Reno
BIGGEST LITTLE CITY IN THE WORLD
twenty finalists, and the freestylers were cut to fifteen
in preparation for the main event on Sunday. An air of
anticipation was evident late Saturday as the finalists
reveled in their victories and the movers and shakers of
the industry blew into town just in time to see a little
casino action and the late show before the finale.
Several pros (incognito and otherwise) were in
attendance, including (but not limited to) Swank,
Buddy Carr, Gator, Marc Hostetter, Owen Neider, T.A.,
Natas, Danny Way, and Rocco.
Mr. Rocco, a.k.a. "The man who sold the world
(blind)" took me aside for a lengthy discussion on the
finer points of blackjack table etiquette, though I'm not
so sure he was as interested in my gaming philosophy
as he was in my all-Asian fleet of female bodyguards.
Possibly (entirely?) due to that fact, Rocco was more
than willing to regroup later for some card playing, but
somewhere between de-briefing my security force,
catching an impromptu freestyle performance by Jeff
Ryckebosch off the main drag, and a chance encounter
with Lady Luck at the Holiday Casino Craps table, the
name Steve Rocco entirely slipped my mind and words
like "Pass," "Big Eight," and "Don't Come," took on
new meaning.
The Finals - Street
Sunday's finals got underway at a painfully early
hour. The street course consisted of a fun box with a
handrail, two quarter-pipes connected by a platform, a
steep quarter-pipe, two bank ramps set slightly off
parallel to each other, with a channel between them
for good measure, and some other superfluous items.
Brian Chung was looking like a contender, with ollies
REND LIVESTOCK
Gamblin' Ams
66 THRASHER MAGAZINE
NTS CENTER
With four-hundred and eighty minutes of deep-
fried real estate between me and the state line, I set
the cruise control to ninety-three and flew through the
Mojave Desert like a lizard on hot sand, en route to
everyone's favorite place to spend seventy-two hours
(unless you're a member of Judas Priest): Reno.
Hey, look-there's a fair over there!
After factoring in three stops (one for gas, two by law enforcement officials) I arrived at the
front door of the Nevada State Fair, where one of the main attractions (one could argue the
only attraction) included the NSA amateur finals. This was not your run of the mill contest
venue. The presence of the State Fair lent a sort of, "lunatic fringe meet the Beverly
Hillbillies from Hell" type of air to the proceedings. Not the kind of atmosphere where the
exceedingly liberal attitudes of most skaters are taken too kindly.
The average visitor to a State Fair is far more interested in pig racing than he/she is in punk
rock. Nevertheless, the show must go on, and go on it did.
The Beginning
The first two days of the competition were crucial in deciding who would skate and who
would spectate. The mini-ramp, street and vert divisions were cut from thirty skates to.
Opposite Page:
Second place
freestyle ace Jeff
Ryckbosch getting
down to business on
Virginia Boulevard.
Left: Mike Frazier
contorts a Smith-vert
to the maximum
dimension.
Above: Mini-ramp
dominator Chris
Gentry pops a
gentleman's backside
ollie grab to fake in
gamblin' land.
over the bank channel, over the fun box hip, and,
believe it or not, some good work on the street, the
actual flat ground, making him a rare species indeed in
these obstacle-obsessed times. Josh Swindell didn't
seem to be averse to busting out large ollie grabs over
the bank channel (hereafter referred to as B.C.O.s),
and some impressive feebles down the fun box
handrail. Rick Howard demonstrated his mastery over.
the shove-it, using several variations in his runs, along
with some good nollie variations and a backside one-
footed B.C.O. Fifth place Duane Petri did the almost-
compulsory B.C.O., as well as a frontside disaster on
the quarter-pipe and an ollie off the fun box-to-50/50
down the handrail. Fourth place Gabe Rodriguez was
feeble-to-fakie on the quarter-pipe, grabbed his lien
over a hip, slapped a frontside rock on the Q.P. and
did the B.C.O.
The top three skaters all did the B.C.O. thing-to-fakie
in most cases. Rudy Johnson (3rd), followed up with a
lot of good flatland work, an ollie kickflip across the
bank platform, a sizeable ollie grab on the Q.P and a
sweet ollie off the fun box to tail slide down the
handrail. Chris Markovich powered a big frontside air
on the Q.P., opted for a lien grab over the fun box, and