Dirksen Derby 2011: Day 1

This dude didn’t qualify, but hey, he got his picture on Yobeat!

A wise man once told me, it takes five years for any sort of business to really work. And while the Dirksen Derby may not be in the business of much more than raising some cash for Tyler Ecklund and bringing a smile to his face, in this 5th year of the event, that prophecy has proved to be true. The event has been gaining steam steadily since its start, but this year, there is no doubt it has arrived. What does that even mean? Well, for starters, Terje was there. In fact, there were so many heads I sort of lost count, and that’s not including the usual suspects — Wittlake and Bfox, Austin Smith, Jake Price, Curtis Ciszek, and of course, the entire Dirksen family.

Dirksen and his dad.

The course took six days straight of ten dudes digging, and is not for the casual enthusiast. Two side-by-side slalom tracks that lace through the trees feature some seriously tight turns. It’s definitely a more technical course than last year, and a few doubles and straightaways let you get just enough speed to come flying into the berms way too fast, added to the fact the northwest snow was nice and crispy in the shade, made for plenty of near misses between rogue snowboarders and the huge media presence at the event.

Not a make. Jason Hume.

Today was the qualifiers in the men’s division, as well as a mandatory splitboard qualifier (twice up and down), in which 100% of the people qualified. While this may seem unnecessary and torturous, it was actually a chance to let Tyler participate on his sit ski. Needless to say, some people tried harder than others.

All of this is just to put a smile on Tyler’s face.

With the regular favorites in the field, and the likes of Terje, Jake Blauvelt and more cued up for the finals tomorrow, it should be a good race. More importantly, at least one, if not two people are going to end up with stupid hair-dos. The Tre Squad’s bet will don the loser with frosted tips, while whoever goes the slowest out of Curtis, Austin and Jake will be subjected to the hairstyle of the other’s choice. As you can see, this is a super serious contest, and thanks to extra sunny skies, is off to another amazing start. If you’re anywhere near Mt. Bachelor, do your best to make it out for the finals. You don’t need credentials, or any sort of carbonated corn syrup to enjoy this event.

Shayne Pospisil. Not making it, but who cares, it’s artsy!

Serious preparations. Blair Habenicht (2nd) oh and that’s Terje.

mmm. Chowda.

Dirks and Lynch, at odds over who would win. It was Ben, if we’re talking about who went fastest.

Price got iced. (We think he sort of enjoyed it.)

Terje at the start.

Nope, this did not look fun.

Qualified Through to Finals:

1 Dustin Anderson 00:57.47
2 Blair Habenicht 00:57.63
3 Martin Ciszek 00:58.27
4 Tucker Andrews 00:58.71
5 Knut Eliassen 00:59.14
6 Jason Robinson 00:59.47
7 Forrest Devore 00:59.52
8 Ralph Backstrom 00:59.70
9 Terje Haakonsen 00:59.74
10 Ben Lynch 00:59.80
11 Max Warbington 00:59.80
12 Blake Paul 01:00.07
13 Gus Warbington 01:00.15
14 Matt Edgers 01:00.20
15 Blake Geis 01:00.20
16 Chris Luzier 01:00.32
17 Jeff Blaylsk 01:00.74
18 Alex Yoder 01:00.85
19 Vincent Remmel 01:01.01
20 Corey Caswell 01:01.43
21 Sam Taxwood 01:01.65
22 Spencer Schubert 01:01.68
23 Adam Sather 01:01.71
24 Luke Strong-Cvetich 01:01.75
25 JD Dennis 01:01.77
26 Jay Kelly 01:02.12
27 Nick Dirks 01:02.14
28 Ami Voutilainen 01:02.24
29 Forrest Burki 01:02.26
30 Adam Short 01:02.31
31 Skylar Thornton 01:02.34
32 Johnny Brody 01:02.40
33 Evan Sanderson 01:02.42
34 Clint Vezie 01:02.43
35 Shane Stalling 01:02.43
36 Wade Dunstan 01:02.44
37 Tim Eddy 01:02.51
38 Kyle Martin 01:02.52
39 Cale Meyer 01:02.58
40 Gray Thompson 01:02.80
41 Adam Shick 01:02.86
42 Donny Stevens 01:02.90
43 Ben Connors 01:03.01
44 Ryan Gossett 01:03.03
45 Ryan Boyes 01:03.13
Timing error Graham Mueller (qualified for Sunday) 00:54.71 05:55.55 06:50.26
Timing error Joseph Friedrich (qualified for Sunday) 05:55.55 00:32.15 06:27.70
Timing error Jake Blauvelt (qualified for Sunday) 00:33.54 05:55.55 06:29.09
Timing error Kevin Eichner (qualified for Sunday) 05:55.55 00:29.22 06:24.77

Download a pdf of the FULL RESULTS HERE