It took awhile for the gloomy clouds to make way for the high sun in the mountains of Membrillal. Today is the 1st ever time a World Qualifying Series race is hosted by the country of Ecuador, here in South America.
For virgin eyes to the Membrillal track as per usual, seen footages or photos do no justice to how this track is really steep and how much fear the double layered guardrails exactly placed on the race line give. The feeling around this place is like you're in another world. Trees with dry looking branches and most of them without leaves, dry shrubs make the surroundings of the area brown and with just a little pinch of greenery its like a desert on a mountain. There is no life; no dogs, no houses on track, no people watering plants or the road. Even traffic will be diverted away from this world and into a dirt back road.The only life in this world for the next 3 days will be downhill skateboarding.
The track is a pusher, it pushes you to keep rolling and continue rolling (its steep!). Its a turny track with little to almost no straights. Its one of those tracks that you want to see what the track record would be put down and who can put it down, but at the same time it would be an interesting day for race to qualify come tomorrow.
Weather/ run update: 3 Sunny runs before lunch gave a slippery than your usual (average) race track. In the afternoon when it became gloomy and windy it resulted into 8 runs which were surprisingly gave more grip.
Rider Views:
What do you think about the track?
Callum Mathieson (NZ)- "Its great! Fast and slippery"
What do you think about the race to qualify tomorrow?
Luis Esteban Ladera Ovalles (VE) - "No problem, its okay for me."
What is your favourite part of the track?
Juan Duran (ARG) - "The second right because its so fast and technical"
Champion in the Luge category of La Leonera and Peru local comparing speeds of the Ecuador track to the upcoming Peru race tracks.
Roberto Elias Leiva Rengifo (PE) - "This track is faster than both race tracks in Peru, on a luge maybe around 85 kph"
Notes:
- Current World #6 Jaoa Pedro Laporte landed just in time for the afternoon sessions. If he wins this race he will be the current World #2.
- 2017 rankings will be used to seed riders for qualifying heats
- Top 3 seeds for qualifying tomorrow:
1 - Daniel Engel (USA)
2 - Jaoa Pedro Laporte (BRA)
3 - Douglas Silva (BRA)
Qualifying Day run down
- Practice #1
- Rider Up lift #1
- Practice #2
- Rider Up lift #2
- Qualifying Round #1
- Rider Up lift #3
- Qualifying Round #2
- Rider Up lift #4
- Qualifying Round #3
- Rider Up lift #5
Bus leaves Hostal Agua Blanca at 8:30am
Photos: Javier Alcivar
