NOR-CAL PORTFOLIO
SUMMIT V RAMP CONTEST
Tommy Guerrero
Am wimmer, Cory O'Brien, showed a lot of tricks and didn't bail. KT Photo
BY CRAIG RAMSEY
After returning from Uplands' Pipeline
Skatepark where I saw the Rusty Harris
Memorial Pro-Am event, I began scheming
about the possibility of a large Northern
California event. After all, the skaters up
here have no parks and few competitions
due to lack of facilities, yet the one thing
they do have is the willingness to travel
great distances, get together and session
what is available (pools, ramps, and more
pools). To put on a full blown event of
Uplands proportions didn't seem that
impossible. For their five-year anniversary,
which is quite a landmark in the skatepark
business, they gave the first place Pro
$150 in the pool event. Little over a year
ago a Pro first-placer could have hauled
in a sweet grand. This may be an
indication of where our sport is at. Big
money competitions are all but extinct
now. The sport has overcome its growing
pains and is now ready for some good
American backyard competition. The
present lifeblood in the skateworld today
is the ramp. If built well and cared for
properly, a ramp can provide a free, easily
accessible vertical proving ground.
32
Judges (LtoR), Foss Caballero, Mountain, Nicodemo.
The current rage in Nor-Cal ramps is
the Summit V, Built high in the Santa Cruz
mountains. This fully engineered structure
is the weekend mecca of dozens of
skaters. It is situated on Ross McGowan's
parents' property, and they are way cool,
allowing us to throw full-on contests and
events.
It was Monday morning and I had just
made my first successful phone call to
round up some prizes for the upcoming
event. Friday evening, two hundred miles
and 122 phone calls later, I had seven
hundred dollars worth of prizes from
fifteen different sponsors, pretty good for
a backyard ramp event!
Saturday morn, 7 a.m., I pick up the
Variflex boys at the San Jose Greyhound
station. Lance Mountain, who was to be
one of the five judges, was "swimming"
towards me lying flat on his board. John
Lucero was busy fending off the Hari
Krishna types trying to sell pamphlets.
After a quick thrash and trash session at
Jack's, we headed for the hills. At 8:30 we
got to the ramp. There were already 22
cars there. I thought maybe the event was
getting out of hand, but spotting Duane
Berendsen, chief official and judging
coordinator, I was fully reassured that
everything was running smoothly. I
checked with the lovely ladies at the
registration desk and was informed that
32 entrants had signed in. Their entry
fees together with prizes that were
donated, brought the total prize purse to
over one thousand dollars!!
At noon, after the heated practice
sessions, the eliminations began.
Amateurs were cut to 16, Semi-Pros were
cut to four. Some promising skating was
displayed during the eliminations. The
next event was the grueling consecutive
air event which was an open event (Pro
skaters could enter). Steve Caballero
looped his way to an easy first with 34 in
a row. After this, an unprecedented add-
on event was held. This new event proved
to be very worthwhile and quite amusing.
The line started with a layback air. One
trick after another was added, and 10.
tricks later a handplant into fakie clinched
first place for Lance Mountain. Following
this was open skating to all entrants and
officials. Lance, John, Stevie and I
headed back to San Jose to hit some
prime spots before sundown.
NOR-CAL PORTFOLIO
Sunday morning, the same crew. We
get to the ramp and there was some wild
commotion at hand. Random inquiries
revealed that some stray skater had been
swooped up by one of Milo, the mountain
terrorist, man traps. It was John Insco.
The crowd broke as the open practice
began. John was visibly shaken and didn't
do well. At 11 a.m. the judges, Stevie
Caballero, Joel Gomez, Scott Foss,
Lance Mountain and Tom Nicodemo, took
their seats and the Am cut to eight began.
Chris Cook was his usual rolling-chaos
self and landed a number one position.
Corey O'Brien, a San Jose up-and-comer,
blazed to a second place spot. Tommy
Guerrero and Keith Meek were seeded
third and fourth with Sam Cunningham,
Joel Chavez, Harry Williams, and Andy
Berendsen in fifth through eighth positions.
These finalists were then seeded on the
head-to-head chart. I chose this break in
the action to snap up a few tasty breakfast
dogs from Dan Denikes' Tailgate Diner.
to the losers' bracket. Corey then pro-
ceeded to tear his way straight to the final
match against Sam Cunningham. Sam
displayed a tremendous run, but had to
settle for second as O'Brien, the unspon-
sored Skate Scene mag editor, dominated
the match with contorted layback airs and
other lofty tricks.
The Semi-Pro event was next, and the
chart showed Peter Gifford pitted against
Randy Katen and Bob Denike against
Gary Boodt. Midtown's pride and joy,
Kiwi, defeated the Sacto threat, as famed
downhiller Bob Denike edged Gary Boodt
to the losers' bracket. Gary, however,
clocked mega air time to fight back up
through the losers' bracket and meet Giff
in the final match-up; however, Kiwi's
antics (such as frontside sliding, rock-n-
rolls) earned him the highest score of the
contest and a first place worth $150.
The sun was still high in the sky and the
last event of the great weekend was the
highest air event. This event is always a
By now the Amateur finals had begun thriller as the upper limits are sought and
so I wolfed my soya-sticks down and
the slams are magnified. The crowd grew
wormed my way through the 200+
boisterous as the mark rose on the
people to the front. Cook and O'Brien measuring stick. They pushed in closer
beat their opponents, dropping them to and at two and one half feet only Gary
the losers bracket. Corey unleashed a
Boodt, Bob Denike, Steve Caballero and
tremendous round five run to bump Chris Lance Mountain remained. Gary dropped
Man from Sacto, Sam Cunningham, flew into 2nd place in the amateur division. KT Photo
at two feet nine inches, Bob soon followed
at three feet. These marks were just
warmups for the two pros, Stevie and
Lance. The excitement grew as the mark
rose to the end of the measuring stick,
four feet. Both cleared it on first attemptss.
An extension of a half foot was taped on,
but the event was called a draw as these
two heavyweights levitated well above the
extension for four and a half feet plus.
With the completion of the awards
ceremonies, the Summit V Open drew to
a close. A virtual comucopia of skate
prizes and money was distributed to the
winners. A complete skateboard went to
the overall four event winner for having
the best combined scores in all events,
and to whom else but Bob Denike, who
Kevin Thatcher has dubbed "the best all
around skater in the world."
It occurred to me as I drove the
Variflexers back to the station that more
than 2,000 miles away at the Cherry Lane
ramp in Ohio, the very same thing had
happened, and same down in Texas a
few weeks earlier, and who knows, there
may be countless backyard contests all
over the world. If ramps are the lifeblood
of skating today, backyard competitions
are the backbone for a long and progres-
sive future for the sport in years to come.
THER
FANT
CRUZ
VanFLEX
vanFLEX
VanFLEX
THRASHER
GRENIC
SKATES