"I just pictured him out there
"I just pictured him out there,
like an 8-year-old child walking
around,"
PRINK
NATAS
Sometimes
you have to
Left: The supreme ruler of his own domain, Jeff Phillips floats frontside from bowl to spine. Above: Reverse
angle of Chris Miller making the same trans-platform crossing in a flash. Inset: You may consider Omar Hassan
a pup, but he can trade tricks and talent with the big dogs any day. Right: (L to R) Gator, Schneer, John Hogan
and Randy J. on the loose-better lock up your daughters and get the cows in the barn, Dallas.
and grueling breakdown to the top 20 prime-
time candidates. This twenty cut was whit
tled down to ten skaters. Danny Way, Tom
Knox, Eric Dressen, Mark Roach, Reese
Simpson, Buck Smith, Jeff Phillips, Omar
Hassan and Wade Speyer qualified for the
final skate down in that order, from tenth to
second, behind number one point-getter,
Chris Miller.
Many standouts ripped the state-of-the-art
mini-ramp and bowl to shreds, but the top
ten found good transition lines between the
two. A bail-to-make ratio of about 2-to-1 kept
all competitors stepping lively about twelve
feet off the hard cement floor between the
bowl and spine.
Despite a lot of general flailing and loose
boards rebounding off the walls (Sir Grant
Brittain had the tip of his nose sanded off by
the griptape of Corey O'Brien's wild cue).
several standouts who bowed out early
deserve mention. John Fudala of VA Beach
handled the mini-ramp well while Mark Gonz
ales floated through the semi-cut with his
carefree style and a lot of attempts at
impossible tricks only Mark could think of
46
actually pulling. Bod Boyle had his troubles
in the bowl, not being a real carving kind of
guy and, as he is wont to do, beat himself
silly trying to air it out from bowl to mini. Bod's
boardslides, disasters, grapefruits and the
like are masterful. Aaron Deeter is built like
a rock and did an air out of the bowl to foot-
plant on the wall and then dropped back in
fakie. That's hellbent and altogether ill.
Christian Hosoi did large boardslides and lip-
tricks at speed with total confidence and
control. Tweaked airs over the transfer, one
footed ollies-to-tail, and the most difficult of
all maneuvers attempted and pulled in
practice-size-large ollie airs out of the bowl,
across the fattest part of the deck and into
the mini-ramp at full speed. He came so
close, barely sliding out and couldn't make
it count. When your skating is a notch above,
you end up being judged against yourself.
Such was Christian's fate. Ben Schroeder
once again dominated the proceedings all
week, laid down the harshest lines and huge
swipes of sweat when he'd bail onto his back
or butt and mop the ramp with his soaked.
shirt. Ben wasn't satisfied with just making
the big air, he wanted to cover the ramp with
it. Ben made more than he missed all week,
but when it came down to the pressure
session he was beat and battered.
Because of the loose atmosphere inside
the closed-to-the-public park, the skate
schedule was comfortable. Even as the finals
raged on, some of the best in the business
like Gator, Hosoi, Nash and fresh cuts Justin
Lynch and others, worked out on the vert
ramp, stoking on each other's actions.
Finals-Now, skaters and skate fans, get out
your grease pencils and laundry markers and
let's play dot-to-dot on your mini-map. We'll
re-trace the skaters' paths as they bounced
all over the inside of Jeff's (Continued on page 86)
THUNDER
EW
BRUCKS
Above: A
STRONG
BEST TURN
seek them
up and
believe
bomber pilot poses at the wheel of
his plane.