Innovative Wally Inouye, frontside air
John Gibson with mentor Chris Strople
AV
Bily Rut Amateur series winner
Christian Hosoi gets the word from D. Barter
of skaters who fully attack a pool.
Their style is not to conform to the
obvious requirements of contest
skating which calls for consistency.
and to a certain extent, tempt a
skater to go with a wired routine.
Andrecht pushes tricks to the limit.
No one who went to the Gold Cup
at Big "O" will forget his backside
air
ever. Grisham's
the highest eg "O
Varial-Canyon, also at Big "O"
called for total commitment. These
two veterans would challenge for
the top spot. Mike Folmer has
brought from Florida a clean and
consistent style that has kept him in
the thick of things at every contest.
He flows the tricks and packs a
repertoire of moves all his own
Brad Bowman has always been
considered a consummate classic
skater. Invariably unpredictable, his
speed and fluidity make him a
constant threat, and his perfor-
mance at Marina had shown that
on any given day Brad could win
Ray "Bones" Rodriguez, probably
the smoothest skater on the circul
has ripped at every contest, and
yet been heavily overlooked by
the judges Ray is undeniably one
of the top skaters-maybe Upland
was to be his due. Mike McGill
another Floridian who has steadily
ripped on the contest circuit is
aggressive and in command of all
the modem moves. Having come
close at the other contests, he
might put it all together at Upland
Bert Lamar has been involved in
most of the pool wars, but like Ray
Bones, a victim of of inconsistent
Judging. Bert always presents hot
routines which are polished
aggressive and blonic. Although
he arrived late at Upland, he still
capture
was a factor not to be overlooked.
Mike Smith, Allen Losi Geno Tocci
Steve Hirsch and Freddy de Sota
all rookies who command the
respect of other skaters, have each
shown flashes of brillance that
could c
the cash. Wally
Inouye, a fluid skater with un-
matched style, was rivaled only
by the Albas in his mastery of lines
in the pool. These were the char-
octers in the play, the stage the
Combi pool, and the backdrop
the hallowed territory of the Bad-
lands. And thus, the scene is set for
the Gold Cup finals
As always Saturday is reserved
for the Amateur and Pro qualifying
with the latter including a compul
sory run and freestyle runs which
are combined to seed the top
fifteen riders. Skating for qualifying
spots was intense with the pressure
of the impending final event natu-
rally causing some riders to falter
on their runs. The invasion of T.V.
although welcome in popularizing
the sport, proved to be kind of fan
alien force. Riders were frequently
asked to wait before making off-
cial runs so that there was an inter-
ruption in the usual rhythm. Music
had to be toned down so that it
faded into the background instead
of contributing to the energy of the
routine. Nevertheless, action was
electric and the amateur segment
set the pace. Neil Blender used
bionic inverts to establish himself
as the odds-on favorite for Sunday's
competition. Although Neil was the
leader, a fierce battle shaped up
among Mike Hirsch, Billy Ruff, John
Gibson and Bob Serafin for the
over-all Amateur title which was
going down to the wire.
The Pro competition began
shortly afterwards, starting with
compulsories, which have been
integral to the series. The challenge
of cleanly pulling off a specified
number of tricks in sequence adds
validity to pool riding as a sport
The Pipeline had to be the most
difficult spot yet encountered in
the series for pulling o
goff a perfect
compulsory, and many Pros lost
valuable points in their attempts
The freestyle routines imme-
diately established a pattern that
was
sto be evident during the
remainder of the event. Riders
were skating the pool in two ways
One group was intent on s attacking
the pool and shredding every wall
while flowing the fast lines and
heavy tricks, but risking consistency
in the long-run. The other group
concentrated on wiring one rou-
fine and repeating it every run in
an attempt to make the line more
bio and perfect. Ether type is fun
to skate, fun to watch, but not so
fun to judge. Since a uniform and
reliable method of judging has yet
to be devised, it is to the credit of
the Gold Cup organizers that more
problems have not arisen. Regard
less, skaters have never let this
predicament influence what they
do in the bowl-they leave the BS
to the organizers, manufacturers
coaches and lockles-and con
centrate on shredding the pool A
the conclusion of Saturday's pro-
gram, Duane Peters led the qual
fying parade by a slight margin
followed by the ever bionic Stevie
Caballero and Upland's very own
Steve Alba Surprisingly, Eric
Grisham and Steve Hirsch did not
make the cut
Sunday began with amateur
competition and it was evident
that Neil Blender was the man of
the hour as he repeatedly ripped
the pool Mike Hirsch and Bob
Serafin, both strong and aggressive
skaters, have been big threats
throughout the series, but amaz
ingly, did not make the finals, thus
pushing g John Tex Gibson even
more to the forefront. "Tex" a young
shredder from-Texas, has come
on very strong guided by guru
Wolly Inouye and trainer Chris
Stropie, in the finals, Neil Blender's
bionic inverts withheld the frantic
charge of Gibson and C
and Christian
Hosol as he claimed first place.
The Amateurs revved up the
crowd for a finale in which first
place could not be predicted
the very end, the top five being
Eddie Biguera Steve Alba, Mike
McGil Duane Peters and Stevie
Caballero. Practice session favorite
Micke Alba, astonishingly, did not
impress the judges despite his
speed and incredible lines
In the final countdown, fifth place
was given to Eddie, whose unfor
tunate falls cancelled out his
profusion of tricks Steve Alba's
physical skating gave him fourth
and d McGill's smooth consistency
eamed him third. Everyone present
would agree that first and second
spots were really close. Although
Duane had uniform scores and a
it was not
breathtaking final run its
enough to top Stevie. The rookie's
"Caballerial a 360-Olle-Air from a
fake, flipped out the crowd and
the judges to give him a score of
93.00 and first place. Competition
had been force, very betting of
the Badlands style, and the atmo
Burty frontside air, Duane Peters
ACTION NOW
G&S
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TRACKE
POWELLO
DUANE
PETERS
THRASHER EENDENT
The Raver David Andrecht, layback air