Americans competing. In first place is Mike
Ernst of West Germany. His time is 5.65
seconds, followed by Jani Soederhall, of
Sweden, and Alexander Lutz of West Ger-
many, who both clock in with times of 5.75.
AMATEUR STREETSTYLE
Jeff Hedges, from Northern CA, is clearly
the top of the heap in this field of hot
streetstylers. Jeff must be eating too much
German chocolate. His runs are so spastic-
ally energetic, it wouldn't be surprising to find
out he's flipping out on a massive sugar high.
Sam Myhre, of Florida, comes in a close
second just ahead of the top European
Some of Europe's finest, pro Claus Grabke
(below) and am Anders Pulpanek (inset), both
from West Germany. Sweden's Per Welinder is
caught in mid-madman style juggling his board
off of the basic jump ramp.
Ska
dominating the ramp. He's
all over it, hyperextending in-
verts, flailing long sliders and
intricate lip movements. So
energetic are his runs, the
crowd roars with every move.
Although his first place spot
is well earned, it wasn't a
piece of cake. Hot on his tail
is the 19-year-old Anders
Pulpanek of Lüren, West
Germany. Anders is the ab-
solute top German vertical
talent. He muscles his way
into the second place spot
with a very no-nonsense aggressive punch.
Another hot local, Martin Van Doren, reels
in a respectable third.
PROFESSIONAL STREETSTYLE
There's a feeling of tension in the air, spill-
ing from the stands. The near capacity crowd
anticipate the first professional exposé of the
day, as practice for the professional street-
style commences. I notice, as the skaters.
take to the course, that yesterday's top
qualifier, Christian Hosoi, is nowhere to be
seen. I inform Titus Dittman, the man behind
this extravaganza, who in turn stalls the con-
test while someone drives over to fetch the
amateur streetstyler, Soeren Greve of sleeping Christ.
Copenhagen, Denmark.
AMATEUR FREESTYLE
Freestyle must be quickly turning into
France's national sport. Frenchman Denis
Terras comes in first, with his graceful style
Johansson of Sweden gets second place
and precisely accurate footwork. Stefan
with an artistic display of control. Ruedi Mat-
ter of Switzerland twists and grooves into.
third place.
AMATEUR RAMP
Today is the day of Jeff. Jeff Hedges
dominated the streetstyle, now he is
The competition gets underway once
Christian arrives. The skating is fierce. An
artificial wall has been added to the course,
in the form of plywood sheets nailed into the
slatted wall at the far end of the arena
opposite the halfpipe.
Some good riding provides an excellent
visual spectacle. Mike Vallely is particularly
interesting to watch. He utilizes parts of the
ramps in a way no one else does, i.e. ramp-
to-ramp backside ollie kickflips and
numerous unnamable tricks.
As streetstyle matures, innovation be-
comes more and more the name of the
game. Gator, for instance, combines a
multitude of off the board, "flip it with one
foot" tricks, jump ramp duty, as well as some
smooth graceful flatland slides and gesticula-
tions. Per Welinder does a wrap-around
board switcheroo off the jump ramp, and Eric
Dressen does the most unique trick of all,
by going back to his hotel and
sleeping through his run.
The nuts and bolts of the com-
petition boil down to a test of
noodles between Tommy Guerrero,
Nicky Guerrero, Christ and
Caballero.
Nicky's (4th place) lines are ultra
fast and calculated. He powers
some mean frontside thrusters on
the riding wall. Tommy (3rd place)
skates to some rap music in which
the predominant lyric is "fuck."
Tommy floats and flails, dominating
every obstacle in a classic embodi-
ment of the term streetstyle. Hosoi
(2nd place) can make dead people
rise to their feet when he skates.
How he manages to fly through the
air is beyond me. He must have
hollow bones. On the wall ride he
rides to the top, grabs on to the lip
and just hangs there before
descending. Yesterday, during
qualifying, after he latched onto the
lip, his front foot came off the board
and the nose began to drop.
Dangling there, he refused to bail,
so he maneuvered the board with
his back foot and slowly pulled the
board back up. The crowd was roar-
ing as he regained control and rode
down the wall. Caballero (1st place)
should be sponsored by Warner
Bros., some of the tricks he pulls.
belong in the world of cartoons.
