punk rock had allegedly began. The
famed Sex Pistols reportedly origi
nated from a small clothing store
on this street in 1975. I saw no
evident signs of punk rock history.
just a street lined with upscale bou-
tiques, shoe stores, cafes and gen
eral yuppie culture. Somewhere
between the ice cream shop and the
record store, Wade and the others
disappeared from sight. Without los
ing my head, I anticipated their
next move and retreated back to
the train station.
down the ledge but fell too many
times to make the cut. He landed a
540 across a gap before he left the
course. Mike Santarossa found his.
line and stuck to it with solid runs.
A half-pint from Brazil named
Rodil De Araujo Junior put togeth
er slick runs with kickflip consisten
cy and large support from his fel-
low countrymen. Coffee achiever
Tim Brauch tore into the course
with fast paced runs that included
frontside ollies from the bank onto
the vertical wall to qualify first.
NSK RIP
NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND
Like an over-stuffed living room,
the Radlands' street course was
packed with banks, fun boxes and
quarter pipes Practice resembled a
chaotic joust, either you had the
balls to stick to your line and deal
with the continual collisions, or you
sat and complained. Never a sit-
ter, Alan Petersen charged around
the tight configurations of speed
and undying commitment. Tim
Brauch, Rudy Johnson, Chris Senn,
Tom Penny, Mike Carroll, Jeremy
Wray, Jaya Bonderov and Jesse
Paez also stood out from the rest
of the heap vying for lines.
Meanwhile, on a wide vert ramp
with small trannies, Tom Boyle.
Rune Glifberg, Tas Pappas, Neal
Hendrix, Max Schaaf, Wade Speyer
Brian Howard and Mike Crum were
all engaged in a heated session.
Over eighty entrants brought a
day's worth of qualifying to the
street course on Saturday. Compet
itors regularly collided with clueless
spectators, photographers and vid
iot fools. Mike Carroll got stuffed
between two onlookers and was
granted a rebate run. He then suc-
cessfully dissected the course to
salvage his previously blown go at
it. Chris Senn entertained all with
an ollie over the fun box to 50/50
999 radlands
Speyer turned up in
Northampton on Saturday
evening wearing shorts
and sporting knee-high
tube socks Just as I had
expected. He was frater-
nizing with a group of
board and fell early in his runs to
land in an unfortunate twelfth place
spot. Utilizing the first wall rebate,
Tas Pappas tried varial 540's in
each of his runs but came up short.
The sure-footed Australian put in
long noseslides to fakie, tailbone-
mutes and large kickflip Indy airs to
land in eleventh place.
Tenth went to Englishman Paul
Robson, who toyed with the lip but
really didn't put in much air time.
He pulled assorted varials, front-
skaters who were playing ands
billiards in a hotel lounge 4
when I recognized his
eccentric laugh. As I tried
to approach him, the room
erupted in a hail of flying
beer mugs, pool sticks and
bodies. I took cover real-
izing I was now in the mid-
dle of a battle royal creat-
ed from the beer-soaked
minds of skateboarders.
Once the tornado of glass
and bodies came to a halt, I cau-
tiously emerged from beneath my
small cocktail table in the back of
the room. Again I had lost track of
Speyer. He had vanished in the
midst of whirling objects. I exited
the now dismantled room knowing
tomorrow I'd have another chance.
"Snake or be snaked" was the
theme of Sunday morning's prac
tice. The vert finals kicked off with
each of twelve skaters getting
three forty-five second runs on the
Masonite. Mike Frazier went over
side lipslides and finger-
flip to tail reverts. Fellow
Englishman little Andy.
Scott stuck a kickflip Indy
followed by a 540 to claim ninth. If
the circus ever needed a halfpipe
performer, Andy MacDonald would
certainly get the job. He juggled
kickflip mutes, slob-to-lien varials,
frontside blunts, backside blunt dis
asters and large frontside nollie dis
asters, but lacked skills in the big
air department. He received eighth
place for his routine. Rune Glifberg
blew his first two runs with untime-
ly falls but redeemed himself on his
final ride by dropping into a back-
side tailslide that covered fifteen
feet of pipe. The big Dane boosted
fat backside and frontside tailgrabs
and a kickflip Indy for seventh.
Sixth went to Mike Crum, who
frequented the ramp's airspace
with monster frontside ollies that
would make Alan Gelfand cry. The
second generation Texan also went
well above the coping with lofty
frontside nollies, smooth Cabal-
lerials, fakie nollies and long back-
side crooked grinds to fakie. If any
one was hungry for action, it was
Paul Zitzer who had an epic appe
tite. He dropped into kickflip Indy
airs and devoured the ramp with
big Indy nosebones, tailgrab Cabs,
frontside rewind grinds, half-Cab
pop rocks to fákie, and large 360°
varials to fakie. Paul got fifth for his
voracious runs. Wade Speyer's sec-
ond run secured him a fourth place
position. Pulling up his socks, he
dropped into a big frontside air
over Brian Howard, who supplied a
backside tailslide beneath him.
Brian stepped out and Wade
charged into explosive Indy nose-
bones, frontside tailgrabs to tail
and a last-minute melon 540
Tom Boyle ignited a six-foot 540
and backside method disaster fol-
lowed by a frontside ollie to grind
that traveled the full width of the
ramp. He rolled on with a backside
ollie revert, one-footed frontside
ollie and a twisted frontside blunt.
Tom deservedly received the third
place money. Skating solid in the
practice sessions, it was no surprise
Brian Howard grabbed second. He
kicked face-high frontside nose-
bones, backside tailslide reverts,
frontside blunts, Indy 360's, long
backside noseslide fakies and
switchstance backside disasters
with power and style. Neal Hendrix
had been sidelined for months with
a nagging knee injury, but you'd
never even know it by seeing him
skate. Neal sailed head-high with
backside methods into
sweeping backside Indy
360's and huge half-Cab
rock to fakies. He trav
eled the ramp on blind-
side mutes to fakie and
hung onto waist-high
backside melon disas-
ters. Neal won hands
down for all his speed,
altitude and guts. It's
good to see him back
where he belongs.
After the vert finals
all eyes turned to see
Counter-clockwise from top right: Sporting white knee-highs, Wade Speyer
keeps a stoned crowd in awe with a twisted Indy to fakie in Amsterdam.
When you gotta go, you gotto go. In his own backyard, Tom Penny kick-
flips the length of a Masonite fixture. Mike Santarossa clocked fat cash for
his consistent switch 360 flips on the Radlands' roll-in chute. Kareem took
time out from the course to mix up the wax. Costa Mesa in the house with
top honors. Karma Tsecheff got blunted as NRA entertained on the flatbot
tom in Am'dam. Far from the lip, Remy Stratton flies the Dutch skies.
the street course. A steamrolling
thirty-minute practice was brought
to a halt and it became time for
do or die. Adam McNatt did his
own thing and didn't care what
others wanted to see. He used his
time repetitively testing his skill at
backside 360 ollies over the big
fun box. Landing one in his second
run on his eleventh attempt earned
McNatt twelfth, The judges must
have been blind during the speedy
runs Tim Brauch put in. He consis-
tently connected a rapid-fire line
which included frontside wallride
frontside airs from four feet up the
wall, 360 kickflips over the hip of
the pyramid, backside blunts, tail-
slides and kickflips on the seven-
and-a-half foot quarter pipes. Tim
got burned big-time with eleventh.
Tenth place finalist Jason Dill nol-
lied to frontside 50/50s down the
fun box ledge, switch frontside
44 THARAS