80
showed their stuff. These rising
talents-Tom Peha, Seattle;
Ray Barbie, San Jose; Danny
Sargeant, Portland; Shawn
Martin, Eugene: Ricky Winsor,
Sacramento and others-
thought they would be able to:
compete in their own class but
because of the number of pros
who showed up were denied
competition. They gave a great
demo between prelims and
finals, though. Jeff Hartsell
blazed wall rides and varials.
It seemed like the fans had
a hard time grasping a lot of the
action at a streetstyle contest.
Whether it was the inability to
grasp the difficulty of the move,
disappointment in tricks or just
general apathy, crowd reaction
was pathetic. Kids in Eugene
like ho-ho plants and high airs.
If a skater didn't get his board
at least head-high, through a
jump or handstand, the crowd
just sat dumb, disinterested.
But this was Oregon, and
though we speak the same
language, there's no second
guessing their motives. Maybe.
they were tired.
Chris Cook mocked the flock
with a style that some kids had
probably never seen before.
Boardslides, g-turns, backside
ollie to axlegrind on the volcano
ramp, fakie up the launch ramp
to wall, 360° air off launch ramp
and high wall rides.
Jesse Martinez got the
crowd's attention with the big
two: massive method airs and
ho-ho plants. On his second
run some lame photographer
got in his way so he launched
a hippy fling at the cameraman
and then got to take his run
over. He did great ollie airwalks,
one-footed airs, airwalk varials,
frontside wall slides and front-
side rock 'n rolls.
Eric Dressen, already skat-
ing with a sprained ankle, and
screwed up thumb and knee,
fell hard from the top of the wall
during practice. He pulled
himself together by competition
time. Big mute method airs,
high wall-rides, one-wheel
carves on the banked ramp,
one-footed airs, nose picks,
frontside ollie between the
bank ramp channel, flatground
air 180°s, 180° methods, non-
ramp fakie wallrides, indy wall
rides, and frontside liens on the
quarterpipe side of volcano.
The way Dressen draws lines
between tricks makes him look
like he knows what he's doing.
Per Welinder is the leader of
the ex-freestyle-now-streetstyle
school. He had a technical,
radical mix of moves that got
the crowd going. Big airwalk
varials, standup slides, neon
ho-ho plants, 360° air, nice and
slow, 540° baton-twirl street-
plant, launch ramp hand-to-
hand fingerflip, 360° backside
air and 360°, boardslide. Per
actually smiled. His freestyle
technician side showed when
he adjusted the ramps three
inches or so before each run.
Cory O'Brien knows how to
use the curbs. His runs
featured one-rail slides, hur-
ricanes, grind to tails-real
streetstyle versatility using flat
ground and the curb.
Mike Vallely, riding his first
pro streetstyle event, pulled an
amazing third against very
tough competition. Wall rides,
big no-footed airs off the jump
ramp, ollie two boards to board-
slide attempt. 360° air, twist
and twirl handplants, backside
air, boneless wall ride, lein
method off of quarterpipe, fakie
ollie off of jump ramp and
flatland filler. He's been skating.
for a little over two years now
and has showmanship down.
Judges and fans like to see his
calculated accuracy.
Almost getting grinds on the
wall in practice, Natas looked
like the day's skater, but once
again difficulty took second.
chair to showmanship and his
switch-stance madness went
unnoticed. 50/50 slide to rock
'n roll, backside push off wall,
ollie onto platform ramp, 360°
frontside air and big, big ollies.
Tommy Guerrero knows how
to do a frontside wall-ride.
Frontside air, flatground filler,
ollie across channel attempt.
His wall rides surpass everyone
else because he keeps the mo-
tion smooth and doesn't pause
for a second. Slides, ollie off
jump, flatland tricks. Very little
wasted motion. Tommy's secret
Jo success: do the tricks, stay
on, make it look easy and quit
before your time is up so you
look like you know you've won.
Really cool. The judges were
certainly blown away. Tommy
got first place and $1,000.
On cue the showers began
as soon as the winners were
announced, (Continued page 101)
Topped out.
This page: Although
never landing a clean
make in competition,
Natas hung wheels out
atop the 8-foot ply wall
in practice.
Opposite page: One of
the few who can snap a
quick, clean wall walk,
front or backside, Jesse
Martinez still does it
with eas
Inset: Aaron Murray
skirts the lip of a
bitchin' banked loading
dock on the way out of
town.
Number
81