46 THRASHER MAGAZINE
theirs is a simple operation on paper
less approach to wall shredding
pushed him to supreme levels of ramp
pummeling. Buck's patented, backside
five-o wheelie grinds around the cor-
ner demanded attention as did high
one-footed lien airs and 360° Cabs-to-
board slaps that were so crackling
loud that some dove for cover. Buck
was on it as he repeatedly pushed
nollies-to-fakie higher and higher.
As usual, Tony Hawk was in a class
of his own and was being measured
against his own high standards. While
the judges were looking for long lines,
Tony was doing backside ollie reverts,
Caballerials-to-board-to-reverts, varial
McTwists and a bizotic chink-chink
switch-stance axle stalls that Bulldog
could not locate in his copy of Jane's
Pro Skate Battle Maneuvers. Tony had
good flow, and although he bailed a
couple times, it was during 720° and
no-handed 540° attempts, tricks that
nobody else even tries.
Chris Livingston skates as smooth as
the wind flowing off a Playboy Bunny's
butt, gliding his front truck across the
steel coping with only the slightest
ting' and board-breaking coping disas-
ters. Chris was confident with high
frontside airs into lock-ups without
hesitation, then had the audacity to
revert them. His coup de grace was a half Cab-to-
rear truck bonk-in over the hip.
For a husband and a daddy, Lance Mountain
still raged the ramp in an intense blitzkrieg of
mixed lines, long slashing grinds and fully tucked
and pulled airs. Backside ollie tail grabs with a
dangling foot, long backside ollie tail grabs and a
body varial to tail grabbing 180° varial combina-
tion placed Lance comfortably in the jam. He
then took himself out of the contest on his first
run with an over-rotated Indy air slam and settled
for tenth and his health.
Patented big backside airs-to-fakie, a lot of lip
tricks and a talent for grabbing his board every
which way are Dave LeRoux's stock-in-trade.
Dave was also popping every variation of the
nollie-to-grind, to lipslide, to revert. Dave has
developed into a solid young skater with confi-
dence. Backside ollies-to-nose grind-to-board-
slide-to-revert, yes folks, all in one move. Dave
would start out deceivingly mellow at first then
hang it out to dry for point scoring barrages. If
the bottom of his board was a white piece of
paper, and if he inked his fingers before his run,
by the time he finished, there would be finger-
prints around the rails and tail three times over.
Omar Hassan not only knew the ramp well, it
was said that he knew where every nail and screw
was. His drive and confidence was a big crowd
pleaser, and his long five-os-to-fakie lit up the
judges' cards. Omar worked all corners of the
bowl consistently and fast, then applied feeble-to-
fakies over the hip, spun McTwists with ease and
even pulled the first Caballerial he ever made dur-
ing the heat of battle.
Another rising star, Chris Gentry worked a lot
of lip tricks, a lot of corner stuff and real high
indy nosebones over the hip. His consistence paid
off, as did nice 360° varials, backside ollie tail
grabs and frontside ollies-to-modern grabs.
Christian Hosoi was busting big airs as usual,
hitting the beam or disappearing up into the
rafters. Christian has also developed a mean
frontside slide-n-roll. Even so, Hosoi didn't seem
to be in the mood or in his groove. Getting
pumped to assault a new ramp out on the beach-1
head at Rosarito with music rocking and the
crowd going off then suddenly ending up in a
warehouse in Orange County had to have taken
some of the psych out of Christian's approach. He
answered the call by pushing himself beyond even
his own lofty limits.
Steve Caballero dropped into his first run and
bailed a 540° on the first trick. Halfway through,
he clipped some girl on the deck during a board-
slide around the bend and then started his first
run all over after resting. As a rule, Cab works the
entire ramp, with a flurry of modern moves like
frontside sliders, backside ollie reverts, tail grab
360's backside 360° ollies and a combination
that went from backside varial-to-switchboard.
stale grab over the hip into an air-to-fakie (still
switchboard)-to-a 360° tail grab (actually
grabbing the nose)-to-a backside tail grab var-
ial. Steve dropped into modern grab 540°
McTwists on two of his four final charges in
the jam. When the going got tough and
everybody was pushing the lengthy runs
for points Cab reverted to old school with
a backside footplant, a layback air and a
hand-on-tile eggplant. Stevie admitted
that the ramp was tough to skate and it
took a lot of work to find a line, but he
kept at it. Going into the jam ranked
number one was a surprise, and win-
ning his first vertical contest in five
years was one of the sweetest in his
ten-year career.
Within minutes, the totals for the
day were posted, confirming Cab's
astounding victory. The flag of San
Jose was raised over the awards
ceremony. Omar was second by a
whisker over Tony Hawk. Gentry
and Crum battled each other for
4th and 5th. Dave Le Roux got
6th, Buck Smith 7th, Christian
Hosoi 8th, Chris Livingston
9th, and Mountain 10th.
Even as Die Teufel Brigade
broke down their equipment
and packed their bags, the
fax machine back at
Oberkommando Daphne
Detroit began pumping
out official press releases
from the NSA and the
New Surfing Associa
tion. Each gave a sad
tale about lack of funds, borrowing
funds, eleventh-hour meetings, storm damage.
polluted waters, cancelation of the surf contest
which ended up taking place as scheduled any-
way, and the skate contest salvage bail-out opera-
tion that brought everybody together in a North
of No South situation.
(Results en page 100)
bot
modern grab 540°s
ELL PEA
Far Left:
Ollie to the
attic. Justin
Lynch takes
all available
air space to
complete a seri-
ous ollie-to-fakie
but only landed
fourteenth.
Left: Master of
ramps Caballero
used his all terrain
experience and
'switch-board
stalefish technique
to fuel a convincing
victory on the
renovated Vision
sock-shaped shell.
47