Born again skating at the Texas Pipeline
S.U.A.S. contest. Photo: Newtron
COMPETITION
DATELINE MORRO BAY,
SEPTEMBER 25, 1983
Though, "The Ditch" has been rid-
den fairly consistently since 1975,
has never been the site of an actual
competition. With the upswing in
skate energy along the central coast,
we felt the time had come to stage the
areas first ditch riding contest. In short
order posters were made, the ditch
was cleaned by local skaters, and
calls were made to Thrasher and vari-
ous manufacturers in search of prize
donations. Now for the hard part, judg-
ing, to many this is an ugly word. After
conferring with numerous people in
the skateboard world we devised the
following format. Judging criteria,
number of different manuevers, rad-
ness (difficulty) of manuevers and
overall use of the skating area. Scor-
ing. 1-100 point system. A three point
penalty was assessed per bail per run.
Skaters received two runs in the qual-
ifying round with their highest scoring
run determining their seeding into the
eight man, head to head final
The finalists would be seeded into
the head to head bracketing on a high-
est versus lowest qualifier basis (1-8,
2-7, 3-6, 4-5). Each skater was given
one run against his opponent, with
the higher score advancing. We em
ployed a double elimination bracket-
ing system, which simply means you
have to lose twice to be eliminated.
Contest day arrived with an over-
cast sky but there was nothing gray
about the attitudes of the skaters in af-
tendance. Skaters competing re-
resented quite a broad cross section
ranging from first generation ditch
skaters Eric Meyer and Payton Hough
to newer skaters such as Tim Cowan.
Rounding out the contingent was
Keith Meek of Santa Cruz.
Round one of qualifying was some-
what of a learning experience for
some skaters who pushed them-
selves a little beyond their abilities and
paid the price in hippers and lower
scores due to the bail penalty. We
used five judges throwing out the high
and low marks. Standouts in the first
round included Chris Queen, Keith
Meek and Eric Meyer scoring 227,
226, and 212 respectively.
In the second round Keith Meek
posted a 235, while Chris Queen
equaled his first round score as did
Eric Meyer. Match ups for the finals
looked like this: (1) Keith Meek vs (8)
Scott Boyce, (2) Chris Queen vs (7)
Mike Coutre, (3) Curt Lowgren vs (6)
Shawn Eckland, (4) Eric Meyer vs (5)
Brian Ezzell. There was only a 36
point difference between the first eight
qualifiers.
Round one of the finals saw Meek,
Meyer, Queen and Eckland advanc-
ing to the winners brackets. Eric
Meyer scored an upset in round two
by defeating Keith Meek 226 to 218
Chris Queen also advanced with ag
gressive skating and no bails. Round
two eliminations included newcomer
Brianbb Ezzell and the skating come-
dian Curt 'Flowgren' Lowgren.
In round three Chris Queen handed
Eric Meyer his first loss winning by a, in less than 15 minutes. Still, even
223-203 margin. Keith Meek elimi- with three bails marring his final run he
nated Scott Boyce while Shawn Eck- was able to score 209 points. So now
and knocked out surprising rookie it was Chris Queen's moment, having
Mike Coutre. By round four every ska- watched Meyer's run he knew what he
ter except Queen had one loss. Ner- had to do and he did. Skating very ag-
vous time!! Keith Meek was pitted gressively and with no falls in his last
against local Shawn Eckland who was run Queen chalked up a total of 215
in his first competition. Meek's experi- points to take it all.
ence and wide range of moves moved
him into the semi-finals heat against
Eric Meyer. The winner of the Meyer-
Meek duel would then do battle with
the undefeated Chris Queen.
Queen who wasn't even sure about
entering the contest was a model of
consistency averaging 217 points for
his eight runs. He also had only six
bails during the entire event.
Wayback type layback, Kelth Meek at The Ditch' in Morro Bay. Photo: P. Martian.
Both Meek and Meyer yanked out
all the stops and when the dust from
Meyer's patented off road excursions
beyond the lip cleared "E-Man" had
earned the right to meet Queen in the
finals. It must be pointed out that
Meek was skating with a severe leg
cramp during these final runs and yet
like a true sportsman never com-
plained or used it as an excuse.
The skaters themselves made this
contest an exciting and fun event.
There was a real sense of camraderie
as skaters cheered each others' runs.
There were no complaints about the
judging, this was probably due to our
excellent judges, Tim Piumarta, Gary
Fluitt Rob Roskopp, Bob Denike,
Craig Ramsay, Eric Hom, Greg Mar-
tinez and Ross McGowan. Scorers
Meyer versus Queen for the cham- Paul Dunn, Dale Masten and Jason
pionship. Queen was definitely in the Kastner kept everything in order and
drivers seat as Meyer would have to moving smoothly. Paul also lent his
defeat him twicef in succesion to grab vocal talents to the video of this con-
the title. Meyer once again started his test. The video was done by Mike
run with his off-road antics and fol- Claney at Central Coast Surfboards. I
lowed with everything in his bag of would especially like to thank Tim
tricks including backwards grinds, Plumarta and N.H.S. for their put-
switchstances and fakie 360's. He standing support. Thanks again to
was able to force Queen into one everyone involved and that includes
more round by squeaking out a 225- Hugh
214 win.
RESULTS
By virtue of a coin flip Queen chose
to skate second in the final heat of the
day. Meyer's skating was somewhat 2.
less energetic and intense due to 3.
exhaustion, having skated three times 4.
