Vernon’s Mischo Erban is king of the downhill.
The 27-year-old won the International Gravity Skateboard Association (IGSA) Open category for the 2011 NorAm Downhill Skateboarding Series, while Vernon’s Quin Finocchio claimed IGSA Junior 2 (14-17 years) division.
The NorAm series consists of five races, and each racer is able to count their four best finishes towards the series point standings. Erban topped more than 350 riders, his best result being a fourth-place finish at U.S. nationals.
Finocchio was first out of 96 Junior 2 riders, highlighted by a win at the Prince Edward County Gravityfest and a runner-up showing in the Vernon DH on Middleton Mountain.
A trio of other Vernon riders finished in the top 10 of the Open category – Zen Shikaze was fourth, Finocchio was fifth and Brendan Davidson earned seventh.
Davidson, the runner-up in the Junior 2 NorAm class, won his division at the Vernon DH, hosted by Erban every year for the past seven years on Middleton Mountain.
Erban, a former IGSA World Cup champion, is ranked eighth in the world and will be racing at competitions in South America and South Africa in November and December.
Finocchio, a Vernon Secondary student, is the world No. 3 in the Junior 2 division.
