SUSPICIOUS
44
MARC SAITO
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DANNY SARGENT
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JUNGL
1714 WALLER STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117
(415) 751-8829
SKATE SHOP
(415) 386-0188
Assault and Western/G&S Del Mar Ranch events)
seemed genuinely stoked to be on hand. Many
of the spo-am skaters were making the 'Califor
nia scene' for the first time and making the most
of the opportunity on and off their skates. Their
excitement about the situation was probably most
evident during registration proceedings on Thurs-
day when each am was given a motel room
assignment and an envelope containing $45 in
cash for food and expenses. Wild-eyed John
Fabriquer from San Jose summed it up, "I
couldn't belive it."
The initial shock at the magnitude of the event
had turned into a surprisingly business-like ap-
proach and a genuinely competitive spirit. A
realization by the pros that this was their show
and they should either "put up or shut up" pro-
vided the determination to skate at the limit of
their skill, or at least to the limits of their skulls.
Adding to the somewhat serious nature of Fri-
day's practice paces was the extremely limited
access, by common skatestrians, to the goings-
on inside the arena. Some intense pro practice
sessions were witnessed only by amped and
sweaty sponsored amateurs who had just de-
padded after their own practice heats. Cat calls
directed at friends quickly turned into loud hoots
and hollers as the pros began to heat up. New
maneuvers that can only come from the minds
and abilities of these elite acrobats were being
showcased for the first time. Some tricks were
so fresh that they probably wouldn't even be tried
in a contest situation, where a possible bail would
be too costly. Chris Miller was turning standard
aerial approaches into 'I see it but I don't believe
it flights of tweaked-out fancy. Someone said Ivan
Hosoi had an oxygen tank on hand for when
Christian launched into his orbital aerials.
Roskopp was debuting a new target tattoo as he
harshly attacked. Smith, in a vintage Dewey
Weber t-shirt, was called 'Styly' and 'Smoothy'
by the loud am crowd. Steve Schneers' gym-
nastics included the 'Eggnog, an egg plant to Ho
Ho, and the 'No Ho Plant, where he doesn't grab
the board at all but still gets inverted.
Art Godoy slashed and burned the masonite
surface. Monty Nolder killed brain cells with hand
flip air-walk attempts. Neil was doing the unex-
plainable as jaws hit the floor. Lance Mountain's
shit-eating grin after each run betrayed the no-
tion that he had something up his sleeve. A
touching moment occured at the closing of the
final practice heat. Tony Hawk, who was show-
ing some heretofore unseen maneuvers-a
scissor-kicking air walk to fakie and an ollie to
360° shove-it attempt-rolled out of one incredi-
ble run to respectful applause from his pro peers
who had gathered on the roll-out decks.
The competition officially started on Saturday
with amateur eliminations. The pros were given
the day off. Since some of the fury of the Anaheim
finals centered around the skate-off for the na-
tional amateur title, the arena heated up fast. Fifty
top ams showed their stuff with two 45-second
runs apiece, as the first wave of spectators found
their seats.
The long road to Anaheim quickly narrowed to
ten skaters going into the final half-hour jam. A
strong showing of Eastern regionals included Jeff
Jones, Dan Brown, Buck Smith and Henry Guiter-
rez. Troy Chasen and Ken Fillion moved in from
the Southwest territory, and the top ten were
rounded off by Westerners Jeff Hedges, Reese
Simpson, Gregg Aguilar and Eric Nash.
D.David Morin, back in the hot seat as a skate
announcer, did his best to call the shots. High air
pilots like Nash, Chasen, Buck Smith and Ken
Fillion immediately started in with well-aimed
launches. Dan 'Booger' Brown and Jeff Hedges
showed a wide variety of stalled and contorted
inverts. Smooth lines were being displayed by
Henry Guiterrez and Gregg Aguilar. After four
runs apiece it came down to who was the hung-
riest, and the two skaters with the biggest ap-
petites for a critical situation seemed to be Jeff
Jones and Reese Simpson. Jones had several
runs that bordered on the unbelievable. He mix-
ed incredible aerial varials, 540° spins and one
fakie switch stance where he reached out to grab
his board, missed, reached out again, snatched
and made the trick. The crowd foamed. In the
end, however, the judges chose Reese Simpson's
aggressive attack, which mixed smooth hand-
plants, long thrusters and footplants over the
channel with a variety of speed and power lines.
For this Del Mar local, who had just returned from
a road tour of ramps and skate spots around the
U.S., his experience paid off with the national title.
