ENGLAND SKATES
CRYSTAL PALACE "FUN
DAY-ENGLAND
The month of June found English.
skaters in the London area in a par-
ticularly stoked state of mind. This
was due to the fact that London was
in the midst of its first weekend of de-
cent weather since what seemed.
like the early 1800's, prime for hectic
skate sessions to take place. Much
of the sessioning was focused on
the Crystal Palace, a large sports
center outside of London which con-
tains (among other items designed
for recreational pursuits) a killer 1/2
pipe.
On the particular weekend in
question, a harsh session was
scheduled to go down at Crystal
Palace. Upon arrival at said prem-
ises, other unknown individuals had
apparently also planned an outing
for this day.
"Fun Day at the Palace promised
to be the stuff of which legends are
English Bobby
"I find it quite fascinating." "Glad to
see 'em do something that keeps
em busy."
made. The flyers advertising the
event promised "A day of fun for
families of all ages." The main event
on schedule for the day was the
ever-popular thrill-a-minute sport of
"Lawn Mower Racing." Rright, O.K.,
fine, whatever you say. We im-
mediately decided to bail this major
sporting event and cruised over to
the 1/2 pipe. Obviously quite a few
other unsatisfied mower people had
the same idea, for as we arrived on
the scene, a full-on session was al-
ready in progress, with a healthy
amount of spectators on hand to wit-
ness the real meaning of fun.
The 1/2 pipe was being shredded
and the now converted lawn-mower
fans were way stoked. I kept a low
profile and moved through the area,
quizzing skaters and spectators
alike on various subjects. Here's a
slice of "average" (if such a term
does in fact exist) skater/spectators
remarks:
Phil
A man who ignores heroes and re-
fuses to enter any sort of organized
skate contest.
On Skating: "Fine."
On Girls: "Fine."
Lawn Mower Racing: "Not so good."
Bud
Heavy ripper after only 6 months of
vertical skating. Recently picked up
by Hollywood Sk8's. He admits his
small stature and credits it to a pos-
sible lack of adequate fresh vegeta-
bles and milk as a kid.
Harold "Angry Person"
Armchair political activist/avid
mower racing fan.
On hearing my American accent:
"Tell your Ray-Gun to go home! We
stopped the city yesterday and we'll
do it again, etc. (Obviously a par-
ticipant in the "Stop the City" dem-
onstration/riot which coincided with
Reagan's visit the preceding day.)
On Skating: "Bloody crazy blokes,
the lot of 'em."
On Mower Racing: "I'll be there later,
It's going to be bloody good." etc.
Lucian Hendricks
England's answer to Christ. Way
stylish and smoother than an infant's
buttocks. Harbors bionic tenden-
cies.
On skating: "It's good."
Steve Douglas
Sponsored Am for Madrid. English
Skateboard Assoc. Skater of the
year, '83.
On Skating: "Ride 'em."
On Girls: "Send 'em over."
On Life: "Like a frontside R & R.
Tough."
E.S.A. SERIES-
FARNBOROUGH CONTEST
LAFE
The English Skateboard Associa-
tion "Skater of the Year" series has
one less contest to go, following the
latest competition at the
Farnborough Ramp. These contests
are taken quite seriously by the En-
glish skaters, since the top 3
finishers in each catergory will score
a free trip to the States (where
else?) courtesy of a beefy grant from
the government (I knew Margaret
Thatcher was good for something).
Yes, so, anyway...where was 1?
Oh yeah, to say that these guys go
balls out (feminist types please ex-
cuse the expression) is an under-
statement. Upon arriving to the site
where the ramp was located, I im-
mediatly concluded the following: a)
I was still hungover, b) I had missed
the Hi-jump event and had come in
half-way to the end of freestyle, c)
No girls over age 16 were present.
Yes, well, when the freestyle
event was over, a major upset had
taken place, Mac, this guy who rips
real hard, wears Independent shirts
and rolls his own tobacco, had
beaten English Pro Freestyle King
Shane Rouse, who spent too much
time spotting trains when he should
have been practicing. Mac was
stoked, which was understandable,
Shane was hating life, also under-
standable.
About this time the skaters started
to warm up on the halfpipe. One guy
was real smooth and stylish, throw-
ing some picture perfect grinds and
airs. I soon found out that the man in
question was none other than Brad
Bowman, who was in the U.K. re-
cruiting team riders for Hollywood
Sk8's
Which brings us right up to the "B"
group on the 1/2 pipe, which was
won by a new Bowman recruit called
Bud. This guy is just too small but he
rips hard and with a little more ex-
perience he'll be bumming many a
rad skater's life in the near future.
Finishing behind Bud was the infam
ous Davross, hanging up and slam-
ming his way into second place. See
this guy ride before it's too late.
After the "B" group skaters
finished laying down the lines, the
"A" group, who had been cut to 8 on
the previous day, started to take
their warm ups. This was obviously
the event all girls under 16 and
everyone else for that matter, had
been waiting for, cuz the crowd soon
surrounded the ramp, photo-
graphers were firing away and skat-
ers were going for it. The warm-ups
almost out shredded the contest,
and as a result one skater KO'd him-
self and had to sit the jam out. Lee
Bryan also tried his damndest to KO
himself, but after a harsh dose of
smelling salts he came back to snag
3rd (yes, 3rd) in the contest.
So, I bet you're wondering who
got 1st and 2nd, right? Well, I'm
going to tell you anyway. Sean Goff
(Vision) won because he's a man.
Fakie backside boneless, and
frontside ice plants, cinched it for
him. The guy doesn't know the word
fear, so don't show this article to
him, OK?
Lucien Hendricks mute grabs over the Farnborough structure.
Lucian Hendricks copped the sec-
ond spot by being the most exciting
skater on the ramp. His airs just got
loftier and loftier as the crowd
pushed him on. Some thought he
had won, but that's what they got for
thinking. At any rate, Lucian's air
was definitely in the nose bleed cat-
egory. After all the contest riding
was over, more skaters took to the
ramp. Bowman was back on the
ramp, as were a lot of the "A" group
skaters. Roger Harvey, a way shred-
ding guy who's 28 and scored all the
under 16 girls, was laying down
some lines. This guy was a Pro back
in 74-75 when you were probably
still worrying about puberty. Then,
this guy with shorts, no shirt and
some harsh looking scars on his
body shows up. He borrows a board,
gets on the ramp with no pads on
(could explain the scars) and does a
hand plant. Within 7 or 8 seconds,
everyone there knew it was Mark
Baker, past Powerflex rider and ses-
sion partner of Tony Alva. I was im-
pressed, especially when later he
tried to pilfer a piece of Kentucky
Fried Chicken, got caught and
talked his way out of it. So that's
where this contest weekend ended.
for most participants, in the Col-
onel's restaurant. The people who
worked there were not happy about
this. We didn't even care. I think they
sensed that...
Billy Runaway
"Skate or die trying"
RESULTS
"A" Freestyle
1.
Mac McEchra
"A" Group 1/2 Pipe
1. Sean Goff
2. Lucian Hendricks
3. Lee Bryan
2. Shane Rouse
3. Jean-Marc Vaissette
"B" Freestyle
1. Sue Hazel
2. Jim Perry
Jones
"B" Group 1/2 Pipe
1. Bud Boyle
2. Davross
3. Patrick Bernard