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COMPETITION
M.E.S.S. #5
Thursday afternoon Oct. 20th we are leaving
Tampa, Fla. for Oak Ridge, Tenn., for the
M.E.S.S. series finals. Chuck Hults, Steve
Marinak, John Grigley, and myself, Paul Schmitt,
are committed to a 13-hour, 700-mile drive in my
VW adventure bus. I decide to go for a route that
I believe is more direct. After going up, down,
and around the mountains in the dark, I start to
wonder. As the sun starts to arise, we are still
going up, down, and around these mountains. I
ask myself if this is the worst mistake I have
made in my whole life. The bus isn't accustomed
to climbing mountains and is having a difficult
time. While in the mountains the bus manages to
break an accelerator cable; Grigley finds a
souvenir rock and we all obtain motion sickness
from going up, down, and around the mountains
over and over. Finally we arrive in Oak Ridge
four hours late. The mountains were bad
enough, but when we get there it is overcast with
rain falling from the sky. Near the ramp we man-
age to get sideswiped by a truckload of cows,
luckily only minor damage consisting of a lost
mirror, scratches, and a dent. I was able to make
$75 instant cash from the incident.
We arrive to the ramp around noon to find a
soaked ramp and many bummed skaters. The
weather forecast is bad, but it's dry in Atlanta. It
seems this M.E.S.S. contest may not survive
though it could have easily hosted 40 to 50 skat-
ers from 10 states. Phone calls come in from
miles away only to be discouraged by the weath-
er. Many have decided not to come and some
are ready to leave. After a lot of thought, it is de-
cided to try to move the contest to Atlanta which
has a lesser chance of rain and a better ramp.
Us and some Ohioans decide to journey to At-
lanta Friday evening (with others to follow in the
skaters head to the top in a glass elevator above
the clouds, up and down 72 stories in a matter of
minutes. After leaving the elevators we were
soon followed by security guards in tuxes so we
went out into the streets where a blue van pulls
up with under cover policemen jumping out to
find out what was going on.
After some bullshit we headed onward to the
688 Club where graffiti is used for wallpaper. We
made sure to add to the graffiti with our own
marks. A few shitty bands play. After boredom
sets in, I break my crutch while spinning 360's,
we get kicked out of the girls' bathroom, my bro-
ken crutch is taken away (they called it a
weapon) by the doorman, who comments on
T.K.'s elbow pads and our crowd in general,
some decide to cause a ruckus by slamming to
some unslammable music.
Onward to a dry parking garage for a quick
session before security breaks it up. T.K. takes
us for a drive through downtown at 3:00 in the
morning to harass prostitutes and be amazed by
all the big city fags. We are finally led out of
downtown so we can go to sleep.
Sunday is wet so we mess around and then
head homeward for nine more hours of driving.
Hope you can come on our next adventure or
make one of your own.
SPONSORED
1. John Grigley
2. Lenny Byrd
3. Marty Jiminez
4. Chuck Hults
5. Steve Marinak
6. John Brissie
7. Brett Martin
morning) for a four-hour drive to the Ramp John Grigley, pushing it.
Ranch IL We arrive around 10:00 to see a well-
lighted and dry ramp which is great to see after
watching five hours of wet ramp in Oak Ridge.
Skating commences until 1:00 in the morning.
Saturday morning is overcast but dry, we ar-
rive at the ramp to find that those left in Tenn.
haven't come. They have decided to watch the
rain in Oak Ridge. Since there are no M.E.S.S.
finals here, I decide to have another contest
which shall come to be known as the Ramp
Ranch One-Night Stand, all conceived and to be
executed within a one-day period.
Since I am suffering from a broken foot, I take
on the contest coordinator's position. A session
system shall be used with an unsponsored and
a sponsored division. Each skater gets five un-
timed runs in order and are judged on a person's
skating overall in the five runs. This system is so
casual, there is no contest pressure.
In the unsponsored division semi-local Mike
Harrington captures first with the ability to hang
on and work the ramp well. In second is Kevin
Dickman from Ohio who can pull off more gnarly
falls than anybody I know. In third is Russ Mullis
who is a very determined skater. In the spon-
sored division rain falls after three rides each, so
skaters are judged on three rides instead of five.
John Grigley manages first with channel plants
and airs. In a very close second is local Lenny
Byrd who rips fast lines and high airs all over the
ramp. Marty Jiminez came from Ohio to take
third with lots of tricks, but a few unfortunate falls
The contest is considered a total success with 15
skaters from four states all planned and pulled
off within a day! Too bad for those in Oak Ridge
who didn't stand up and had to watch it rain.
With the contest over it is decided to Venture
into downtown Atlanta for a little fun with Tommy
Kay. First stop brew then on to the Peachtree
Plaza, which is Atlanta's classiest hotel. Fifteen
-Paul Schmitt
UNSPONSORED
1. Mike Harrington
2. Kevin Dickman
Russ Mullis
3.
4. Tommy Kay
5. Jeff Stephenson
6. Tim Humphrey
7. Mark Noland
8. Bill Davis
Photo: Paul Schmitt
Eric Nash
CASL FINAL Del Mar Skate Ranch
On October 29th, Del Mar Skateranch, was
the site of the final contest in the C.A.S.L. series,
and the Keyhole pool played host to numerous
blazing sessions. The night before the contest
the top am's were trying to get that last bit of
practice. The second event on the schedule was
to be a "cross-country" contest, which turned out
to be the most grueling and physically demand-
ing event of the whole season. The run utilized
virtually every portion of the park, and in the spirit
of Halloween, plastic pumpkins and skulls were
used in place of cones. While most of the ams"
were skating Friday nite, some action of a differ-
ent kind was taking place in the freestyle reser-
voir. It seems that several Pro's in attendance
decided that they knew how to "break dance"
and were seen swiveling on their backs and pop-
ping around the reservoir. Crowd favorites in-
cluded Tony Hawk, "Gator," Lester Kasal and his
cousin Terence.
On Saturday morning I arrived at the park and
found it packed with both skaters and spec-
tators. The freestyle reservoir was closed to use
as part of the cross-country and this scattered
skaters into every other run in the park. There
was a line at every bowl, pool, and bank. I had a
quick flashback and thought I was in 1978 at the
height of park popularity. But back to reality. The
contest got off on solemn note as Cameron
Tabby KO'd himself in the square pool while
warming up and had to be carried out by
paramedics. This had all who witnessed it
checking the safety straps on their helmets.
Soon the contest was back in full swing with the
skaters pushing their personal limits. Early favor-
ites in the sponsored Am's practice were Steve
Steadham, Eddie Reategui, and Jeff Gross.
John Lucero was also impressing with his lofty
ollies and typical go for broke approach.
Everyone was looking fast in the X-country and
the difference between 1st and 26th was only 3
seconds, which isn't much considering the
length of the course. All skaters were really
pushing it in order to get as many points as pos-
sible for the final ratings.
Rumor has it that there is definitely another
C.A.S.L Series in the works for next year. Many
thanks to all the hard working parents, sponsors
and skaters who made the '83 Series happen.
See you next year.
Billy Runaway
Jeff Grosso
Photos by Chris Ortiz
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