What about skating styles?
Looking at it now, it might seem like
style doesn't mean as much as it used
to. I always had respect for everybody
and their different styles, though. Some
people might not like my style either.
What was the longest you went
without skating?
For three years I lived without a vert
ramp, so there were probably times of
eight or nine months that I didn't skate
vert. Not that I couldn't have street
skated. There are streets everywhere.
My passion's in vert skating, so that's
what I do. So the only time I skated vert
was when I went home, because my
barn ramps are there.
What's your main motivation for
coming back?
I moved back to a place where I could
skate good ramps with other people who
skate vert. I went to the X-Games in '97
and saw all my friends up there having at
good time, not in a competitive sense, but
just skating, and I wanted to be up there
with them. It was about the adrenaline of
skating a heated session with all your friends.
I was skating a little bit before that, and then I
skated like mad, though I wasn't really on a mis-
sion to get sponsored. I just wanted to start pro-
gressing again. I wanted the feeling of riding a
ramp. I just missed it. Also, my friend Ozzie
Ausband would never let me use an excuse for not
riding my skateboard.
What do you have to offer skateboarding the sec-
ond time around?
Hopefully I'll stand out. I'm new to a lot of people and
I hope I can motivate other people to want to skate. I
know vert isn't the most popular thing; not many kids have
access to vert ramps, but I think vert gives kids inspiration to
skate. It's cool to watch and I think it's good for showing kids
how incredible skateboarding can be. Then maybe they'll go
buy their first skateboard. Can I thank some people?
Yeah.
I want to thank all the people who haven't forgotten about me,
and all the people who've supported me as an individual and a
skater. Namely I want to thank my family, my wife to be, Molly, my
sponsors Smith Optics, Pain Cheaters Knee Pads, Landspeed Wheels
and Gullwing Trucks. Also, I owe thanks to my best men Ozzie and
Thor, Rob Erickson, Bob Burnquist, Andy Macdonald, Mathias
Ringstrom, the Uddy gang from PA, Brian Patch, Chris Miller, Mike
Burnett, Shem Roose, Ty Evans, Peter Hewitt, Rudy, Preston, Billy
Miller, Tommy and Danny (for the XYZ sessions), Steve Saiz/Paul
W/Danny Gorman for wearing the coaching whistles, and all the other
skaters who motivate me to keep riding my skateboard. Thanks to every-
one for making me feel welcome.
Opposite: Buster's frontside flash 'n' roll over the YMCA's bridge of death makes everyone else's 50-50s
look like a damn cake walk. Sequence: Ten tries and two balls and the kickflip to llen charged forth and
was quickly stampeded Into Buster's already hefty corral of tricks. Yahl Below: An unlikely spot for a
Judo. One-footed frontal, fourteen feet from the floor at the now defunct XYZ ramp.
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