VAN
DOREN
کلو VANS
VISION
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ATCA
THRIDHER
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GULL
COMPETITION
1983 HOLIDAY PRO/AM
Dec. 30-31, 1983
Del Mar Skate Ranch
To end a year that has seen our
sport transcend back into high gear,
an action packed event like the Del
Mar Holiday Classic seemed 'appropo."
The competition, held December 30
and 31 featured Pro-Am banked free-
style with a special women's division
and an amateur pool jam.
Late Wednesday night I sat in
Denny's, the mandatory skaterville
hangout, with fellow Kingpins band
members and five gorgeous blond sis-
ters who had come to see us headline
at The Works,' a cool local club
downtown. The club was packed with
a largely skater-crowd, and you
woulda wiped sweat off the walls from
all the crazy stompin' that had gone
on. Bob Denike and I were exhausted
and had to bail so we could catch
some Z's before our trip to Del Mar the
next day.
Bob Schmelzer, Gary Boodt, Den-
ike, Valerie and I boarded the plane.
with little hassle other than a truck in
Gary's bag being mistaken for a hand-
gun.
Once seated, all in row 22, we no-
ticed a wayward soul, Tony Chiala, a
local skate-rat seated a few rows
down. The kid typifies your standard
Skaterville skater: he has just enough
money to get to the contest, but has
no clue how he's going to eat, where
he's going to stay or how he'll get back
to San Jose. The kid ended up tagging
with us the rest of the trip.
Sonya Catalano, who met us at the
airport in San Diego thought nothing
of wedging all plus luggage into her
compact. The lady must be com-
mended for dedication in the local
skate-scene in S. California.
We checked in at the park, skated
'til dark then the S-ville crew all
seemed to migrate to the nearest
Denny's. Our local guide, Owen
Nieder, casually shifted from table to
table grazing on everything left by pre-
vious customers including stale co
fee.
Later Valerie scammed us a hotel
room and Bob Denike rounded up a
case of suds. One by one a total of
eight skaters "showed up" knocking at
our door. The tiny room was soon sar-
dine-city.
Bob Schmeltzer couldn't deal with
the crowd and he and I went outside
for some street session. Bob soon
began breakdancing outside the room.
He was ripping for awhile, then a slip
caused him to scrape his entire face
on the asphalt. Blood, first aid, sleep.
Back at the park, Denike and I were
judging the first event, the 14 and
under open Am pool competition.
Goodman blazed to take first. In the
over 14 division Cameron Tabbytite
displayed some advanced maneuvers
to win the event. I must also commend
Tony Chiala for taking fourth place
even after he was forced, due to over-
crowded conditions, to sleep all night
in the bathtub of our room. The poor
kid was even rudely awoken several
Contortion session. Eddie Reatigui hung
on to beat Kevin Staab in the Am pool jam.
Photo:KT
Per Welinder sitting on top of the Pro freestyle heap.
Canadian, Stephen Harnish.
times by late night toilet users, and
had a square faucet fixture mark on
his forehead in the morning.
During the break before the ama-
teur invitational freestyle event I was
amused to see an obese duffer stroll-
ing from the next door golf facility by
the keyhole unimpressed by the blaz-
ing going on in it. It wasn't the man's
bored expression I found entertaining.
but the fact that he was being fol-
lowed about and plastered with stick-
ers directly on his body clueless!!
Jason Cattalano upset teammates
Bob Schmelzer and Anthony Sedillo
to capture first in the Am freestyle
event. He displayed great control with
a very impressive routine. Bob Break-
er Schmelzer took second.
Over in the pool the sponsored
Am's were getting their lines down for
tomorrow's elimination. Bob Denike
and I became hungry and followed our
noses to a local pizza joint where we
were delighted to find all the NSA offi-
cials, industry reps and some elite
sponsored riders scarfing on a tab.
Soon after a satisfying meal, small
projectiles of pizza began ollie-ing be-
tween tables. It was decided that we
should leave before the inevitable
bust.
Madrid team captain, rep, and all
around cool guy, Beau Brown allowed
our crew to crash his hotel room that
night. It took another two cases to put
up with Keith Stephensen and Tony,
but soon we were all heavily sawing
wood.
The sun shone proud for the spon-
sored pool dogs. The weather was
perfect on this last day of the year and
the action was hot and heavy in the
keyhole.
The large contingent of shredders
was cut to the top 12 Am's for the jam
later in the day.
The action moved over to the reser-
voir for the women's freestyle event.
Leslie Ann Miller displayed a graceful
routine to nab top honors. April Hoff-
man, second, and Michelle Sander-
son, Third are developing rapidly into
strong contenders in the women's di-
vision. Diane Veerman was absent as
she and boyfriend Primo Desiderio
are in Hawaii skating for a movie.
The Pro freestyle event looked to be
up for grabs without heavyweights
Rodney Mullen, Kevin Harris, Primo
or Keith Butterfield to contend with.
The pair of Pers were blazing as was
their Swedish bro Hazzi Zindgren.
Rocco also made a fine showing with
an intense Roccoesque bank ripping
routine. A surprise invader from
Canada, Stephen Harnish, turned in
several very exciting routines set to
some amusing music to capture third
place. Holknekt nailed second, and
Welinder flowed into first.
The last event of the day (for the
year for that matter) was the spon-
sored amateur pool jam. The jam ideá
is new to the Southern California com-
petition scene and tended to be
more regulated than previous jams,
but it stil proved to be a successful
crowd pleaser as well as a vehicle for
promoting one of the most intense
sessions I've witnessed in this famed
keyhole.
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