Naasz, Trunzo stay cool
Win Crashed Ice titles at Fenway
Minnesotans Cameron Naasz and Amanda Trunzo found Fenway Park to their liking and took home the Red Bull Crashed Ice titles at a frigid Fenway Park last night.
They handled the technical 1,150-foot course better than the rest of the field from the start of the competition as each won Friday’s time trial and won each of their races throughout the competition last night.
Trunzo won all three Red Bull Crashed Ice events of the season, the biggest events that make up the All Terrain Skate Cross Federation (ATSX) Ice Cross Downhill World Championship. For Naasz, it was a bit of redemption after getting knocked out in the Round of 32 a week ago in Finland. He won the first Red Bull Crashed Ice event of the season back in December.
Both were quick out of the start and were able to get the good position for the first hairpin turn on the wallride in right field.
“If you can get out front and you just cross your fingers and hope the three guy behind you bunch up and disappear,” Naasz said. “If you can get away from the mayhem, it’s very beneficial.”
Naasz won the final with Luca Dallago of Austria edging Canadian Scott Croxall for second and Tristan Dugerdil of France was fourth.
Trunzo, the World Champion from a year ago, led wire-to-wire to continue in the final and was able to give herself the inside position on each corner to hold off Canadian Myriam Trepanier in xx.xx seconds. American Tamara Meuwissen was third and Anais Morand of Switzerland fourth.
“I always go into a race with a point that I want to get to first. Obviously here it was that wallride (in right field) and getting inside or however I wanted to take it at that time. I pick a goal that I want to get to first and that’s the one thing I’m focusing on when I’m in that gate.”
Trunzo said she had a number of friends that she attended Dartmouth with in the crowd tonight.
Morand delivered one of the bigger surprises earlier in the night, eliminating points leader Jacqueline Legere of Canada semifinal.
Legere overtook Morand for second place in the middle section of the course, doing a better job navigating through the hairpin at first base, but Morand handled the final rolls better to get back in front and earn a spot in the finals.
Legere won the small final to take fifth place.
There were plenty of spills during the course of the evening.
Mirko Lahti of Finland, who entered the weekend second in the points race, was bounced out in the quarterfinals when he clipped skates with another competitor heading into the initial jump. in the
Frenchman Pacome Schmitt wiped out going over the final roller allowing Dugerdil to take second place and a spot in the semifinal.
In the first round Alex Mercier of Canada went hard into the wall behind the finish line getting tangled up with American Andrew Swanson. Mercier had edged out Swanson for second place but fell into Swanson path leading to a hard crash that left him down and required medical attention. Mercier raced in the Round of 32 but failed to make the top two and was eliminated.
The evening showed some of the quirks in ice cross downhill such as the athlete protest button. Eli Krieter won his protest when Derek Wedge grabbed him coming out of the first base hairpin. If Krieter had lost, the failed challenge would have cost him $100.
This was the first time a Red Bull Crashed Ice event has been held inside a stadium and Fenway Park proved to be a winner in the competitors’ eyes.
“I love how progressive Fenway has been with other events, like the Big Air event they had (in 2016), and now welcoming us in their doors,” Naasz said. “It’s amazing to them and I hope they allow us to come back.”
There are two stops next weekend for the tour with a 500-point race in Mont du Lac, Wisconsin and a 250point race in Russia. The majority of the racers that were at Fenway will be in Wisconsin.
The champion will be crowned on March 2 in La Sarre, Quebec.