Sequence: Alex Chalmers
is the transfer champ; here
he slips in a kickflip on his
way to the flat bank.
Still: His brother was the
contest emcee, but MC was
a master of ceremonies on
the rail. Backside Smith.
bluetorch.com
Ryan Clements, and the rest of the SPOT crew were
easily up against the busiest weekend of the year. I
commend them on a job well done, especially the
guy who checked wristbands at the door for four
days straight. Various other members of the media
had their work cut out for them. Filming entire runs
throughout the weekend can be quite grueling on
the eyes and hands, especially when you're holding
and looking through a three-chip diggy mounted
with a super lens. I was pleased to see one film crew
utilizing a walkie-talkie system, making their job
even easier. Greg Carroll (as well as the judges) was
another who went above and beyond the call of
duty-announcing the whole contest is an arduous
task. Not only do you have to keep up with every-
one's names, sponsors, and give play-by-plays of
the tricks, but he also had to regulate the course,
keeping skaters from barging practice sessions and
others from congregating around the course. Hell,
he even put me in check once for using my flash
during finals. I didn't take it personally because he
was simply doing his job.
By far the hardest working people of the weekend
were the pros who entered the contest. How can I
even call my job work when they're the ones land-
ing the crowd-pleasing tricks and getting writer's
cramp from signing autographs?
It's safe to say that Sean Sheffey was one of the
hardest working pros of the weekend. Sheffey was
involved in almost every aspect of the contest. To
begin with, he entered and placed a respectable
47th on Saturday. On Sunday morning, he was there
bright and early for the vert contest. In between
Anthony Furlong's third place, Bob's second place
runs, and Bucky's spending half his run upside
down giving him first-place rotation, Sheffey was
making sure the ramp was in working order. He
would jump on it, slash into a frontside grind, and
then jump off, allowing the contest to continue.
When time came for the street finals, he was still out
there serving as crowd control and comic relief.
When stuntman Steve O fired up his halftime show,
Sheffey was right there beside him playing an
impromptu role.
Through hard work or natural talent, by Sunday
afternoon the 116 skaters who entered had been
whittled to the top ten. Even though Sheffey wasn't
in there, he was a part of the awards ceremony.
bluetorch.com
rch.com
SILV
QUIKSILVER QUIKSILVER QUIKSILVER
QUIKER QUIKSILVER QUIKSILVER
ENAS
Top Ten
10. JR Neves. Rocked tricks over
the pyramid and frontside boardslid
the handrail.
9. Dave Duren. Ollied to Smith grind
on the bank-to-wall and did Caballerials
on the quarterpipe.
8. Bam Margera. Stuck to the same
line all week, which included.
Caballerials over the pyramid, switch
backside lipslides on the flat bar, and a
switch backside tailslide on the tall bar
that he made in practice.
7. Mike Peterson. Hometown hero.
Dropped into huge one-footers over
the snowboard jump and blunts to
fakie on the bank to wall.
6. Eric Koston. Switch frontside tail-
slides on the handrail and nollie
heelflips over the pyramid. Kept the
kids on the edge of their seats.
5. Andrew Reynolds. Another local
yokel. All he had to do was a huge
frontside flip over the pyramid to flat
and the crowd went apeshit.
4. Carlos de Andrade. Bounced.
around the course, landing everything
including backside 360° ollie shove-it
on the quarterpipe.
3. Rodrigo Teixeira. The 16-year-old
Brazilian prodigy came with a man-
sized run which included a kickflip
noseslide down the handrail.
2. Rick McCrank. Cabs to boardslide on
the bar and an ollie over the pyramid to
nosegrind sealed his runner-up position.
1. Kerry Getz. With so many Philly
heads in there, it is no surprise that one
of them won. It's also no surprise when
you have a weapon like the double.
kickflip in your bag of tricks.
Best Trick
This contest was immediately after
the finals, and this year it was on the
pyramid/rail. Kerry Getz pulled off a
double backside flip, Dan Pageau spun
a nollie 360° heelflip, and Avi Luzzia
did a 360 flip to flat, but McCrank
took home the money with a nollieflip
lipslide and another ollie over to
nosegrind. You can bet Sheffey was in
there somewhere.
DUFFS
Shortys
Shortys
DUFFS
Shorty's
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REAL REAL FEALS SANRI
Shorty's
DUFFS
Shorty's
Shorty's
DUFFS
QUIKSTEVE
QUIKEH
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