Amazing amateur skater Tony Hawk continues to blow
minds with his bide ollie into Indy gab and early
release rials a
Photo by en
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Salba, V.B. and myself searched out a
suitable vantage point so as to rest our
weary dogs. (I don't know who he was or
what he was doing there, but a Forty-Niner
fan came up to us and asked us if we
knew the score of the now-ensuing
"Niner-Giants" game. Salba and I had to
restrain V.B. as he became furious and
shouted at the perplexed "lover of
sports(fan)." "Listen, man, this here is a
skateboard contest, not a haven for Joe-
Big Sky groupies. All attention should be
stressed on the skaters and their activity.
If you wanna know about the confounded
football game, go to Candlestick Park or
go home or go ask Fausto. He brought a
T.V. Do anything but don't ask us
because we don't care about that there
stuff. All we care about is THIS. And THIS
is what is happening. And THIS is all that
matters. Now get outa here before I taunt
you a second time. Thank you."
I couldn't argue with a speech like that.
In fact, I was inclined to agree with V.B.
That deserved a burrito and chocolate. So
I borrowed some money and treated.
The skaters were now ready to go for it
There was a little impromptu meeting of
the titans over on the other side of the
park as contest promoter Peter Gonzolez
laid out the final instructions and last
minute changes in the contest structure.
We took this opportunity to examine the
half-pipe from a closer vantage point. It
was elongated at about ten feet in depth
with about a foot and a half of vert. From
those measurements it was easy to figure
out the approximate width. At the end
nearest the street, there was a canyon
drop-in area, and at the other end there
was a weird, twisting drop-in area that is
just too hard to describe. It proved to be
quite suitable for a large percentage of
the participators as they used it for
acceleration as they carved around that
end to make their way back up the pipe.
Once everything was under way, the
skaters wasted no time in trying to
impress the judges. Riders acted as
projectiles, piercing the air-streams
overhead and enveloping their lives in
mute instances of hairy situations of pre-
cariousness.
The mighty little skate titans had their
control switches set on full blast. They
tried to work the terrain to its full extent
and seemed as if they vowed to perish
while trying. Niel Blender was skating full
bore. He did the old "hand plant for as
long as possible trick. The crowd was
craving for more outstanding feats of
acrobatic wizardry.
Tony Hawks arials were so fierce one
would imagine that he had hurt the air.
Sometimes I wonder about that kid. How
is he able to get that high and consistently
pull it off? For his efforts, Tony took home
the third place trophy. A mixture of fine
guts and well bred determination just has
to be the answer to this and probably
many other questions.
Steve Caballero, one of the heavy
favorites in this contest, showed that
having an excellent ramp in his backyard
surely pays off, as was evident when he
won the contest. Being a thousand dollars
richer, Steve may now be able to pay his
General Stacy Peral
(his hand
Mom for sweeping his ramp off.
Billy Ruff, came in second. Billy,
alternating wins with Steve, pulled the
long straw this time and had to settle for
second best and a trophy. His performance
was verging on that of excellence.
Effortless ollies and razor-edged combi-
nations.
As for the fourth place spot, well that
went to Mark "Gator" Rogowski. His
vivacity encouraged himself towards
perilous situations which seated him in
the upper quadrants.
Mister Man or Son of Man, Mike Smith
was there to show how he could skate
and tell sad jokes while still having the
composure to come in fifth in the proceed-
ings. Well marked moves and a flair for
the ladies, Smith is definitely the next
"Don Juan Capistrano."
Sixth place honors went to Lance
Mountain. Lance is gonna be a major
threat in the contests to come. If calmness,
coolness and persona were ever all
present in one faction, then it would be
here in the form of Lance. This guy has
really got the hand-plant down to a
science.
As everyone had their eyeballs glued to
the competition, a few San Francisco
locals tore and shredded the capsule pool
which was right behind and below the
observing mass. Salba, Symian, Scott
and Chris sessioned the bowl minus
the incumbrances of safety helmets. The
non-contending S.F. locals thrashed
was looking good in his Brothel Creepers.
heartily. Salba shredded the lines and
In our search for hot stuff, we found that
there still is abounding energy in the
south lands. Now that the whole of the
festivities were over, we hopped the
Turbo Volvo and headed back upstate to
our home turf area. We checked the
travelling T.V. users directory and found
out that "Boys from Brazil was playing.
We couldn't wait.
-MOrizen FOche
With sequential-like precision,
Billy Ruff has lofted himself into a head to head battle with Caballero
in '82. Skatographer Mike Folmer caught Billy
launching and landing a lien
at Pamona.