1989 COMPETITION WRAP-UP
DOWN IN DAYTONA
Recap by Carl Schultz / Photos by Bill Thomas
1989 ESA Championships-12/29-31/89
Stone Edge Skatepark, Daytona, Florida
The 1989 ESA Championships couldn't
have been held at a better site than Stone
Edge. With a brand new street/obstacle area
built by Tim Payne and the locals, plus a steel
ramp and four pools, the scene was
happening.
On Friday, under beautiful skies, the ver-
tical contest got underway. Taking first in the
15 & Under was a very stoked Walter Cox.
Walter used the whole ramp, which put him
ahead of Eric DeWitt and Johnny Wasiczko.
Next came the 16 & Over division with lan
Reilly taking top honors. lan stayed on and
worked the ramp with frontside handplants
and clean, tweaked airs. Second was Nick
Rinker with stalled handplants and backside
disasters. Dan Zimmer grabbed third with
smooth boardslides, crailslides and feeble-
to-fakies. The sponsored ams took to the
ramp, and needless to say, some hot skating
went down on the blue metal monster. From
Australia, Adam Luxford was declared the
winner with big backside ollies, backside
disasters on the extension and tail stale-
fishes. Being big and strong are two key fac-
tors for a win these days, and Adam is
definitely both. In second place was Brian
Drake, who put in an impressive performance
with his smooth approach to the whole ramp.
50
Third was Frank Baggue, who
kept the runs going with indy air
pogos, eggplants and Smiths.
Other standouts in the sponsored
division: Morris Wainwright's ollie
tailslides and Bill Hubbard's
smooth high runs.
Saturday was the freestyle:
event. Starting with the 15 &
Under, young Jon Lenaghan took
first with smooth and stylish runs.
Jeff Sutton and Michael Freeman
placed second and third. The 16
& Over division took to the course,
and Ben Mullen from Virginia was
blazing hard. Ben skated smooth
and won with a mix of ollie im-
possibles, rolling handstand
fingerflips and gazelles. Mike
Rogers, who put in a strong
freestyle showing as well as com-
peting in all of the other events, got
second. Third, fourth and fifth
were Eddie Trotman, Tim Harris
and Eric Monroe. The sponsored
ams were next. Judging this event
was tough, the top three were real
close in points. When it was over,
Dan Gallagher from Boston had first. Dan
was fast and smooth with ollie airwalk varials,
frontside ollie catches and clean fingerflip
variations. Blair Brown took second, edging
out Jack Jastrebski from Albany, NY.
After freestyle, the mini-ramp competition
began. There were two mini-ramps con-
nected by a hip in an area of the street
course. Walter Cox won the 15 & Under with
flowing hip transfers and consistent runs.
Jason Taylor and Eric DeWitt were second
and third. In the 16 & Over, Tyler Lee took
the win with smooth lines prevailing. Jason
Crane and Chris Michaloski rounded out the
top three. In the sponsored division, Dan
Zimmer was unbeatable, with feeble grinds
to-fakie, half Cab-to-blunt-to-pivot-to-tail-to-
revert. Quite a mouthful. In second was Brian
Connelly with backside disasters-to-Smith.
Third was Lance Dawes with Smith grinds
and pivot-to-fakies. Other standouts in the
sponsored division: Ed Bogan, Steve Kasper,
Mike Sinclair and Pete Thompson.
Starting off the street event on sunny Sun-
day was the 15 & Under, with Eric DeWitt tak-
ing the win. Eric controlled lines and stepped
off the least. Jon Budinoff and Jody Fields
rounded out the top three. In the 16 & Over,
Chris Michaloski took top honors with flow-
ing runs. Jason Crane came in a close se-
cond with Jason Martin right behind.
Next was the sponsored amateur division.
Carl Schultz from Albany, NY stepped off the
least in his runs. Vert wall grinds and stale-
fishes were enough to put him in first.
Another Albany boy, second place Jeff Toma,
got the crowd amped with grinds on the vert
wall and the patented "Tomaslide." Dan Zim-
mer took third with a nose stall on the vert
wall and fakie-to-fakie maydays, but some
untimely bails set him back. Other hot stand-
outs: Ken DiBenedetti, Jason Brown, Mike
Paesano, Jimi Reese and Tate Clair.
All in all, it was a great weekend of skating.
sun and fun. Thanks go out to the ESA, Art
Gracey, Trish Furman, Ellis and the Stone
Edge crew and the beautiful girls of Dayton.
Can't wait until next year.
Left: Destined to dominate the mini-ramp division
and place third in street, Dan Zimmer teeters a
pivot-to-fakle. Above: Freestyle man of the hour
Dan Gallagher fingerflips a wicked whippity-doo.
Right: Adam Luxford didn't travel halfway around
the globe to pull dinky little indy airs or lose vert
contests, get the picture? Far Right: Author,
skater, all around awesome dude Carl Schultz.
1989 ESA FINALS RESULTS
15 & Under Halfpipe
1. Walter Cox
2. Eric DeWitt
3. Johnny Wasiczko
16 & Over Halfpipe
1. lan Reilly
2. Nick Rinker
3. Dan Zimmer
4. Mike Fabrizio
5. Mike Rogers
6. James McKulk
Sponsored Halfpipe
1. Adam Luxford
2. Brian Drake
3. Frank Baggue
4. Morris Wainwright
5. Bill Hubbard
6. Brian Schaeffer
15 & Under Mini-ramp
1. Walter Cox
2. Jason Taylor
3. Eric DeWitt
4. Shawn Springer
5. Adam Haller
6. Joey D'Orsi
16 & Over Mini-ramp
1.
Tyler Lee
2. Jason Crane
3. Chris Michaloski
4. Travis Trimmer
5. Jamie Story
6. Chad Smith
3.
15 & Under Freestyle
1. Jon Lenaghan
2. Jeff Sutton
3. Michael Freeman
16 & Over Freestyle
1. Ben Mullen
2. Mike Rogers
3. Eddie Trotman
4. Tim Harris
5. Eric Monroe
Sponsored Freestyle
1. Dan Gallagher
2. Blair Brown
3. Jack Jastrebski
4. Bert Mathieson
5. Don Lloyd
6. Bruce Walker
15 & Under Streetstyle
1. Eric DeWitt
2. Jon Budinoff
3.
Jody Fields
4. Mike Dydula
5. Matthew Bound
6. Tom Summey
16 & Over Streetstyle
1. Chris Michaloski
2. Jason Crane
3. Jason Martin
4. Chad Smith
5. Scott Bourne
6. Mike Mann
3.
Sponsored Mini-ramp
1. Dan Zimmer
2. Brian Connolly
Lance Dawes
4. Mike Sinclair
5. Steve Kasper
6. Pete Thompson
Sponsored Streetstyle
1. Carl Schultz
2. Jeff Toma
Dan Zimmer
4. Chris Shark
5. Ken DiBenedetti
6. Rob Holbrook