1981
FALL
SERIES
EXAS ROUND-UP
Photography and text by: Jeff Newton
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much to keep him in.
This was the first Pro contest for Bob
Serafin. His earthquaking fourth place
finish did much to prove that he is one to
be reckoned with in the future. Blatant,
continuous attacks and assaults on the
pool's peripheries demanded the attention
of the judges and the other contenders as
well.
What can be said about Neil Blender?
Who knows about him? Mysterious, tall,
somehow associated with "Jack in the
Box." All of these facts remain sketchy.
One thing is for sho' though, he really
skated tough. Tough enough to take third
place home with him.
"What about Steve Caballero and Bill
Ruff?" some of you out there might well
be saying. Well, I'll tell you, neighbors.
These two boys, coming from two
different ends of the state for this
competition, have to be the reigning elite
(at least up to this day) in the skateworld
as we know it. As it seems and as it is,
these two are always at the top of the
heap when the dust begins to settle over
a contest site. Conquering titans who,
packed into ultra-small compact bodies,
take control over any skate situation.
But as things go by nature and the laws
of the everlasting, there can always be
only one victor, and out of these two
"cookers," Steve burnt the biscuits.
Although he did beat out Bill in the first
round (mainly due to his full usage of
almost every imaginable line in the pool
and his usual mind-boggling repertoire),
he fell when he shouldn't have. (These
things can't be helped sometimes.)
So this leaves only one. Billy Ruff, a
smallish exxtraordinary young man with
many of the capabilities associated with
Frisbees or boomerangs. When he gets
air, he gets upside down. He reaches
some of the highest heights witnessed by
modern man. An instigated move on this
day was a 540° type flip that he closely
pulled off consistently, pushing him
heavily in the favor of the semi-All Star
judges.
That wraps up another fine event (no
matter how sketchy some people might
have thought this contest was with the
park closing down on the following day
and all, I feel that Mike Folmer should be
commended for slapping this together as
quickly as he did; even though it didn't
come off exactly as planned, it was still a
happening). Tonight Steve Olson's band
is playing at a party in Costa Mesa. T.A.
and Jay Alabamy were kind enough to
offer Vlaadimir and me a ride so we could
help them raise a lot of hell. Thank You.
RESULTS
PRO
Billy Ruff
Steve Caballero
Neil Blender
Bob Serafin
Mike Folmer
Mike Smith
AM
Christian Hosoi
Paul Molina
Lance Mountain
Tony Hawk
Raul Escobedo
Raul Escobedo blazed Lakewood and had some unique tricks like this lein air over the canyon into a tap-in
SAN ANTONIO
DITCH AND
SLALOM
Saturday morning came with some
confusion over what ditch was to be used
for this event. Being the congenial fellow
that I am, I tried to clear it up by posting
signs at the WRONG ditch, telling
everyone where to go. I guess that some
or most skaters can't read, because the
number that showed for this contest was
lower than it should have been. The
contest, as always, started late, but, with
the small number of entrants, it was really
no big deal because we had the rest of
the day.
The ditch event went smoothly with only
one extracurricular highlight other than
the skating, being when, during a practice
run, Bryon Foster ran over his own finger
and mangled it to bits, totally ripped up.
But then made it back in time from the
Emergency Clinic for his runs.
The ditch's walls and length made it the
ideal spot for the banked slalom. One
problem was still to be tackled-I forgot
the timer. To get around this obstacle,
quite a system was devised. With a car
parked at the finish line, the starter would
honk the horn twice for ready and once to
go. Then the rider was timed with a
watch. It may not be the best way to time
a contest, but what the hell, sometimes
you have to make do with what you've
got.
The results for the 18 and under Ditch
category were as follows: Shawn Rein
was first, Andrew Lopez was second,
Randy Sipe third and Danny Barnett was
fourth. In the 19 and over bracket were
Mike Valdez, in first; Ron Sharpe second;
Brad Perkins third, and Byron Foster
fourth.
In the slalom event were Bruce Bowen
first, Byron Foster second, Shawn Rhein
third and Andrew Lopez fourth.
Ditch expert, Shawn Rein, running the cones during outlaw ditch contest
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