Inline Skating Notebook

Matter InlineCenter World Team 2008
Kalon Dobbin 7. WIC (Phuzion)	Peter Micheal 6. WIC (Phuzion)	Daniel J. Nation 17. WIC (Spiro)	Nelson Garzon 14. WIC (Matter)	Andres Munoz New

Hi folks,

we are proud to announce the new Matter Inline Center World Team 2008.

World Class skater Kalon Dobbin will lead the team of young guns with his great experience. The kiwi fraction of the team is build by Peter Micheal, rookie of the past WIC season and winner of the Engadin marathon 2007 and jr. world champion DJ Nation who also had a great 2007 season including the vivtory in Einsiedeln. Nelson Garzon who finished 14th in the overall ranking in his first WIC season and new rising star Andres Munoz complete the Matter Inline Center World Team. The New Zealand - Colombia connection is ready to rumble.

Kalon Dobbin

Peter Micheal

Daniel J. Nation

Nelson Garzon

Andres Munoz

Kalon Dobbin Interview

Hi Kalon,

You got injured last year at Worlds. How is your leg coming along?
Yes I pulled my groin muscle at the World Championships in Colombia and I have been fighting to get my body right for the past 5 months. After getting my leg better I had started training again for 1 week and found that I need surgery for a hernia, 3 weeks after my surgery I was able to race my national championships and win a few national titles so I was very pleased. I am back into full time training now and very happy about it, you never know how much you will miss skating until you can’t do it so now I am training very hard for this coming year.

What do you think about the new Matter Inline Center Team that you and Powerslide put together?
I am very happy with the team that that Powerslide and myself put together to represent Matter Inline Center for 2008. Each skater has a roll on the team and we worked hard to find a very balanced racing team for the WIC Marathon’s and the World Championships.

What are the strengths of each skater?
As I said we have a great balance in our team, first and foremost we have some of the strongest fittest skaters around. Heading this group is Nelson Garzon, the engine he has is amazing it has to be seen to be believed, followed closely DJ Nation. This guy is a beast, once he gets his 84kg up to speed there is no stopping the freight train. With as much if not even more endurance in the tank than these two boys is Peter Michael, not only can he go and go but over the past year his speed has been developing well to put him in the allrounder class, he will be stepping out of the rookie roll into a big time player. Finally we have the newest member to the WIC Andres Munoz, national 300m TT record holder and with the endurance to mix it with the best points racers in the world anything is possible.

With a mix of speed and endurance we are expecting a good 2008 season.

Do you think the 2008 World team will bring out the rookie of the year again?
Last year we had the great surprise of Peter Michael taking out the rookie of the year and setting the fastest time for a marathon ever. This year I am very confident that we will be able to find the rookie of the year in our team, I think it will be Andres Munoz will be this year, it was Andres and Peter that fought out Jr World titles in China 05 so I am sure that we can expect big things from Andres this year. My money is on Andres.

As you are the main tester for Matter wheels:
Are you afraid of the new wheels coming to the market?
Well let’s put it like this. All those new brands or wheels are made by the same company, Aend Industries. Aend Industries is the OWNER of Matter.
So Aend will make sure Matter is and will stay on top. In the past years Matter has proved in many races and championships that they are the superior wheels.

We have been working hard in the off season to improve the current product and bring new exciting products to the market for 2008, I never stop learning as a skater and at Matter we never stop learning how to improve wheels.

This year we have a great new line up.

• New Lite wheels (these bad boys are light and fast and now work perfectly)
  
• Faster road wheels than ever with new improved chemistry, the new JUICE is the new standard for speed!
  
• New CODE RED and XG track wheels faster and grippier,
  
• The new NUCLEAR wheels (You have to try them to believe it! Completely new compound)
  
• New rain wheels, stay tuned,
  
• The new EMT core (We have developed a new EMT core, we have been able to squeeze even more performance out of this core.)
  
• New IMAGE wheel with one piece core to compete with all the other new brands out there. As due to this construction it is cheaper yet with the same PU chemistry. The new Image core features the OFFSET technology, you can have the perfect footprint you need.

For sure the new Matter collection will set a very high new standard.
The others might get close to our old wheels, but the new wheels is yet another step.

What about the new technology with the rubber bands or adjustable profile?
Well if we should set the record straight - it was MATTER using this technology first. We called the technology TORUS. I tested the first speed version of this wheel back in 2003 when I was testing the first Matter wheels at the Worlds in Venezuela. I won the 300m TT on the test matter wheels in Venezuela 03. I can defenately say I was the first World Champion for Matter wheels and even using Torus technology. The Torus has pros and cons. So really the technology is 5 years old and AEND has used it on their REVISION hockey wheels, a brand which also belongs to Aend Industries. So nothing new, but wait and see. Here is an old ad that I found for the Torus wheel.

What are personal aims this year?
First and foremost my aim is to get back to the same level that I had before my injuries. After that my goals for 2008 is to lead the Matter Inline Centre team to be one of the World’s best teams, on a personal level my aim is to finish in the top 3 in the WIC and win another World title in Spain.

Thanks and good luck.

Powerslide Racing News: Kalon Dobbin Interview (Jan. 17, 2008)

About Andres Munoz

(AP Photo/Eduardo Di Baia)