian downhill longboarding series 2013: season recap + 2014 season calendar

Although Latvian longboarding season of 2013 started quite late because of the heavy snow, the success of the previous season of 2012, made everyone super excited of another great year of racing!

Last season, the same as previous one, consisted of 4 races in which riders raced in 4 groups – juniors, ladies, masters and Open.

1st race – Priekuļi cup 2013

Already for 3rd year in a row the racing season started on the 1st and 2nd of June with Priekuļi cup– the birth place of modern day Latvian downhill longboarding. In first day a slalom skateboarding event took place & also the qualification runs of the downhill – the first top4 spots took the same riders as in the season 2012 overall: 1.Gustavs Gailitis, 2.Jānis Jirgens, 3.Āris Muitinieks, 4.Kaspars Balamovskis, followed by Edijs Jermačenko from Liepāja (5th) and fastest guest from Lithuania – Lukas Kirkilionis (6^th).

On the main race day in junior group Kārlis Karlsons won, leaving Roberts Vitkovskis in second. In ladies group Latvian champion 2012 Anna Gailīte took first, with her twin sister Elīza Gailīte in a close second, but the third place went to Elza Volonte. In masters group (riders who are at least 35 years old) quite surprisingly Lukas Kirkilionis took the victory and fastest Latvian master rider Artjoms Smirnovs was second leaving another Latvian Ģirts Vārtiņš in third.

The main race heat was the Open final – just after the start master champion Kirkilionis took the lead, but soon Gustavs Gailitis overtook him. Jānis Jirgens and Kaspars Balamovskis tried to do the same but unfortunately crashed – final results in open group (top8):

1.Gustavs Gailītis
2.Lukas Kirkilionis
3.Jānis Jirgens
4.Kaspars Balamovskis
5.Āris Muitinieks
6.Edijs Jermačenko
7.Arguts Skudrēns
8.Alvils Bijons

Read more: Results for first race in “Latvian Downhill Longboarding Series 2013

Priekuli-1 – more pictures

2nd race – Alpaca speed festival

The 2nd race of the season was held in sports & recreation complex ‘’Rakši’’ near Cēsis city on 29th and 30th on June. ‘’Alpaca speed festival’’ was also the Latvian championship title race for 2013.

At the first day a heavy rain surprised everybody, but still there was no one who wanted to quit from the fastest race in Latvia. In qualification Gustavs Gailītis won, Jānis Jirgens was second , Kaspars Balamovskis third, Āris Muitinieks and fastest Lithuanian Lukas Kirkilionis fifth.

After super nice evening in one of ‘’Rakši’’ guest homes it was time to determine Latvian champions of 2013 – Ernests Liepiņš won the juniors, Elīza Gailīte tried her best but still Anna Gailīte managed to pass her and took the title, leaving Elza Volonte in third place for the second time. In masters Ints Barkāns in an amazing finish won over Lukas Kirikilionis and Latvian skateboarding legend Arguts Skudrēns.

In the Open final the race was tight and Jānis Jirgens regained his title from 2011. Gustavs Gailītis this time was second, Āris Muitinieks third but Aivars Kārkliņš fourth. Top8 in Open group:

1.Jānis Jirgens
2.Gustavs Gailītis
3.Āris Muitinieks
4.Aivars Kārkliņš
5.Kaspars Balamovskis
6.Lukas Kirkilionis
7.Rytis Stankevičius
8.Ģirts Vārtiņš

Read more: “Alpaca speed festival 2013″ has ended

Alpaca – more pictures

3rd race – Priekuļi cup :2nd edition

After quite a break, in which Latvian longboarders participated in Kozakov challenge in Czech Republic, in international longboard camp Knk in Slovenia as well as Ripo longboard mini camp , it was time for the 3rd race on 24th & 25th August.

The race started with ‘’speed trap’’ from Sauleskalns (Sunhill), where police radar measured the speed of riders – this time Jānis Jirgens was the fastest. After that in the downhill qualification runs Gustavs Gailītis won, with Jānis Jirgens and Āris Muitinieks fallowing close behind. But the biggest surprise was Arguts Skudrēns who took fourth spot!

In the evening at the slide contest Kaspars Balamovskis was announced the winner!

On Sunday, in a race between Latvian, Estonian, Belarus longboarders intense race heats were held – in juniors Kārlis Karlsons just by a bit crossed the finish line in front of Toms Dreiblats and Latvian champion Ernests Liepiņš grabbed third spot over Estonian rider Ņikita Izratov.

