CHAOSAT D.M.
The N.S.A. 1985 Pro/Am season opener
at Del Mar Skateranch definitely proved
that skateboarding is once again becoming
popular among persons exposed to its
renaissance. From the moment I arrived at
the skatepark on Friday, I knew this contest
was going to be a blowout. There were
hoards of people everywhere. The
bleachers and surrounding areas around
the keyhole were packed with spectators
from many "skateparkless" towns and
cities across America. The Mile High
Ramp creator, Mike Chantry, was poolside
to capture the action with his video equip-
ment along with other film crews from
various T.V. stations. As I continued to
look around, I could see plenty of padless
skaters flailing around the bowls in the
back of the park. In the parking lot, Brad
Dorfman had a huge motorhome to shelter
and provide his riders with food and drink.
Although I had arrived towards the end
of the amateur pool qualifying, I managed
to check out the remaining twenty or so
entrants. They ripped the contours of the
pool with near pro caliber runs. Tony
Chiala took a bad slam during his 1st run.
As the top sixteen qualifying Am's names
were announced, it became obvious that
quite a few skaters who shredded during
their runs hadn't made the cut and had
been burned. These skaters were pissed
and began to slag the organizers, judges,
pool, or whatever they could think of. It was
now eight o'clock, the crowd checked-out
to various eateries, motel rooms, homes
and/or parties.
THR
Adrian Demain-Defying the Laws
Owen Neider
Friday night Highlights
A rumored party at a home near the
skateranch played host to many wild skate
related individuals. The walls, cupboards,
bathrooms, and ceilings had been mysteri-
ously adorned with a mass of Thrasher
stickers. This was only the beginning. A
huge food fight in the kitchen area left
smashed grapefruit, salsa, cereal, and
dogfood strewn across the floor. Next,
some inebriated Northern girl passed out
on the couch. A Thrasher sticker was
placed on her forehead; she soon became
a tumbling mat for various wild party goers.
Outside, in the backyard, some dude from
Sacramento was hosting a barfing contest
on the lawn. The Fresno boys continued to
play quarters throughout the night. I went
upstairs to take care of business, and
about a half dozen skaters rushed out of
the bathroom accompanied by a huge
cloud of smoke. I returned downstairs to
witness Mike Smith groveling around while
bumping off of people, walls and other
assorted obstructions. Some wild-type
from Santa Monica tossed a leisure chair
up into the ceiling of the living room, creat
ing a rather large, gaping hole. To top off all
of this beligerent action, one of the occu-
pants of the home remained asleep
throughout the entire party.
"What the hell do you want, Mofo?
Saturday morning brought more grey
skies and cold weather. Competition
began at nine o'clock for the sponsored
Ams in the pool. The top sixteen entrants
were soon cut to eight finalists.
Steve Douglas from London, England
captured eigth place with assorted edge.
tricks, extended layback rollouts, and high
fakie ollies. In seventh place was Reese
Simpson, who ripped hard, as many of the
Delmar locals do. He blazed high aerials,
stalled inverts, and backside boneless
ones. Sixth place went to Owen Neider of
Delmar, CA. In my opinion Owen deserved.
at least third place; four foot pogos, invert-
to-tail-reverts, anti-varials, twenty foot
sliders, and a frontside air to hangup were
just a few of the stunts that he pulled off.
Ray Underhill, a midwest ramp rager, took
fifth place spot with fakie inverts, backside
boneless to fakies, and forward fakie ollies.
The dude from Colorado, Joe Johnson,
claimed fourth place with moves like
frontside 540 degree aerials, Phillips 66
flips, one footed Andrechts and much
more. Eric Nash held on to third place with
high backside airs and ollies, long 50/50s,
and other cool tricks. Taking hold of second
place was a local favorite, Adrian Demain
who ripped hard with 6 foot high mute airs,
contorted inverts, and a couple of units as
well. Top dog Jeff Grosso took first place by
unleashing boned out backside airs, sad
plants, lay back rollouts, and lien-to-tails.
What you are about to read is an edito
rial. Some people aren't going to like it, but,
as they say, that's life. I'm just going to
state some facts as I see them and if you
don't agree with them, you're right, since
this is America and all...
EDITORIAL
The N.S.A. Easter contest at Del Mar
has come and gone and I have to say that
I was less than impressed. Not with the
skating, because it was some of the rad-
dest to date. But a few things other than the
skating did leave a bad taste in my mouth.
For the first time in a long while skating
is really making a comeback, arousing the
interest of not only the media, but of major
corporate sponsors also. Skating is again,
in a word, "in." Cable TV stations and
members of the local media were on hand
to cover the contest at Del Mar. It was a
great opportunity for the organizers to
present competition skateboarding as the
fast-paced, intense, and thrilling sport that
it is. And it did-sort of. It also proved that
it's still got a long way to go. What the
event had in sheer excitement and rad-
ness, it lacked in organization. There were
slow spots and moments of confusion
which detracted from the contest. In-
adequate judges, tired commentary, and
an outdated format were at the heart of the
problem.
Take a look at other major sports with
corporate sponsors and media coverage
for comparison. In case you never watch
TV or read, this next bit is about tennis.
When Ivan Lendi plays Jimmy Connors, is
John McEnroe the line judge? No, because
that's not his job. His job is playing tennis.
So, let's leave skating to skaters and
judging to judges, O.K.? The Pro's judging
the Am's and the Am's judging the Pro's
just doesn't cut it. The Gold Cup Series
had paid professional judging back when
skating got one-third the attention it does
now, so why can't we have that again? It's
needed. My intention isn't to slag on the
organizers of the contest, only to offer
some constructive criticism. I know how
much painstaking effort and time goes into
planning a contest, because I've had to
organize one or two myself. I'm merely
suggesting that some of the time and effort
could be directed more towards running a
better organized contest, which in turn
portrays skating as a viable professional
sport, which seems to be the goal at the
moment.
Bonus backside boneless, Ray Underhill
Now for some un-constructive criticism.
Let's say you went to see your first Pro surf
contest, and were looking forward to
seeing some good competitors going for it.
Gradually you became aware of a group of
noisy and apparently brainless people
vibing some of the finalists from the pier,
yelling and tossing an occasional beer can
in their direction. What kind of an impres
sion would that leave on you if it hap-
pened? It's not likely, because they proba-
bly would have gotten the shit kicked out of
them before long, which they would
thoroughly deserve for displaying that kind
of lame behavior. There is a common
name for those individuals; they're called
assholes, and they're everywhere, even at
(you guessed it) Del Mar. Throughout the
contest and especially in the final event
between Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi,
Tony received an incredible amount of
abuse from a certain section of the crowd,
many of whom happened to be well recog-
nized skaters themselves. America is
supposedly a free country so whoever you
cheer for to win is fine with me, but don't
vibe the other guys because you're afraid
they might win. I would rather see one
skater beat another skater when they had
both skated their best, not because one of
them fell or made a mistake. I personally
wanted Christian to win in the worst way,
but not enough to make an ass out of
myself by vibing Tony and cheering when
he fell. The same goes for the few people
in the crowd who cheered when Christ fell,
you're all LAME. 'll remember you guys
next time you're competing and be sure to
laugh when you slam. How do you think it
will feel? Tony should be congratulated for
being a true professional, taking the abuse
and pressure in stride and going on to win.
Christian should also be congratulated for
skating incredibly hard and giving it his
best shot under contest pressure. As close
as it was this time, what will it be like in
August? By then the kinks will hopefully be
worked out of organized contest skating so
that it can become a successful and enjoy-
able event for all concerned.
Til next time...skate it up.
Keith Stephenson