He's literally glued to his board. His
board could just as well be an Acme
Anti-Gravity belt, the way he
assaults the course. He soars over the multi-
ramp and sails off of all the jump ramps. He
slides and rides on everything in sight. In
short, Caballero is next to skate godliness.
ROLLERSKATES
countryman, Jean Marc Vaisette (2nd place)
and two Englishmen, Don Brown (3rd place)
and Shane Rouse (4th place).
PRO HALFPIPE
You've really got to hand it to these double-
duty skaters, especially in a contest situation
there's no denying his versatility, and full
balls, all guts approach to his craft. His per-
formance today is no less than supreme.
"Hosoi's Flying Circus" is a spectacle that
most definitely must be seen to be believed.
It's like seeing Elvis for the first time.
Cab is to skateboarding as Joe Montana.
is to football. At times it seems like
he's got strings attached, he fluc-
tuates and palpitates so much in
mid-air. Cab and Hosoi are masters
of whatever terrain they choose to
conquer.
Third place goes to Jason Jesse,
who has come into his own realm.
of aggressive anarchy. His runs, to
put it lightly, are explosive and mer-
curial. Fourth place is solidified by
Tony Magnusson, whose eminence
of distinction in the air department
escalates him to a grandeur of
nobility. He's wild. Lance Mountain
aggro's fifth place with an
impervious and raunchy flavor to
his runs. After his second to last.
run, in the jam, he throws his
helmet into the upper decks of the
stands then skates helmetless on
his last run. Claus Grabke, from
nearby Gütersloh, comes in sixth
place. Claus, is under a slight
amount of pressure since this is
sort of his home turf. All things con-
sidered, he pulls through with some
truly exceptional runs.
After the professional halfpipe
event, awards are given out and the
capacity crowd of 12,500 for the
weekend are satisfied and filled
with a hearty experience. For a tab
of close to 85,000 DK, Titus has
managed to execute a fairly smooth
competition, which included plenty
of action, excitement, laughs and
sportsmanship. Nearly two hun-
dred professional and amateur
skateboarders from several countries came
together and showed the world that the
impossible is truly possible.
The Gonz in true-to-form speed-blur flies off of the multi-ramp-
I don't know why, but vertical rollerskating
is popular enough in Europe to be com-
petitive. Unlike in the United States, where
I forgot it even existed. Brian Wainwright
takes the top honor by flailing and twirling
above the halfpipe, better than anybody else.
Jimi Scott, also a professional skateboard
streetstyle rider, comes in second place with
a furious combination of skate style lip tricks
along with insanely blasted airs. Thomas
Kalak, of Münster, takes third, unleashing his
own brand of roller-monstering.
PRO FREESTYLE
Pierre Andre, the 24 year old Frenchman,
has this event clinched, hands down,
although he has to deal with the likes of his
like this. To begin with, they are dealing with
a nine-hour time difference. They must com-
pete at full throttle when it's four o'clock in
the morning back in the US-the time.
they're usually getting ready to go to sleep.
Besides that, they perform to full capacity in
separate events. Different functions of
skating, adapting, enduring and dominating
in their own ways.
There are only a handful of skaters in the
world who can excell and near flawlessly per-
form their reckless physical art under any
harsh condition-rain, shine or in a marathon
contest situation such as this.
The top two finishers in the professional
halfpipe portion of the Monster Mastership
are of this multi-talented stock.
Coming in first is none other than Chris-
tian Hosoi, and, in a very close second, Steve
Caballero.
A lot of people criticize Christian Hosoi,
not understanding his overwhelming
charisma and acheivements. Even so,
This evening there's a celebration spon-
sored by Titus at Jövel, a discoteque in the
center of town. Since America has made
such a supreme showing, I feel that our own
kind of personal celebration is in order.
Realizing there is no one else to get behind
these winners in a personal conglatuatory
way, I appoint myself ambassador, and pur-
chase several bottles of champagne for an
in-hotel celebration, then take several of the
winners out, and buy them a dinner of steak
and lobster.
At the discoteque, many frustrations are
released on the dance floor. Unfortunately,
it's not in the form of dancing, as a few
Americans are involved in two or three in-
cidents of fisticuffs. Blood flies. Needless to
say, American egos are not damaged.
and well, what can you say? Boys will be
boys.
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