|
|
 TWINCAM/Salomon's Eddy Matzger consumed the field like southern-fried chicken on his way to an unprecedented 6th win at the 21st Annual Athens to Atlanta Roadskate, October 6, 2002, in the state of Georgia, USA. He covered the 87 mile grandaddy of all skate races at an average of nearly 20 miles per hour in 4 hours 22 minutes and 56 seconds. The California native ruled the hills on the rolling course over Appalachian ridges, dropping a whole phalanx of challengers one by one with punishing accelerations every time the course climbed. A full police motorcycle escort accompanied the action and moved traffic to the sides to allow skaters full reign of the road. At Silver Hill, 18 miles from the finish, all but Italy's Mauro Guenci had hit the wall hard. With Guenci in tow, Matzger showed some southern hospitality and played tour guide, indicating the route in advance and pointing such attractions as Stone Mountain and the skyline of Atlanta. Confident and fresh, Eddy led out the sprint and was a only a few turbo strokes away from another clean victory when a desperate Guenci (Verducci-Senechal) grabbed Eddy's skinsuit from behind and then pulled and pushed his way past the thunderstruck Matzger. Stunned silence, disbelief, and confusion ensued as the sponsored Italian slunk off and disappeared. At first, Guenci was declared the winner. Then, it was announced that additional review of videotaped footage was necesary before the final top two placements could be determined, and a provisional tie was awarded until an officlal governing body ruling could be made. That ruling came down after organizers and a Master Judge of the USA Roller Sports (USARS), the national governing body for roller sports in the United States, reviewed the video tape and it became clear on the big screen that two fouls of "Non-Incidental Offensive Contact" had been committed, both by Guenci. The Italian was demoted to second place and Matzger given sole possession of the top spot at 6:14 pm EST on Tuesday, October 8, 2002. Matzger delivered a motivational speech at a pasta party the day before the race to over 75 Team in Training skaters who had raised nearly 400,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Afterwards, Eddy delivered a lively mini-workshop to all the skaters in Atlanta's Piedmont Park. Matzger's victory, as did female winner Kimberley Moore's (TWINCAM), came on the industry's newest ball-bearing, the ILQ-9, a non-rated TWINCAM bearing with only 6 balls and subsequently less resistance than any ABEC rated bearing on the market. Moore racked up her first major career win in a nail-biting sprint finish in 5 hours and 22 seconds. The top four women finishers are all graduates of the Salomon Access to Speed/Eddy Matzger Workshop. Read the ruling. View finish video (10MB animated GIF continuous loop). |