MASTERS
March 23, A/B Giant Slalom; C/D Slalom; Banquet
With temperatures staying above freezing that night and another day of bright sun, the race venues were in full melt-down mode for the final day of the series. That necessitated
moving the A/B GS from CBs to Payday, where the group
would share space with the C/D slalom. The salt was flying
on both courses, and the three-ring-circus atmosphere provided great viewing for both fans and spectators.
The C/Ds certainly got the better end of the deal as the
courses stayed smooth throughout the day. In a few of the
tighter races, Mammoth Mountain’s Deb Lewis snuck by Nadine Price in the women’s Class 7 to pick up her second
win. Easterner Steve Foley earned his first medal of the series with a gold-medal performance in Class 10, as did Intermountain’s John Bloomberg and Victor Roy in the 11s and
7s, respectively.
Roy, a long time standout in masters racing, had been watch-
ing the races online from his home base at Snowbasin. “I just
couldn’t stand it any longer; I just had to come down and see
all the guys,” said Roy, who upended Bob Andree for the first
time in the series.
Neubauer was particularly pleased with his win in Class 9,
as it marked his 100th masters victory, and his first win in the
series over Alexandrescu, who has a good start on accumu-
lating at least as many gold medals.
The GS course for the A/Bs didn’t hold up as well as the
slalom. “They salted both runs, but it was extremely rough,”
Bobby Skinner had the hot hand this
time around for Class 6, marking the third
different gold-medalist in the four races.
“There was no catching Bobby today,”
said Sarkis. “He just skied too well on
his home hill.” Slabinski made a strong
second-run bid to overtake Sarkis for the
silver, but came up 0.13 seconds shy of
the mark.
Like many in his class, Sarkis has skied
with this group since he was in his 20s
and even earlier in one case. “I grew up
with Mike Falk and we used to travel together as J4s around New York,” said
Sarkis. “It’s fun that we’re still going at it
A spirited banquet put the exclamation mark on an outstanding national championship. Most were headed home with
goggle tans and stories, while those with gas remaining in
the tank were headed to Mammoth Mountain for the International FIS Criterion. But the future was put on hold on this
night. No one was quite prepared to say goodbye to Park
City, their friends, or the 2012 ski racing season.
Lilla Gildow, Nancy Auseklis and Anna Droege
JACK BALLARD
The Divisions’ Cup: A Mixed
Blessing
The Eastern Division was proud to have won the
Divisions’ Cup for the second straight year. Using a formula
that rewards the best results on a per-participant basis,
the Cup is a highly sought after prize — that is, until it is
actually won. Last season one of the Eastern racers and
his daughter drew the short straw and lugged the large
silver trophy through three airports along with skis and
baggage back to Vermont. Of course, when it arrived at it’s
destination, it also had to be engraved. The transportation
solution, however, was made easy this year. Pepi
Neubauer, who would be driving east after the Mammoth
Mountain races, volunteered to find space for the trophy
AND get it engraved.
