Mama
Clockwise from left: Tommy Guerrero and the
City Boys crew from S.F did most of the yelling
as well as much of the skating during the weekend.
TG. throws a hookar in front of Jaz's concrete canvas
Kevin Harris flowed, styled and spun into first while
"Skateboard Mama" gassed on the action. Hang tan
"Sport Board." Bob Schmelzer flipped to first in Am
sponsored. Jason Catalano Issued a warning to the
other pros with his inspired skating.
Freeloading at
VENICE
NSA 4
The NSA Summer Series of Skateboard-
ing reconvened at the famed Venice Beach
pavilion on Sunday, July 15, for a round of
"freestyle only" skateboarding. A field of the
best Pro and Am flatlanders as well as a
whole slew of vert and street skaters con-
verged on the contest site Sunday morning
to either help out, hang out or skate it out
for top prize money and trophies.
Skateboarding is nothing new to the Ven-
ice strand beach area. Neither is hackey
sack, frisbee dogs, rollerskating, break
dancing, iron pumping, flesh exposing,
chainsaw juggling, general lowlifing and
other California coastside activities that
have roots here. In other words, this little
stretch of the western world, between
Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey, has
seen just about every trend, fad and bizarre
activity to come along since the turn of the
century. Most of the more unusual stunts
being performed here are exclusive to this
two-mile stretch. But due to extensive
coverage by lame T.V. media that thrive on
fly by night stupidity (e.g.. Real People,
etc.) are familiar to people the world over
as typifying the California lifestyle.
Weekend Babylon.
Some of the high and low points of the
contest: smooth and flowing Canadian
freestyle pro Kevin Harris came on strong
to beat out favored stylist Per Welinder in
the Pro final. Harris puts together one of
the most flowing routines we've seen lately,
combining one and two footed multiple
spins with graceful wheelie variations. His
footwork and kick flips perfectly timed to
music were enough to wow the crowd and
woo the judges. Welinder, on the other
hand, has pushed his degree of difficulty
way up. Per's handstand board flip to land-
ing, nose wheelie space walks and pogo
stands on one foot while torquing and grab-
bing the other have brought him to near
beach
Rodney Mullen (who may be coming out
of retirement) levels. Unfortunately, when
Per misses or even wavers in his perfec-
tion, the judging tends to compare him to
his own potential rather than to the other
contestants.
In other Pro action, Primo Desiderio, a
familiar face around west L.A. street
scenes, waltzed, styled and posed his way
into third place, while his girlfriend and part-
ner, Diane Veerman, surprisingly edged
into sixth in front of Per Holknekt (7) and
Mike Foster (8). Rounding out fourth place
was Jason Catalano, and fifth went to Keith
Butterfield, who has made a full return to
the Pro freestyle ranks.
Earlier in the day the sponsored
amateurs put on an impressive demonstra-
tion. If you've already guessed that top
amateur trickster Bob Schmelzer won it,
you're right. That makes five firsts in a row
for Bob, whose no-handed pogo into one-
footed pogo into a one-footed rail stand
subtly blew minds. Bob's win didn't come
without some pressure though, mainly from
Fabian Kravetz (second), who has come
on strong in a short period of time. Third
place Am was pint-size rip kid Eric Sander-
son. Eric has a good routine and stays on
his board. Following up the top eight Ams
were Lynn Cooper, fourth; Ray Gardea,
fifth; Dave Tucker, sixth; April Hoffman,
seventh; and Eric Hilton, eighth.
RESULTS
VENICE PRO/AM
PRO
1. Kevin Harris
2. Per Welinder
3. Primo Desiderio
4. Jason Catalano
5. Keith Butterfield
6. Diane Veerman
7. Per Holknekt
8. Mike Foster
SPONSORED AM
1. Bob Schmelzer
2. Fabian Kravetz
3. Eric Sanderson
4. Lynn Cooper
5. Ray Gardea
6. Dave Tucker
7. April Hoffman
8. Eric Hilton