teloupe-sized ankle kept him from
competing in the finals. Some of the
sickest tricks in the finals were Judd
Hertzler's ollie to fakie rock on the
kink-wall. Tim McKenney's Indy
nosepick on the wall and big-ass lien
from the big corner over the quarter-
pipe extension, Emmit Bennett's
handrail bluntslide, Toebe Parkhurst's
alley-oop lien grabs, Mike Sinclair's
smooth backside ollie to tail reverts,
Scott Pommier's switch hardflip, Josh
Stewart's 360° flips over the pyramid,
Paul Urich's Smith to unintentional
lipslide around the big corner, and Billy
Roham's blindside ollie nose tap on the
wall and tech skills on the pyramid.
When the smoke finally cleared, Judd
Hertzler's powerful skating was
awarded first place. Everybody was
happy with the results. I heard more
than one of the competitors comment
that it was some of the fairest judging
they had ever experienced. That wasn't
even the end of it, though. After a short
intermission, the vert contest started.
There were only 15 skaters, so it didn't
take nearly as long. The format was
pretty relaxed, with plenty of 'One
more tries' Each skater got three runs
that were up to 45 seconds maximum
Your run ended as soon as you bailed.
with a first wall rebate. John Comer
dominated with insane shit like
heelflips, 360° Indys. Cab varials and
alley-oop nosegrinds. Anthony
Furlong piloted huge mutes, hurri-
canes to fakie. Les twists and an alley-
oop grind revert. Rodney Mead came
in third with a finger-flip handplant,
Madonnas, frontside fastplants, a
crazy two-feet foot plant, and tried to
do a 540° and got a few 'One more
tries,' but he couldn't pull it out.
Dave Rodgers was the one member
of the large Beer City contingent that
skated in the vert contest and blast-
ed big airs. Caballerials, backside
ollies, and a nice nosegrind revert.
Danny Ehara rounded out the top
five with his huge airs. Mike Sinclair
was the only skater to compete in
both street and vert and placed well
in both; he did nice backside tail-
slides and smooth feebles to fakie.
Mike Frazier, Brian Howard, and
Paul Zitzer were the judges for the
vert contest. It really seems to help
when the judges are skaters who
know how hard the tricks are..."
Toebe Parkhurst,
clean alley-oop lien.
Richard Kirby.
Drunk.
Backside 540.
Sick.
Suddenly, the stewardess interrupted over the intercom, "Please
bring your seats and tray-tables to an upright and stowed position to
prepare for landing." Me and the kid across the aisle looked at each
other and sunk back into our seats, thinking about the contest. "That
wasn't such a bad flight after all," I thought to myself. -Nico Berry
"It was more like a weekend-long party than a contest." -John Comer
"The session Saturday night was what I came for. So fun."-Sam Hitz
"I think everybody just got too wasted last night."-Tim McKenney
"A well-organized am vert contest. I've never seen that before. It's
good for the public to see who's coming up." -Joe Sierro
"I want to give props to Brian Schaefer for doing such a good job. You
could tell he's not doing it for the money, just for the skaters and the
love of skating"-Toebe Parkhurst
Vert:
1. John Comer
2. Anthony Furlong
3. Rodney Mead
4. Dave Rodgers
5. Danny Ehara
6. Mike Sinclair
7. Kevin Coss
8. Ty Cabaya
Street:
1. Judd Hertzler
2. Billy Roham
3. Toebe Parkhurst
4. Josh Stewart
5. Tim McKenney
6. Emmit Bennett
7. Mike Sinclair
8. Scott Pommier
9. Sam Hitz
9. Paul Urich
52 TH
10. Jesse Fritsch
10. Patrick Melcher
e
Billy Roham serves up a
180° nosegrinder on the
pyramid ledge. Yummy.