into the field of pros, and smoothly flowed the subtle moves
to take top honors. Damian Sanders, who had stayed away
from the World's at Breckenridge for reasons only to be ex-
plained by his best girl Brandy (possibly to make plans for the
wedding), took second place with his high wire act. Sliding
into third was veteran Victor Coyne, and fourth place went to
Corey Kapahee. A much-talked-about performance was put
in by Aaron Vincent in the sponsored amateur division.
Everybody said he was ripping winning style with no falls and
hell of tricks all the way, but he was edged out by Shon
Baughman. The girls had fun, with Heather Mills taking the
cash in the pro women's. Nancy Elrod beat out Carabeth Burn-
side for the women's am prize. Other standouts were masters
division monster Matt Donovan, juniors king John Cardial and
novice winner Aaron Alves.
BEST DRESSED
Fausto Vitello, looking like a Siberian Border Patrol in full
length overcoat with a
wool parka over that
and appropriate head
gear and boots. It could
have been an at-
tempted disguise to try
and hide from Duane,
but it definitely set a
new mountain wear
trend for this fall.
Scenes of slaughter (Top to
Bottom): Damage, Inc. (Nor-
Cal chapter) hoists the anti-
auto device. Sacto Curtis
takes the human battering
ram approach. Environmen
tal terrorist/raving maniac
Snaggletooth tries to create
scrap metal.
MOST DRESSED
Tommy Guerrero had
a long sleeve over a T-
shirt, another T-shirt
over that covered with
a crewneck sweat, two
more shirts and a
sweater, a thermal top
and a jacket, and a
wool cap over another
hat, accented with ear muffs. Add to that booties, boots and
mittens on gloves, long john thermals, Levis and electric
underwear. Fellow weatherman Thiebaud summed it up. "My
hairdo was cold."
MOST INJURED
Frankie Hill sported a leg cast but had come anyway to keep
his spirits high. He was definitely feeling no pain.
GUEST OF HONOR
The Honorable Duane Peters sauntered onto the skating
area early in the qualifying, obviously inebriated and looking
for a light. Borrowing a skate, Duane officially christened the
proceedings by shattering the left passenger side window of
the Pontiac Ventura that was hand-picked by KT and Scooter
at the Nyack junkyard. Immediately following, Todd Prince
threw out the first bottle, narrowly missing our very own Bryce
Kanights as it skipped across the lot. Duane's performance assures him
hall of fame status alongside such great punkers as Darby Crash and Sid
Vicious, only Duane has done more of everything and lives to tell about it.
QUALIFYING AWARDS
The line between practice and the actual contest was somewhat of a
blur (or a brrrr, if you will) but there were obvious flashes of brilliance
throughout the day. Andy Howell's blunt-to-lipslides off the Ventura's quarter
panel and Colby Carter's backside ollies-to-disaster off same are still be-
ing talked about. Amateur Mike Carrol, didn't even enter, but did the highest
airs imaginable off the quarter pipe to plank. Felix Arguello repeatedly
ollied-to-lipslide off the car. Danny Way, despite taking two or three of the
biggest slams all weekend (try this: ollie to back hood of car where your
front wheels hang up on that little gap between the the trunk lid and the
back window and get deposited on the other side of the car on your head).
was kicking some serious ass with fat method airs and fat tail grab varials.
And who was the guy doing railslides-to-fakie off the platform and just about
every other super-difficult trick you can imagine? Why it was Damon Byrd.
Oh! Brandon Schoeffel, who turned himself pro by paying his own entry
fee, did a fakie ollie-to-fakie manual across the fake sidewalk-stop and
think about that one for a moment. J. Lee did shove-it-to-nose-wheelie-to-
shove-it off the same sidewalk. Come on!
RIPPING AWARDS
Once the contest got underway, the ripping continued. Wade Speyer
lived up to a growing rep with backside ollie into Indy nose bones over
the hip. Felix continued to do coo-coo stuff like fakie-to-lipslide-
to-50/50-to-180° off the lip of the quarterpipes and nose slides over the
rail bridge of death. Tommy Guerrero turned up the heat in the finals and
returned to form with a flair for air and hairball skating that's a joy to behold.
