BOONEY RAMP
some!" God I'm bumming myself). The
types in town to compete were literally blaz-
ing, despite the lack of masonite and the
presence of splinters on the ramp's work-.
ing surface. In town and around were: Neil
Blender (with a complete supply of tortilla
chips and I'm still wondering why the
sesame flavor Dorito's were discontinued),
Steve Steadham, Bill Ruff, Lester Kasai,
Tony Hawk, Jeff Phillips, Eddie Reategui,
Kevin Staub, Christian Hosoi, John Gib-
son, Chris Miller, Joe Johnson, Craig
Johnson, Mike Smith, Bill Danforth, Marty
Jimenez, Jeff Grosso, Spidey, Lucero and
a whole lot of other dudes.
T.S.O.L. playing "out-of-des
Soon after the dark came down, so did a
slight sprinkle, drizzling the scenario. The
night life consisted of a mandatory atten-
dance of the T.S.O.L. show, in which the
skaters gathered in force. The skies were
dense with clouds, and the thunder and
lightning ruled the night, complete with a
high-powered electrical storm that eventu-
ally rendered the population into darkness.
when a couple of telephone poles arced,
causing a major shut down situation
throughout most of the city. T.S.O.L. never
played, and every one wandered through
the night in search of a gathering spot to be
festive and party. No such luck.
EAGLE ROCK
Joe Wood, man of a million
grimaces
"You take one more picture boy... you know the
CONTEST
It was decided to have the pro contest/
jam/deal first, before the temperatures rose
back up to well-done. The storm clouds
were gone, the ground was dry and the
ramp suffered little from the downpours of
the night before (although, during the night,
there was flash-flooding throughout the
area).
Jeff Phillips, ripping-and-ripping." to the point of
Injury, Big "alley-oop" by this Texan, minutes be
fore popping a few ribs.
A crowd gathered, numbering some-
where in the hundreds, and at some point,
the contest began. How it went, was that
the pros were split up into two groups. They
skated and were scored in a manner which
qualified them for the final half-hour jam.
After the qualifying runs were tallied, the
top eight were determined, and an-
nounced. At the top of the heap was Jeff
Phillips, but due to an unfortunate fall on
his last qualifying run (which was one of the
most excellent displays of riding ever wit-
nessed), he broke a few ribs and was un-
able to continue into the finals. Hey, this
sport does take its toll. Also out in the "ouch
department" was Lester Kasai, who sent a
splinter up (or was it down) the length of his
fingor. Yeah, it gave me the shakes too
when I saw it. Before they took to the ramp
again for the final jam, many of the riders
chose to cool themselves off in the water-
ing hole, resulting in the diving board being
broken by some overzealous, oversized
white athlete.
Ed Reategul, high backside air.
THE JAM
Alright, so Ruff, Hosoi, Blender, Hawk,
Gibson, Steadham, Staab, and Johnson
were in the jam, OK? OK, don't ask me
again. At first, the riders were announced
in an order so as to introduce them to the
crowd. After that it was everyone for him-
self.Since they do have ample respect for
each other, there was no serious snaking
to be witnessed. Immediately, the boys
picked up the pace and were tempted to
out-do each other. Blender, who's got to be
one of my favorite skaters to watch, was
just not being serious at all, but that's good.
His non-serious airs were godly, and his
"Donner Party" moves amazed. Another fa-
vorite of mine to watch was good of Chris-
tian Hosoi (who owes by the way). He had
some of the highest and lengthiest airs that
pushed the brink. High airs are pretty much
the norm right now with some of the boys.
Continued page 28
Yeah, that's right, it's Steve Caballero
Steve Steadham is proving these days that he is definitely a force to be-
reckoned with
First Nell Blender brought you the "lien-alr," then the "bean-
plant." Now, with the idea of John Lucero we witness the "Station-
ary-bean-in." "Yeah, John presented me with the idea. I thought it
was happening, so now it's an actual move. Recall, this is done
from a stand still