TEAM
one-and-a-half feet of vert, with an esca-
lator on one side and a channel on the
other, a coping lip on one side of the
channel and steel lipping everywhere else.
The day of competition arrived and
the atmosphere was thick and lean,
perfect for some heads-up skate action.
The skaters went in four heats, with two
45-second runs each. The few top-
seeded skaters did their tricks but really
just coasted through the first round. The
journeyman pros skated and tried not to
fall off.
It was evident from his first runs in
practice that Tony Hawk was the man to
defeat. Pound for pound, Hosoi skates
harder and meaner, but Tony does
things that leave people going. "My
god, what was that?" My apologies for
not being able to relate more, but I'm
still trying to figure him out.
Monty Nolder did huge airwalks over
the channel, twice receiving standing
ovations from the pros. Miller's big airs
on a foam board stirred up plenty of
audience recognition and Gator skated
like a carnal swamp thing possessed, in
green tights no less. Lance Mountain
made people squirm when he did front-
side air-to-nose pickers. Kasai and
Magnusson skated with their sights on
the ceiling. In a world without Hawk and
Hosoi, they would win a few big con-
tests. Staab did weird ollie variations
and pulled a 540 with mucho gusto.
Craig Johnson and John Gibson did
Texas tricks, thinking all the while that
the ramp should have been metal.
Billy Ruff skated with a smile on his
face, doing big airs and slapping his tail
hard on the way down. Allen Losi ripped
out hard lip tricks and big airs. Groholski
did ollie-to-grabs over the channel and
liens over the channel. Once he missed
the lip with his tail, but he pulled it
anyway. Steve Schneer did his Hession
roll, which is basically a forward tuck
and roll out of a ho-ho. But that's his
circus trick; he made the cut by skating
hard and making it look hard.
The cut was made. The top five hung
out while 6 through 15 jammed it out for
a five cut. Christain, Hawk, Lester, Gator
and Magnusson made the top five in
that order. Monty Nolder, Staab, Lester,
Grosso, Miller, Losi, Mountain,
Groholski, Schneer, Johnson and Gibson.
had to jam for the final seeding.
Once again the NSA judges showed
that they consider big airs to be better
than lip tricks. So it goes.
Nolder, Grosso, Miller, Staab and
Johnson each secured a spot in the
final jam, which was half an hour or four
runs, I forget which. This is where big
time vert riding went down. Hawk and
Christian pulled out the McTwists.
Christian made all of his but bailed an
Andrecht. Tony bailed his last McTwist
and was not happy. Monty did more air-
walks and some vicious fakie twirls to
axle grinds. Miller did alley-oops across
the width of the ramp. Gator pushed
himself and liked it. Johnson did a
gnarly layback grind that defied
description.
Kasai and Magnusson did even higher
airs, and Grosso made funny faces and
long Smith grinds. Then it was over.
Final order: Hawk, Hosoi, Gator,
Kasai, Magnusson, Nolder, Staab,
Grosso, Miller, Johnson, Gibson, Losi,
Mountain, Groholski, Schneer.
Then the party began. First, we headed
back to the hotel for the HBO playback
of the Hagler-Leonard fight and a few
beers to wash down five or nine pizzas.
Then it was on to T.K. and Maria's
house for a raging mega-kegger. Muir
found two un-ridden Zephyr/Z-Flex
models with the price tags still on 'em.
About one a.m. or so, Malba and
some locals decided to go for a pool
run, but Malba blew out the tires on the
Dogtown rental car trying to do curb
slappies. Hertz was informed as to
where they could find their car.
We were chased out of our hotel room
the next morning by an extended family
of East Indians who ran the joint. They
didn't use a vacuum cleaner because
the little kids picked up the carpet. The
best thing about the motel, though, was
that no one ever complained.
Leaving Atlanta, we left Grosso going
backwards up the escalator. He had $16 and
two board rails. He lost everything else.
The sixties will do that to you. Once
home, I slept for two days straight.
Opposite: One of the new pros, Jim Murphy,
made quite an impressive splash by unleashing,
as he did on this teeth-gnashing slob fast-plant
over the channel. Left: GSA Director, Jim "Next
time I'm doing it my way" Willis.
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