Danny Way continued on through two runs without missing a beat and
aired out for all to see. Templeton overslept and showed up late, but he
was hot, and on, through both qualifying runs with no practice. He feeble
grinded over the rail bridge and, throwing a foot off, high-popped 180°
and 360° ollies at will. Many of those polled thought it was Way, first or
second, Tommy, first or second and then Templeton. However the judges.
Damian Sanders, Carabeth Burnside and Steve-O liked Ed's sure-footed
techniques and pronounced him the victor of his first pro event. Different
styles, different strokes for different folks.
HONORABLE MENTION
Riky Barnes for his garbage can routine. On cue, Bob Schmelzer pushed
Riky (who was standing in a garbage can placed up on top of his board)
up to speed, where he took to the corner bank then rode right off the edge.
He landed it then slammed. Later in the same run, Riky dove back into
the can from a backside four-wheeled street drift. The judges raised their
score cards high for originality and attitude on that one. Chris Cook was
back in form after being hit by a van in Venice and showed a step hop
onto the car hood into a bomb drop. Eddie Reategui and John Lucero had
the added excitement of having Duane donating his body as a street
obstacle during their qualifying. Ricky Windsor was ruling and treated all
to a righteous loading dock session in Sacto on the way home. Snaggletooth
won the car destruction derby immediately following the event. Other men-
tions go out to Curtis, who backflipped off the door, and the boys, who
took the street log in arms and thrust it against the car door until it was
hanging by a hinge.
SUMMATION
Skaters and snowboarders mixed it up without pieces of paper telling
them when to practice, how to act or what to wear. The rule on pads and
helmets was more of an unspoken rule that's only a rule when it's spoken,
or, it's up to you and your own common sense. You didn't feel like you
had to jump ramp a hundred yards to qualify. It was a mellow, loose, party-
type atmosphere with a light entry fee, Sacto style; skaters skating with
friends, a lot like the Eugene rain scenes. It was locals skating with pros
skating with out of town passers-through. It was a fun time for everyone,
and that's what skating should be all about.
CONTEST RESULTS ON PAGE 30
CLOSED
TO
THE
PUBLIC
PRIVATE PARTY
NO PEDS ALLOWED
NSA Progression Session, April 27th
Jeff Phillips' Skatepark, Dallas, TX
Okay, first of all, whose idea was it to throw
a contest in one of the premier skate facilities
in the fifty states and not allow any spectators
to come in and see it? Well, all you skate fans
who wanted to squeeze into Jeff Phillips'
Skatepark in Dallas, Texas, on a Friday night
back in April when it was raining so miserable
damn much you didn't want to be anywhere
near Texas anyway (besides Phillips' facility
don't have room for any pedestrians), draw
a map of the park and you can follow along
with your pencil lead as I describe what hap-
pened. First, draw a big mini-ramp about 28
to 32 feet wide and about 50 or 60 feet from
metal-to-metal, with a spine in the middle that
runs two-thirds of the way across then breaks
into a flat-spine four feet across for the re-
mainder. At one end add a two-foot tall exten-
sion. Next to this mini-ramp, draw a fairly
large bowl, sort of egg shaped but a little flat-
ter on the large end, creating two ninety-
degree corners, so that the flat end is flush
by Kevin J. Thatcher
with the side of the mini-ramp that is opposite
the extension. Behind this mini-ramp draw
a small streetstyle area with the usual objects
and beyond that draw a large, full-size
halfpipe. Near the front of the warehouse
draw a small mini-ramp next to the roll-up
door. Add a pro shop next to that and you're
in business.
Now, even though you couldn't get into this
event if you wanted to pay, you can follow.
along on your little park map just as if you
wuz there.
Qualifying-Six heats, eight skaters per with
two one-minute runs each, made for a long
45