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Show Hassard, Kucera take winning turns in Wasatch telemark race photos by Nan Chalat j J - , i - . , Jt ilk. by Nan Chalat For the most part, telemark skiers stick to the untracked back country. But last Saturday they were out in force on the Clementine Run at the Park City Ski Area. The occasion was the second race of Wasatch Telemark Series, which is aimed at those daredevils who prtfer to take the gates in leather boots with one knee dropped within a hair's breadth of the snow pack. The race series is the only telemark competition in the area this year. Last year "tele" fans competed in the town race series and were awarded a time handicap for turns. This year the handicap was eliminated. And this year's Wasatch Citizen's Series schedule, which included three telemark races last year, was shaved down to track events only. Nevertheless 90 entrants showed up on Clementine Clemen-tine Sunday morning, proving that the telemark turn still has a strong following. Among the entrants were names that have become almost legendary in the Wasatch Mountain back countryBrad coun-tryBrad Makoff, Carl Dollhausen, Rob Landis and Charlie Hassard, to name a few. By the end of the race their "skinny skis" were smoking. Prior to the start of the race Sunday judges were posted along the dual courses. It was their responsibility responsibi-lity to decide whether each skier indeed used a telemark turn or "cheated" with a parallel turn. For each failure to execute a "clean telemark" turn racers were penalized penaliz-ed one second. According to the rules, a telemark turn is accomplished when the skier's lead ski is at least ? boot length ahead of the trailing ski and the heel of the trailing foot is visibly off the ski. The competitors raced in dual Nordic racer Mark Denton demonstrates how to "jet down" in a telemark turn. The reigning telemark queen, Kav Kucera. starts for two runs. Winning times were based on the combined times plus penalties. Tore Nilssen led the field after his first run with a time of 34.66 seconds. However he had to take a one-second penalty for a parallel turn somewhere among the 20 gates. Charlie Hassard was in second place after the first heat with a time of 35.08 and no penalties. But Hassard's archrival Brad Makoff was less than a second behind with a time of 35.80 and no penalties. Dollhausen, who was expected to be among the leaders, took a spill at the top, was flagged with two penalties and took a DQ for the race. By the time the expert men came around for their second heat the course was icy and spectators could hear the competitors' skis chatter as they fiercely jockeyed for a better position. In the second heat Makoff held steady at 35.86 but gained a penalty second. Nilssen slowed down to 37.22. Even Hassar had trouble on the second run, slowing to 36.49 and earning one penalty second also. In fact, all of the leaders in the Expert Men's division showed slower times in the second heat except Steve Worbass of Snowbird who improved from 38.49 to 38.03. When the final results were tallied Charlie Hassard won first place with a total time of one. minute 12.57 seconds. Makoff trailed Hassard by a scant .09 seconds for second place and Nilssen ended up in third place with a total time of 1 :12.88. Steve Baeder, who had earned second place in the first race of the series, finished fourth on Sunday and Rob Landis dropped from fourth place in the first race to fifth last week. Rip Griffith of Park City finished in twelfth place with a combined time of 1:22.30. Among the expert women Kay Kucera maintained her lead in the series so far. After a first run of 37.76 and two penalties she slowed down to 38.96 but satisfied the judges with a flagless run. Her combined time was 1:18.72. Lea Turner won second place with a total time of 1:21.27. The Men's Novice division drew a large enthusiastic field of entrants out of which Walt Ludlow emerged in first place. Ludlow earned only one flag and finished with a total time of 1:22.65. Jennifer Wilson led the Novice Women with a time of 1 :30.22. The nest race of the Wasatch Telemark Series will be held this Saturday at Alta. Registration for the race will be open from 8 to 9 a.m. and there is an entry fee of $5. For more information call Turner Competition Services at 649-5063. |