Amateur victor, Reese Simpson, flaps his wings to
control a long ollie flight pattern.
Without missing a beat the show moved right
into the pro demo and a performance by Agent
Orange on a stage next to the ramp. While ner-
vous security personnel looked on, the crowd
began moving around the arena floor, alternately
checking the band and the 10 pro skaters on the
ramp. Some of the pros on hand wondered what
or who had determined the line-up for the demo,
as it seemed more like a paid practice session
to anyone not included. Nobody got too bent out
of shape-except, that is, for Gibson, M. Alba,
Phillips, Magnusson, Miller, Kasai, Hawk,
Caballero, Rogowski and Hosoi, who gave the
screaming fans every cent worth of their ticket
price.
On Sunday morning the pro skaters were given
warm-up practice heats before the doors to the
arena were opened. Many of the pros and ams
had been airing their reviews of the ramp to
anyone within earshot. A general consensus
agreed that there was definitely a pitch-out fac-
tor present.
Paul Schmitt defended his and Tim Payne's
handywork during discussion on Saturday morn
ing. "Gator tried to tell me, 'no, it's not the same
ramp, it's got more vertical. It is the same ramp.
It's 30' wide with 16' of flat bottom, 9½' radius
transitions, 1½ of vert, 23" 1.D. black steel cop-
ing and a 9% row of white linoleum tiles (we
couldn't find blue). It's the same ramp we used
in Chicago and Arizona. We're in a different
atmosphere-that right there is enough to throw
your head off."
The floor plan was rearranged for the main
event on Sunday and a new section of excellent
seats in a balcony right next to the ramp was
opened up. The place was filled by the time the
first qualifying rounds were completed.
Throughout qualifying, D. David made bad
calls here and there. Axle stalls became
"backside airs," and there is a big difference bet-
ween a McTwist and a "gay twist." The fans in
the stands knew all too well what most of the tricks
were but even the most knowledgeable had trou-
ble keeping up with the new stuff being done right
before their eyes.
There were several obvious standouts during
the pro qualifying heats. Mike Smith, clad in a
cape and aviator goggles, did an Indy air with the
cape smothering his head and he pulled it off.
Veteran Salba presented his slide show to the kid-
dies. Kendall was a no-show and Steve Schneer
beefed extra hard from a Ho-Ho attempt. Spidey
wore full make-up and Neil had sticker hubcaps
on his wheels.
The top fifteen coming out of qualifying were.
from the bottom, Miller, Roskopp, Johnson, Galor
Malba, Gibson, Ruff, Park, Blender, Caballero,
Mountain, Hosoi, Phillips. Hawk and top scorer
McGill. The first ten entered into a heated semi-
final jam that broke to five. Blender got aced
despite his fresh approach to the lip with moves
like the New Deal. Craig Johnson was on edge
until he went over it and injured himself out of con-
tention. Micke couldn't hang and he, Roskopp
and Gibson had to settle for the top-15 and $100.
Advancing to the finals were: Ruff, Gator,
Caballero, Park and Chris Miller and for the next
half hour it was a flurious display of vertical
trickery. Lance, struck in the shin by Cab's bailed
board during qualifying, had to coast but faired
well with Indy-bones. Ken Park demonstrated loft
with airs and frontside boneless ones, and very
ill eggplants. Caballero performed with his usual
'on' style, showing frontside 'ollie pops' to hang-
up re-entries and Jolly Mombas-front-vert to
fakies. Chris Miller demonstrated super control
on high airs. Although he never bothers with judo
and air walk kicks, his 'windshield wiper' lien airs
and boned-out frontsides more than make up.
Mark Rogowski looked strong going in but had
trouble with his concentration, although early on
had no problem making a Mclwist. McTwists were
also nailed by Billy Ruff, Christian, Tony Hawk
and McGill. Mike actually managed three in-a-
row; on a ramp where even one is tough.
Tony Hawk seemed to have enough going with
his various magic tricks: backside ollie to tail-
trap door, the "baton twirl' and one hairball
backwards drop-in from an axle stall to a varial
mute air. Unbelievable. People were beginning
to wonder who would take second. However,
Phillips was doing 360° liens, alley Indy-oops.
the 33-half of a Phillips 66-air to takies
you name it. Everything but McTwists. There
was also McGill, who continued to skate fast and
hard with an egg-flip attempt thrown in for em-
phasis. On the last run call, Tony missed the grab.
Christain nailed a McTwist at height, plus method
air-to-fakies and ollie-to-grinds over the gap. Gator
Conased po Pg 47
45