SKATE CITY/
WHITTIER
CHRISTMAS
CLASSIC
Words & Photos by KJT
Hello, everybody and welcome to the
Skate City/Whittier Christmas Classic here
in beautiful Whittier, CA. This is the second
event in a two contest, holiday double
header, the first of which was held last
week at the world renowned Upland
Pipeline in Upland, CA. Our weather
forecast for today's Pro/Am pool and
freestyle is partly cloudy with a chance of
rain by late evening. Let's hope ol' mother
nature can hold it and prevent a reoccur-
rence of last week's rain delay at Upland.
The pool? Skate City's keyhole. Many
skaters will tell you that it's not the best
bowl to ever have played host to a Pro,
vertical event. But, while the keyhole here
does have its share of faults, like soft
transitions, well worn coping, and general
uneveness, it has been the best site for
many pool events and numerous displays
of vertical bioness. The Skate City
complex itself, with its centralized location
in the middle of the greater L.A. basin, has
provided Southern California skaters with
radical and consistently shreddable
terrain, as well as been a gathering point
for some of the finest verticalists in the
business. The compact nature of the park
encourages pedestrian (non-skater).
spectators, and as you can see, when
contest day comes the bleachers around
the keyhole fill up fast.
With me today is our color man on these
events, and formerly a cracknotch skater
himself, Gnarl E. Grind. Gnarl...
Thanks, Ted. We really are seeing some
outrageous skating going down here today
and we can expect it to get more radical as
the day progresses. As you mentioned
earlier, the pool here is not 100% perfection
but notice how the skaters adapt. You'll
see many boards equipped with double
CAUGHT IN THE ACT-Christian Hosoi's mute air is captured on film by a host of skater/photographers.
sets of rail sliders to try and smooth out the
roughness of this well ground and battered
lip. Fresh grinding devices are being
snapped into place to further facilitate
grinding and sliding maneuvers across
areas where the grout has been literally
blasted away by these gnarly skaters.
Gnarl, you were here for yesterdays
practice sessions, let me list some of the
Pro contenders that we will be seeing
perform here today and maybe you can
give us an evaluation and maybe some
tips on what to watch for from these skating
athletes.
Go ahead, Ted...
Alright how 'bout Tony Hawk, can he pull
a repeat of his performance at Del Mar?
Bred for skating. There's no other way to
describe super-kid, Tony Hawk. Gravity
seems to have no effect on the guy. Tony
doesn't blast aerials, he floats them with
Inset-Overall series winner, Mike McGill)
seemingly effortless precision. He flies!
And with a consistency that causes the
competition to keep their fingers crossed in
hopes that he'll bail. Because if Tony
doesn't bail, he's sure to be a factor.
Billy Ruff, top dog in The Rusty Harris
series.
Calm, cool, collected and BIO describes
Billy Ruff's strategy in a contest situation.
In the clutch, when the money's out on the
table, and everything counts, you'll usually
find Billy right in the thick of it. A key here
is that Billy is breaking out of a two month
layoff after taking overall honors in The
Rusty Harris series. But he looks to be in
top shape, Ted. Billy has a knack for
controlling his mental and emotional
levels, as well as his skating when it
counts; in the Finals. If Billy Ruff sets the
pace in this event, there is a good chance
no one will be able to keep up.
STEPPING UP-Neil Blender steps into a lien air and first place at Skate City.
Vannax
VanALEX
VanPLEX
INDEPENDENT
S
GULLWING
van