Ramón and Jackson Share Round 1

Jackson Shapiera and Ramón Königshausen shared the honours in the first Conehead Cup of 2009, with Jackson winning the ditch and Ramón getting his revenge in the head-to-head slalom.

Kincumber ditch is notorious for being wet at just the hint of rain, yet was miraculously dry on Saturday after a solid week's rain. A field of 23 riders took on the challenge, with Switzerland's Ramón Königshausen setting the early pace by using a slalom board and slalom-style pump to create speed at the beginning of the course.

Jackson Shapiera was close behind but was unable to bridge the gap until his fifth run when he finally took the lead, only see to Ramón immediately take it back with his sixth and final run. Jackson then borrowed Ramón's board for his final run and pipped the Swiss star by 0.07 seconds to ensure victory.

The ever-stylish stylish Brad Pearson from Newcastle took third and David "Carnie" Blackwood catapulted himself into 4th place with his last run by cutting 1.2 seconds off his previous best.

Alex Martin

Jackson and Ramón swapped places on Sunday's head-to head slalom at Sidonia, as Jackson DQ'ed in the second leg of the final trying to catch Ramón's lightning start. Ramón was powering at full speed after Jackson had given him a scare by narrowly beating him in the first leg of the final.

Other highlights was the growing rivalry between Nathan Paff and Paul Shadock, and the return of the Steve Daddow and Haggy Strom rivalry. Brad Pearson found his slalom feet (and voice) and could be a contender over the next 12 months. Mick Codner was also welcomed back to racing after his injury in January.

Ramón shakes hands with the future

Results

Kincumber Ditch, April 4

Sidonia Head-to-Head, April 5

1. 22.24 Jackson Shapiera
2. 22.31 Ramón Königshausen
3. 23.06 Brad Pearson
4. 23.57 David Blackwood
5. 23.68 Paul Shaddock
6. 23.72 Ben Hay
7. 23.79 Paul Carey
8. 23.86 Sean Mussett
9. 23.98 Alex Martin
10. 24.36 Nathan Paff
11. 24.41 Haggy Strom
12. 24.48 Michael Cosettini
13. 24.91 Greg Ambler
14. 24.94 Jason Wright
15. 25.07 Colin Beck
16. 25.31 Scott Guthrie
17. 25.35 Brad Sterritt
18. 25.36 Boyd McMillan
19. 25.91 Ryan
20. 26.21 Mic White
21. 26.61 Gareth Fitzgerald
22. 28.78 Reks

1. Ramón Königshausen
2. Jackson Shapiera
3. Steve Daddow
4. Nathan Paff
5. Paul Shaddock
6. Haggy Strom
7. Paul Carey
8. Dave Robertson
9. Colin Beck
10. Brad Sterritt
11. Sean Mussett
12. Brad Pearson
13. Michael Cossettini
14. Gareth Fitzgerald
15. Scott Tansley
16. David Blackwood
17. Greg Ambler
18. Nick Sable
19. James Hopkin
20. Boyd McMillan
21. Jason Wright
22. Mick Codner
23. Alex Martin
24. Scott Guthrie
25. Mic White
26. Reks
27. Ben Hay
28. Arran Pratt
29. Craig
30. Tim
31. Joel
32. Fin Pratt
33. Aych

Points Tally

Kincumber Photos

Sidonia Photos

Sidonia Videos
See this excellent collection of race videos put together by James Hopkin.

Credits
* The ditch-cleaning crew!
* Lea Robbo and Lea Shapiera (Lea²?)for (wo)manning the timer (and Sean and Nathan too).
* Boyd McMillan for Sunday's course setting.
* Barrett and Arran for helping diagnose timer problems on Sunday.
* Dave Robertson for organising accommodation.
* Paul Carey for the start ramps, especially the new 5' monster.
* Jason for organising trophies.
* All the coneheads.
* Everybody else I've forgotten, and everybody for showing up!

Tags: conehead cup, ditch, kincumber, naccos, sidonia, slalom

Comment by Jeremy Rodgers on April 6, 2009 at 23:49: spewing but all is good worked all day saturday and went to work for a few hrs made boards with Austin till 6 then went back to New T(life) till 12pm Sunday night so i wasn't meant to go... Ditch looks sweet i wanna ride it..

Premium Member Comment by haggy on April 7, 2009 at 9:00: Thanks for the write up Bugs.

That was a superb weekend. The first two races of the 09 Cup went off without a hitch. There was some great racing going down.

Thanks a lot to everyone who helped out. Course marshalls, ditch cleaners, Naccos for always being such great hosts. A lot of work goes into a weekend like this to make it run smoothly.

See you all at the next one - Townsville!

Premium Member Comment by Benbro on April 7, 2009 at 21:30: yeh,good weekend guys,that ditch was so fun,again ,congrats to jacko n ramon,their slide sesh together after the ditch race was epic to watch,thanx to everyone involved in the weekend, see yo all at townsville..cant wait.

Comment by Shadow on April 8, 2009 at 0:04: yep what a rad weekend! Still can't believe we were able to ride the ditch and it seemed more dry and grippy than the years before. 5ft roll in was sick, on ya PC.
Sunday was a blast! So many people were smoking down that track. It's funny how that draw board always seems to work out right. All the head to head racing was great to watch!
Looking forward to the next one!

Premium Member Comment by Stephen Daddow on April 8, 2009 at 19:31: Congrats to Jacko for the Ditch and to Ramon for the Slalom. Great to see you guys in action... Would have loved to be at the ditch... Had a great time racing, and thanks Hop for picking me up and Haggy for dropping me off to the airport. Awesome to have you here Ramon and for someone new to take the top place.

Premium Member Comment by nathan on April 13, 2009 at 20:18: Id be stoked if someone had a pic of me racing Ramon they could send me?

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Ramón and Jackson Share Round 1

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