
One
week after MCGF, Furlong continued to travel to New Hampshire
to get a taste of the local hill that has spurred success
for Tim Cayer in putting on the GSI race series. For
a half-mile course, the racing offered its technical aspect
with the Turn 2-3 chicane. This event can be considered
to be a regional event, similar to the IGSA West LA Championship
Series, in terms of number of participants. It was a pretty
small scale event, with more racers than there are spectators,
according to some of the locals from Maine and New Hampshire.
After
having acquired the necessary number of races in his belt,
Abdil "Furlong" Mahdzan was ready to turn pro
by GSI rules. With his amateur status for the 2003 racing
season, he was allowed to race both amateur and pro within
the same race season.
Being
a one-day event, Furlong was ready to race amateur and
pro street luge. In the amateur class, Furlong is only
up against 3 other riders: Roland Morrison, Mackenzie
Cayer, and Tom Whalen. Furlong wins the holeshot in every
heat and leads the 4-man pack to Turn 3 all the way thru
the exit, but Roland Morrison with his heavier weight
outrolls Furlong on the straightaway to the finish. Furlong
takes 2nd place in the amateur street luge class!
In
the pro class, the line up consisted of Abdil "Furlong"
Mahdzan, Roland Morrison, Jared Carr, Sean Clarke, and
Kyle Cayer. The pro class was unforgiving for Furlong
as he merely keeps up with the rest of the pack all the
way down the course. The local riders had the upper hand
as they race regularly on this hill. In the final heat,
however, an accident that caused Kyle and Roland to crash
while exiting Turn 3 posed potential problems for Furlong
and he looked for an opening in the midst of the carnage
to escape to a second place finish in the heat.