of stairs and heelflipped the pyra-
mid in the final seconds of his last
ride. Ethan Fowler smoothly slid
the big railing in backside lipslide
mode, guided frontside railslides
down the small rail and leaped fat
360 kickflips over the pyramid hip
I'd been watching Speyer through-
out the day from my back row seat
in the arena. He had been skating
well and thus made it into the final
round, which meant I'd have to wait
patiently to somehow get ahold of
the socks. Then came my chance.
Following his last run, he promptly
removed his sweaty knee-highs and
flung them behind the big ramp. I
went into action. Making my way
down to the floor lined with metal-
barricades and security guards. I
awkwardly persuaded a young skater
to retrieve the socks. He looked at
me in bafflement as I snatched the
damp socks and headed to the air-
port. My mission was now complete.
It's been a couple of years since
overhead airs were a common sight
on the vert ramp. Sporting larger
sized wheels, Remy Stratton, Mike
Frazier, Tas Pappas and Mike Crum
were seen blasting high above the
coping. If there had been a highest
air contest, Neal Hendrix would
have won with an eight-and-a-hal
foot backside he pulled during the
practice sessions. The qualifying
process weeded thirty entrants
down to twelve finalists. On the
second wall of his first run Max
Schaaf hung up on a large mute air
and wound up knocking himself
unconscious. For a few long sec-
onds, the arena fell silent until Max
returned to earth and was carried
off to the medic area. He returned
later to watch the finals feeling the
effects of a good headache.
The vert final was the last event
of the weekend. Pre-qualifying from
his win in Vancouver, Colin McKay
kickflipped mutes and Indys, but
had a few unlucky falls to keep him
from a higher placing. Like a ginsu
knife, Remy Stratton sliced across
the coping with frontside nose-
grinds into frontside lipslides, but
unfortunately dropped the blade
too many times. Andy Scott may be
small, but he powered big moves
to make the final cut. The English
bantamweight showed strong kick-
flip Indys and boned lien airs.
Sporting jeans, Rune Glifberg put
in bold tailgrab nosebones to fakie
and big alley-oop backside ollies to
tail but he never landed the elusive
Cab heelflip Indy. From Brazil, little
Rodrigo Menezes spun 360° varials
into 540's and backed up his runs
with fluent heelflip Indys. Tom
Boyle skated each run as if it were
his last. He attempted a nollie acid
5
This page, clockwise from top left: Poking a huge tailgrab to fakie,
Rune Glifberg nearly misses the chandeliers. Rodrigo Menezes,
360° varial. Frozen by a flash, Neal Hendrix covers some
distance on an Indy 360. Ethan Fowler takes a backside lip-
slide down the steep rail and into first place in street at Münster.
48
drop on his final run and came
damn close to making it. His
frontside air reverts, backside
air disasters, kickflip Indys and
one-footed frontside ollies had
everyone screaming for more.
Setting up with too many back
side airs in his groove, Adil
Dyani blasted Indy nosebones,
Indy 360's and frontside nose-
bones, but fell short on the
Indy 540's. Skating big but per
haps in need of some newer
tricks, Omar Hassan dished out
face-high frontside nosebones,
Madonnas, airs to fakie and
half-Cab varial mutes.
Tas Pappas showed strength
on long-winded runs that pro-
duced big tailboned mutes,
frontside nosebones and con-
sistent kickflip Indys, Andy
MacDonald held onto assorted
varials and kickflips with pre-
dictable competence. Coming
off a big win in England, Neal
Hendrix clicked in and dealt
out frontside tailgrabs and
massive Indy 360's that
spanned the width of
the ramp. A sockless
Mike Frazier confidently
powered into marathon
runs of seven-foot high
straight-legged front-
side airs, six-foot kickflip
mutes, alley oop Indy
disasters and backside.
tailslide reverts. There
was no doubt Mike was
going home with top
honors. The contest had
drawn to a close again
until this time next year.
-Roman Wround
This page, clockwise, from
top: Free from contest pres
sure, Chris Senn enjoys a soli-
tary frontside air in Marseille,
France. Willy Sontos floats a
fakie kickflip down a wooden
slab. Wade salutes Ethan in
the victory circle of Münster.