In ladies group Belarus rider Zhanna Romanovich dominated the final, while Elza Volonte got her career best finish with second place. Līga Žvingule took the last spot on the podium.

In masters his favourite status was asknowledged by Arguts Skudrēns – he won, fallowed by Ints Barkāns, Ģirts Vārtiņš & Edžus Konošonoks.

In the Open group final right after start Gustavs Gailītis took the lead with Āris Muitinieks, Klāvs Balamovskis and Alvils Bijons fallowing close behind. After some small mistakes in the first part of the race course, Gailītis lost his lead over Muitinieks – Klāvs Balamovskis tried to pass him as well but crashed, leaving Muitinieks with his first ever win in a longboard race! Top8 in Open group:

1.Āris Muitinieks
2.Gustavs Gailītis
3.Alvils Bijons
4.Klāvs Balamovskis
5.Ints Barkāns
6.Kārlis Karlons
7.Toms Dreiblats
8.Jānis Jirgens

Read more: Priekuļi cup champion – Āris Muitinieks!

Priekuli-2 – more pictures

4th race – Madona longboarding festival

The last race of the season was held on 14th & 15th September in Madona, ‘’Smeceres Sils’’ biathlon complex. The race schedule was quite rough – on first day Latvian national slalom championships where held, followed by downhill qualifications and finals under artificial lights but on second day the first skate&shoot event in Europe was held in which every rider skated a certain distance, made 5 shots on target and then skated till the finish – with every target missed, a penalty time was added!

In the downhill race riders from Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova and Belarus took part! In the qualification runs Gustavs Gailītis managed to win 5th Latvian race in a row. Lukas Kirkilionis, Marks Kiseļovs and Alvils Bijons rounded out the top4.

In the masters group final heat just like in the first race of the season, Lukas Kirkilionis was unstoppable and Artjoms Smirnovs got second over Erikas Jaksiboga.

In juniors Toms Dreiblats from Liepāja took his first win of the season with Kārlis Karlons and Ernests Liepiņš close behind.

In ladies Elīza Gailīte finally conquered first place! Second again was Elza Volonte, but Liene Bērziņa took third.

At the last heat of the season the top4 riders from qualification took part – in a closest final of the season Gustavs Gailītis won over Lukas Kirkilionis (just like in the first race). Marks Kiseļovs took the last podium spot but Alvils Bijons was best of the rest.

On the second day the skate&shoot event took place – Alberts Viegliņš and Liene Bērziņa took the top honors.

Top8 results in Open downhill:

1.Gustavs Gailītis
2.Lukas Kirkilionis
3.Marks Kiseļovs
4.Alvils Bijons
5.Kārlis Karlsons
6.Kaspars Balamovskis
7.Oleg Ramanovich
8. Einārs Lansmanis

Read more: ’Madona longboard festival 2013’’ was a success!

Madona – more pictures

After all the 4 races the season overall fastest riders were announced and on 26th October in Rīga, in pizzeria ‘’Piranija’’ the 2013 racing season was officially closed!

Seasons top Open riders:

1.Gustavs Gailītis
2.Āris Muitinieks
3.Alvils Bijons

Top3 ladies:

1.Elīza Gailīte
2.Elza Volonte
3.Anna Gailīte

Top3 masters:

1.Lukas Kirlionis
2.Ints Barkāns
3.Artjoms Smirnovs

Top3 juniors of 2013:

1.Kārlis Karlsons
2.Ernests Liepiņš
3.Toms Dreiblats

2013 season overall: Standings 2013

This year the race season without any doubt will be much bigger and much better !

Latvian downhill longboarding series 2014 race Schedule:

Warm up race – Lorupes grava, Sigulda – 11th May
1st race – Priekuļi cup, Priekuļi – 31stMay-1st June
2nd race – ‘’Alpaca speed festival’’, ‘’Rakši’’ – 5th-6th July
3rd race – ‘’Smeceres Sils’’, Madona – 30th-31st August
4th race – ‘’Rakši’’ (Latvian championships 2014) – 20^th-21st September

Also this year we are planning to have a lot of other activities

Thank you to our sponsors and partners – ‘’Ripo shop’’, longboarding.lv, Battery energy drink’’, ‘’Fullbag skateboards’’, ‘’NRJ reklāmai’’, ‘’stampa.lv’’, ‘’Piranija’’, ‘’Corny gold’’, ZIMTS’’, ‘Rakši’’, ‘’Smeceres sils’’, Cēsu Olimpiskais centrs!

See you at the downhill races!

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