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Facing page: Joe Johnson (top left) enters the last
phase of the Phillips 66-a 360° handplant from a
fakie. Taking it to the lip., Bill Danforth (top right)
readies to slam down a pogo rock 'n roll. Excitable
skater, Jeff Jones (bottom) kept himself and the
crowd on edge, every time he skated, eventually
earning a second place finish.
This page: Performing a lien to tap the hard way.
Todd Prince (top) makes an impossible trick.
John Gibson (left) launches by the video eye.
Hosol's triumphant kick-out after his last run.
had an excellent run going, launched a McTwist,
made it and then leaned off the front of his board
and fell into the opposite transition. Caballero
busted out the finger-flip Indy air and one-handed
rocket air. McGill was in overdrive and Phillips
continued with his bionic way.
Nobody could call it. Each skater showed flash
mixed with at least a fall here and there. It wasn't
until after the high air event that the results were
announced.
Admittedly, since this reporter was yanked in
at the last second to call the heights off a 10' grid
from a video-eye view, the event had its rough
edges and approximations. When Lester went
way up on a one-footed make, the announcement
of 8'6" was met with a chant of "Bullshit, Bullshit."
from just about everybody in the arena. It was
upgraded to 9' on a review of the replay. Tony
Magnusson hit close to 8'6" on a flight that no
one seemed to notice. Luckily, Christ came out
and pushed all the way out of measuring range
for a 10+ rating and a convincing end to the
$1,000 winner-take-all sideshow.
All in all, a successful, if not excessive event.
Maybe Frank Hawk's Olympic dreams will some-
day come true. Maybe ABC or 'one of the majors'
will pick up the Unreel Productions tape of the
event and show it to millions on a Saturday after-
noon. Either way, there will always be skaters who
could care less.