NE Masters 2000 Middlebury and Suicide Six Slalom
Races
by Nadine Price
In brilliant sunshine and sub zero temperatures, about a hundred hearty souls convened at the Middlebury Snow Bowl on Saturday to contest a Masters Sise Cup race which produced two first time winners. After several silver and bronze efforts in the past, class 1 veteran Marc Sorel held off a brilliant second run charge by Jim Stadler to take the men's race and win his first Masters gold. In her first season with Masters, class 1 competitor Melissa Patterson took top honors in the women's field, trouncing the competition by a huge margin in both runs.
The race, originally scheduled as a giant slalom, was changed to slalom earlier in the week when it became apparent that there simply would not be enough snow to hold the GS. A number of competitors, surprised by the change, were forced to negotiate two very challenging courses on their GS skis. The Middlebury race crew ran a flawless race on an interesting hill with a lot of terrain. Even the delayed start, pushed back to accommodate those arriving from the west who had to detour around an unfortunate fire in town, proved a boon as it allowed temperatures to soar to near five below zero.
Sorel took a commanding first run lead in a technically demanding course, leaving Stadler 1.37 seconds behind. Biria St. John was another quarter second back followed by several others poised to make a second run move or exploit any mistake. The second course was faster but every bit as challenging as the first, taking full advantage of the extensive variety of terrain, rolling bumping and grinding through drop-offs, fall-aways and airplane turns. Stadler uncorked an impressive effort and Sorel had a little trouble on the final steep. Stadler took the second run by more than a second but failed to overcome the deficit and had to settle for second place overall, and in class 1, behind Sorel. St. John skied a solid second run to hold on to third place in the overall and win class 2 in the process.
Vladimir Krylov fended off new slalom ace David Lamb to finish fourth. The reinvented (thanks to countless hours with a new boot fitter) Jim Nash skied beautifully into sixth. And the reconstructed (thanks to back surgery) Jesse Beck held together to finish seventh. In his first Masters race, new comer Andy Barnett could only manage fourth place in the increasingly competitive and deep class 1 but chalked up a solid top ten finish with his overall eighth place. Alex Gadbois couldn't capitalize on his first run advantage to move into the top five and had to settle for ninth. The seldom seen Dennis Murray captured class 5 and rounded out the top ten overall.
Classes 5, 6 and 7 each put their top two finishers in the top twenty. Murray was followed by Dana Billings in class 5 and Steve Foley won class 7 followed closely by Dwight Conant. Bill Brennan had some significant trouble in his first run but smoked his second to vault to the top of class six. Jim Shafer skied consistently into second place behind Brennan.
In the women's race, the story was all Patterson. She skied nearly flawlessly, easily taking each run by nearly four seconds. The battle for second place, however, was hotly contested. Margaret Vaughn, Lori O'Brien, Karen Nash, Meg Nutter and Patti Lane were all within eight tenths of a second after the first run. The second run spread was half that. Lane led the charge followed, three one hundredths later, by Nutter. When the dust settled and the calculator was brought in, Vaughn held on to her meager first run advantage and took the overall silver. O'Brien, Nash, Lane and Nutter fell in behind, in that order.
On Sunday, as temperatures moderated slightly and the snow began to fly, the Masters moved to Suicide 6 for the traditional Bunny Bertram Memorial Slalom race. In spite of the tough weather conditions facing New England this season, Suicide had managed to make enough snow on the face to hold the race. Although not much else was open, the newly fallen snow was beginning to make the place look like a ski area and the race crew, in its usual fashion, ran a perfect race.
Last week's superseed trial balloon was repeated in this race and seemed to be gaining in popularity. While the jury is still out on the appropriateness of the concept to Masters racing, where age class competition has always been the driving force, there was no doubt of the spectator appeal of the superseed. In the version employed by New England Masters, the superseed takes the top ten overall finishers from the first run and starts them together in reverse finish order after the class six men. Everyone, other than those who had to be at the start, stopped to watch the top ten thrash it out. The spectacle provided its share of thrills and spills and no one was disappointed, except perhaps the three contenders who failed to reach the finish line of the second run.
Chris Johnson, third after the first run and almost a second and a half back, skied eighth in the superseed. He set a blistering pace and laid down the gauntlet for first run leaders Hans Schemmel and John Pierce. After losing a pole in the start Pierce held it together for most of the pitch but finally succumbed to his dangling participle and began struggling to stay forward. He got lower and later until a gate in the middle of the flat finally proved too much, catching him and tossing him out of the course, and contention. All eyes were on Schemmel as he leapt out of the start and fairly flew down the course on his John Howe claws, skis that would look more at home in a hockey rink than on a ski slope. He sped across the flat with ease and it seemed as though he would hold onto his first run advantage. But as he disappeared over the final knoll, he ran into trouble. It was not clear from above exactly what happened on the bottom pitch but his best Mary Lou Retin imitation took him cartwheeling out of the course and he never saw the finish line. Thus ended the superseed, leaving Johnson alone on top of the podium. The top ten gaps left by Pierce, Schemmel and Biria St. John, who also failed to finish his second run, were quickly filled but Johnson was not challenged again.
Hot off his Middlebury victory, Marc Sorel skied solidly into second just ahead of Steve Willey who really put the pressure on with the second fastest time in the second run. Still protesting that he's not a slalom skier, Doug Tucker took fourth in the overall and class 4 in the process, just ahead of fellow superseed competitor John Weitz who finished in sixth overall. Another convert to slalom with the new skis, Don McEvoy edged out Weitz to capture fifth place. Wildman Vladimir Krylov was unable to exploit his first run advantage to crack the top five but held on to finish seventh.
In one of the tightest battles of the day Duffy Dodge fended off a winning second run by Paul Rich to hold on to his first run lead and take the gold in class 10. Larry Voelker mounted a serious challenge but couldn't overtake Rich and had to settle for third. Although it is still not clear where his allegiance lies when it comes to the divisions' contest at Nationals (is he home or just visiting from Far West?), Harold Wescott was skiing in the east again and easily cruised to victory in class 9.
Although Bob McGrath won the second run convincingly, he could not overcome the significant deficit created by Dave Britton's superior first run and was left in the bridesmaid's seat in class 8. Russell Probert and Byron Hawthorne traded runs in class 6 with Probert emerging the victor. Jim Shafer mounted a serious second run challenge, winning the run. But it wasn't enough and he finished in third. Steve Laverty and Warren Palmer were tied to the hundredth in class 5 after the first run, with Jason Densmore just behind, well within striking distance. Laverty won the second run, and the class, and Denmore's solid run wasn't quite enough to move him over Palmer who retained second.
The women's race went to new class 1 member Jennifer Comstock. Comstock skied smoothly into a seven-tenths advantage over perennial threat Lisa Densmore. Perhaps sensing Densmore's ability to rise to the occasion, Comstock cranked it up a few notches for the second run and took the victory convincingly. Karen Nash, was poised for movement after the first run, but in spite of excellent skiing, couldn't quite convert and remained in third. Margaret Vaughn and the much-improved Meg Nutter completed the top five.
Wendy Hill, skiing as beautifully as ever, ran away with class 9, trouncing rival Betsy Kent. Anne Nordhoy was equally convincing in class 7, flying past second place finisher Linda Smith and posting a seventh place overall result. In the increasingly competitive class 4, Michele Brennan made her way onto the podium with two solid standup runs behind Patti Lane, who took the silver and Margaret Vaughn who won the class.