The second event of the year for Abdil "Furlong" Mahdzan was in upstate New York. This race was where he first met Dave Rogers. Although the road wasn't that technical, it provided the thrill of going 70 mph and the race itself required a lot of drafting.

This race was the first GSI race that Furlong attended. As such, he appreciated the different rules and formats used in the racing organization. The races are held in 4 heats: 1st place gets 1 point, 2nd place gets 2 points, and so on. At the end of the 4 heats, whoever has the least number of points, wins. This format ensured that everyone raced at least 4 heats, which meant that no one gets eliminated.

With the current race format utilized, there are no qualifying rounds either. However, the riders are still entitled to their practice runs, as many as they could get in the amount of time scheduled.

Saturday saw the downhill skateboard races first on the schedule. There were quite a few riders, most of them being from Southern California, and Joe Lehm from New Mexico. Naturally, Dave Rogers has a very large lead in every heat and takes first on the podium! Congratulations Dave!

After the downhill skateboard races, gravity bikes was up next. Furlong also decided to race gravity bikes for the first time. It started drizzling by the second heat, and by the last heat, it started pouring. This race proved to be quite an experience for Furlong, even though he placed last in every heat, except the last heat when one rider crashed at Turn 3, due to the slippery road conditions, in which Furlong took 3rd. By the end of the last heat, Furlong was soaking wet and his helmet visor was covered with mud!

After the gravity bike races, amateur street luge was up next. There were 5 riders in this class. As such, all 5 riders raced each other in every heat. Each heat consisted of Roland Morrison, Abdil "Furlong" Mahdzan, Tom Whalen, Jenna Morrison, and Mackenzie Cayer. In the first heat, Furlong takes the holeshot, and is later passed by Roland at the entrance of Turn 1. Furlong then drafts Roland by staying very close behind him almost all the way down the course, until the left-right chicane, whereby Roland starts sitting up and slamming on the brakes on the wet road. Furlong, however, does not sit up and brakes with his heels for a short time before passing Roland at the chicane. Furlong takes first in the first heat!

In the second heat, Roland knew he had made a mistake by braking too much at the chicane in the first heat, so he challenged Furlong all the way till Turn 3. Furlong did not brake at all entering Turn 3 and took a slightly different line which put him on a very slick portion of the road. The luge started turning around 45 degrees, as all 4 wheels lost traction. The luge continued spinning around 90 degrees, throwing Furlong off his luge, causing him to skid for about 100 feet on the road before flipping over and coming to a complete stop. Jenna and Tom passed him at this point. As he got up, he also noticed Mackenzie sliding out and crashing earlier up at the turn. Both riders then quickly jumped on their luges and paddled away down the long straightaway, and were side-by-side until the chicane, where Furlong resumes the lead and takes 4th in this heat.

In the 3rd and 4th heats, Furlong knew he had to avoid sliding out at Turn 3 again, so he braked just enough to avoid sliding out prior to entering the turn, and takes 2nd in both heats. Overall, he came in 2nd place on the podium in the amateur street luge class!

On Sunday, Furlong raced Roland in the amateur classic luge class. There were only 2 competitors in this class. Furlong takes 2nd in every heat. He wins the holeshot consistently, but fails to maintain a higher speed due to his lighter body weight. The classic luge class is a class that requires a rider to be fit and have enough weight and stamina to sustain the fatigue lying down on a 4-foot plank of wood with no foot pegs and no head rest.

The pro street luge class had about 11 riders. Pat Moody leads in most of his heats, followed by Dave Rogers and Beagle Jarvis. Congratulation to these 3 racers for coming up on the podium! The pro classic luge class was won by Pat Moody, Dave Rogers, and Jeff Schonzeit.

One thing Furlong would like to mention about Dave Rogers is that he is very skilled at whatever he does. He builds excellent boards, and he is a great racer himself. He podiumed in all 3 classes he entered: downhill skateboard, classic luge, and street luge! Way to go Dave Rogers! Congratulations! You are truly an inspiration to Team Hardcore Pavement Racing rider Abdil "Furlong" Mahdzan!

Furlong would like to thank the people of Madison County for having this event as part of their tourism plans, Tim Cayer and family of GSI for holding such a well-organized race, Beagle Jarvis for discovering the race road, Dave Rogers for sportsmanship, Malaysian friends Hiresh and Ishveir for photos and videos, and his sponsor IRS Sports.

Madison County Gravity Festival had a full crew of course workers. They were international exchange students from Japan, and they did an excellent job of maintaining safety on the course and looking out for the racers. It was also their first hands-on experience participating at a gravity sports event. Hopefully, this will spread the sport wider in Asian countries!