1. Chris Queen 5. Mike Coutre
Eric Meyer 6. Scott Boyce
Keith Meyer 7. Curt Lowgren
Shawn Eckland 8. Bryan Ezzel
S.U.A.S SERIES OF TEXAS
(SHUT UP AND SKATE
Pipeline, Houston
Howdy Skate Pardners!! Looks like
the dry spell for contests in Texas has
broken again, and broken hard!! This
series is designed to get people off
their asses and skate (and it's work-
ing). The first contest in the 5 part
series was held at the long closed,
heavily sessioned Pipeline Skatepark
in Houston.
Slalom and Bank riding were on the
agenda, but, the slalom event was
changes to freestyle due to mud and
water on the slalom course, from hur-
ricane Bob or Bruce; or whoever.
The freestyle was 1st. and included
everyone that entered the bank event.
Ya see, I made everybody attempt
freestyle whether they liked it or not.
The second event was what everyone
came for: Bank Riding. Again it looks
as though the local skatepokes were
to rule. I think these guys could skate
blindfolded.
#2 Longview:
This one was cancelled by the ramp
owner's father at the very last minute
for unknown reasons.
#3 Austin:
Ah, Austin! The happening city of
Texas and this weekend was no ex-
ception. The night before the contest
was the 1st show for the Big Boys
since their return from touring the
east. (Also on the bill were Necros and
Offenders). This event took place on a
backyard ramp next to Skate Amigo,
Lee Daniel's house. For the first time
a novice division was tried. After some
coaxing and pleading the guys who
never enter, did enter and ripped!!
Next up was 18 and under, with
boards edging out all over that ramp.
Following was the 19 and over divi
sion, these guys tore it up pretty good.
for a bunch of old people (ha ha).
Anyhoo, there's a couple of con-
tests left to go, so don't touch that dial.
If you're near Dallas on November
12th stop by for the finals of the
S.U.A.S. Series.
S.U.A.S. SERIES RESULTS:
(PIPELINE) HOUSTON
Bank Riding
18 and under
1
1 Tommy Harmel
2
David Ruel
3 Kevin Northrup
1 Hubert Plumber
19 and over
2 Robert Bradley
3 Jeb Woops
Freestyle (open)
1 Todd Prince
2 Joe Nichols
3 Keith Rodgers
LONGVIEW #2-CANCELLED
Austin #3
Halfpipe
18 and under
1 Tommy Harmel
2 Todd Prince
3 Randy Stawffer
Novice
1 Bob Asbille
2 Clay Daniel
3 Rob Buford
UPLAND C.A.S.L.
Sept. 17, 1983
19 and over
1 Ken Fillion
Tim Litzman
3 Tom Barrows
2
Pro
John Gibson
2 Jeff Phillips
Well, another one in the series of
(in)famous California Amateur
Skateboard League (C.A.S.L) con-
tests has come and gone. On Sep-
tember 17th, Upland was the site of
contest #7, with the events being the
combi-pool and bank slalom.
I found out via a phone call that the
park was located on Arrow Hwy. What
they forgot to tell me is that there are
two "Arrow Hwy's" in Upland. With my
great sense of direction I took the
wrong one and was soon heading in
the general direction of China. As far
Adrian Demain, foot off, two feet out,
Upland. Photo: Chris Ortiz.
as the eye could see there were
farms, cows, rice fields...I started to
panic. Was I in friendly territory? Was
tin Russian Radar range? Would to-
morrow's headline read "Upland-bound
skater blown up by Soviets"? These
were all questions that needed an-
swering. I pulled into a gas station to
ask directions. While the attendant
answered in another language I
glanced at his name tag. It read
"Ching-Hua"... Through an interpreter
I was able to pinpoint the general di-
rection of the park, after traveling
three major interstates and various
backroads, I arrived at the park. As I
got out of the car, three things caught
my immediate attention: 1) Large
groups of people I didn't like were
gathered in the parking lot. 2) Too
many skaters were riding oneparticular
piece of concrete. 3) It cost money to
skate. Aren't skateparks fun? I paid
and went in. After 15 minutes or so I
found someone who liked me. This
was a good sign. We skated the pool
after most of the geeks split and drew
some lines. Even if you have never
been to the Pipeline, I'm sure you've
heard many outrageous stories about
the massive combi-pool so I'll spare
you all the boring heights and dimen-
sions, etc, etc. Let's just say that every
story you've heard about this in-
timidating structure is true. Some
people drop in and are never seen or
heard from again. Believe it or not....
I crashed at my friends house,
awoke and arrived at the park early
the next morning. Many of the C.ASL
regulars were there trying to get in
some last minute practice. Some were
successful, others weren't. By the
looks of practice the contest skating
was going to be intense, but so was
the smog. By the time the 1st heats
started we were in the midst of a 1st
stage alert. Great exercise for the
lungs though. Kind of like smoking a
carton of cigs all at once and then try-
ing to skate. On the balcony above the
pro shop, David Mock and some guy
from Madrid were giving some skaters
much needed haircuts under the pre-
tense of being more aerodynamic' for
bank slalom. By three or so in the af-
ternoon all of the divisions had skated
(results are printed below). Some
skaters got trophies. Some didn't.
Most of them skated hard though, and
that's what counts. Especially note-
worthy were the top sponsored skat-
ers runs. Chris Miller really flexed
some local muscle by turning in a pro-
caliber performance. He rips, plus
he's so modest! (He's his own favorite
skater.)
Next month's C.A.S.L. is sure to be
a real thriller (haha), freestyle and
tight slalom at Paramount. Upland
was the 1st of three remaining con-
tests which count for double points.
With the standings getting closer in all
divisions, the final two contests will
make or break some skaters. Who will
win? Who will lose? Stay tuned and
find out.
-Billy Runaway
THER
V
Uplands' master Am, Chris Miller, backside air. Photo: Chris Ortiz.
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