The Pro finals
Posted 05/15/2007 09:22:00 by i am vans
After the Masters' final was run, the top 10 qualifying pros returned for the final battle in a cloud of lacquer fumes. Throughout the day, the coping was abused so hard that regular re-application of the toxic sauce spray became necessary to keep the brand new pool block alive and kicking. Practice kicked off with the crowd scrambling for every last available seat, not that anyone was going to sit down at all, but space with a good vantage point was at an all time premium. The pros got warmed up, the judges got situated, and the "intro" runs got under way. For the uninitiated, "intro" runs are basically to showcase each skater before all hell breaks loose, and to give the judges an idea of where guys pull out the big guns in the bowls. The jury is still out on how the riders feel about intro runs, especially since timed runs haven't existed anywhere outside of made for tv events in skateboarding in quite some time. At this particular event, intro runs seem a bit meaningless as once the jam gets underway, the level of skating increases exponentially.
If you were looking for a favorite to win it all amongst these top 10 riders, it was more difficult than ever to pick one. With Patch out of the running, and Lincoln and Sergie in there, it was anybody's guess who was going to come up big and rake down the cash. The level of skating in the elimination heats was already on par with last year's finals, and that was only the beginning. 30 minutes of insanity ensued, with the crowd on their feet the entire time, spurred on by DJ Smokey's metal mixology and Duncan's commentary
Here's a rundown of the final jam finishers in order and how it all broke down. Keep in mind that any descriptions I am relaying to you pale by comparison to the actual event if you happened to be there or view the live webcast. Words cannot capture something so complex, beautiful, and meaningful. Not only that but being in that building to witness it all somewhat overwhelms the brain's ability to disseminate it in perfect detail.
Sergie Ventura was on a mission this year. Always known for bringing his massive air game, the VA Beach original employed a new strategy which incorporated frequent flying and good use of both bowls. It only took Sergie a couple of runs to find his groove and from there he assembled lines that were brilliant, mixing up massive flat spun 540's, 360 varials, tweaked japan airs, mutes, and a series of lengthy lip tricks to string it all together. Sergie was awarded 10th place and 300 bones for his efforts.
Lincoln Ueda does things that would kill most people who attempted them. I don't think I need to explain the mystery of how Lincoln can perform an 8 foot plus body jar without shattering his deck or breaking off the tail of it completely. I say I don't NEED to explain it, but what I really mean is that I CAN'T explain it. Lincoln's overall abuse of the bowls included the biggest airs of the event, one-footed japan slobs, kickflip indy oops, lien melons tweaked out to an impossible degree, and every time he attacked a wall the crowd went completely insane. Mr Ueda was a welcome presence in the final and he flew into 9th place and came up on $500.
Josh Borden is a crowd favorite at the Pool Party. After his impressive debut last year, expectations surrounding the young man were extremely high, and he did not disappoint. With premium board control and uncanny balance, Josh managed to stay upright through extremely difficult moves in the corners, tailslide reverts and such, and combined that with his big 540's, backside ollie truck bashes, kickflips, and an assortment of power moves through the shallow section. Josh glided into 8th, and mind you this is just months after a severely fractured femur. Tough as nails, this kid! 8th place is only temporary for a talent such as this
Friend and erstwhile mentor of Bob Burnquist, Bruno Passos always makes an amazing showing at any event he enters. These Brazilians, always smiling, always enjoying themselves, and always ripping. It's one of those things that always reminds me why any of us got into skating in the first place. For fun. Then again, Bruno was all business in the final jam. Big ollies, every liptrick under the sun, and flowing endless and difficult lines over every inch of plaster in the Combi, including a high speed traverse over the square hip, into the shallow and up into a lengthy stand up 5-0 around the main hip and into the round at about 400 miles per hour. Bruno finished up in 7th place, and grabbed $1000.
6th place landed squarely on the shoulders of Andy MacDonald. For some unspecified reasons, Andy doesn't seem to enjoy the crowd support that many other riders do. I'm somewhat at a loss when I look at what he is capable of on a skateboard, to explain why. What I can explain is that Andy is one the most polished guys out there and he brings out so many tricks, it's impossible to ignore. Big 540's, kickflip 360 body varials, alley oop kickflip indy airs, nosebone tail grabs, the list is pretty much endless. Andy Mac took home 6th place, and a $1500 check.
Getting into the meat of things now, it's appropriate to mention Bacon Skateboards' Benji Galloway. Benji is the dominator of the World Cup bowlriding circuit, and after his impressive wins at Mammoth and Peoria, not to mention a lot of other victories and top placings, it was not at all surprising to see Benji in the finals, let alone the top 5. Overhead stalefish airs, impossibly bent, invert reverts, frontside slide and rolls, and a heavy bag of assorted bombs carried Benji to 5th place and made him $2000 richer. Had Benji been able to string a couple of longer runs together, he could have finished higher for certain, but it should be noted here that in the jam format, this is tough for anyone.
Allow me to tell you a little something about Bob Burnquist. The guy is completely nuts. There is something very alien and otherworldly about his ability to somehow pull things that defy every governing law in the universe. And when Bob isn't tossing a huge frontside rodeo 540, a massive method air, or a huge backside ollie body jar, he is usually impossibly contorted, riding backwards through something like a switch 360 ollie, switch backside lipslide, or any number of other things that no one else can even comprehend. Bob has an uncanny ability to appear for all the world as if he is about to take the huge slam, and somehow regain complete control over both his board and his body. By far, Bob has the most unique approach out there and after each of his runs I looked up to find each of the judges shaking their heads in utter disbelief. Believe it though, Bob hurled himself into 4th place and took home a tidy $4000.
A case could have been made for each of the top 3 finishers to win it all. Herein lies the difficulty with contests. When you have the best skateboarders in the world, all with unique and different styles and tricks, how exactly do you break it down accurately? Every contest has controversy, and I reserve any judgement on the judges simply because I do not envy their task of determining who "won". I like to think I can study such things and break them down into a relatively organized fashion, but days after an event I will find myself flashing on a trick or a run that was buried in my consciousness that influences my opinions, and mind you this is long after the trophies and checks have been given out.
Last year's champion, Omar Hassan, once again came with his game face firmly on. Omar strings together impossibly long runs, using every feature of the Combi in his assault. To say that Omar is an intense individual, would be a gross understatement, and if you're close enough to see his eyes during this thing, you can see the fires burning. Omar brought out heavy duty lip tricks including long Schroeder bombs, and connected it all up with 540's, an assortment of airs to fakie, and an absolute mastery of the entire pool. Omar was out to seriously defend his title from last year, but fell just short landing in 3rd place. You have to understand that even a top 10 placing is a massive battle, so 3rd is heavy to say the least. Omar grabbed a check for $8000 and a trophy for his efforts.
Bucky Lasek absolutely destroyed it in this years event. Last year the man from Maryland was injured and still made an impressive showing, but this year was a whole different deal. Bucky put together switch frontside corner airs, massive 540's, method airs to fakie traversing most of the face wall and the corner in the square, 360 ollies, and assorted other heavily contorted air variations. Not only all of that, but Buck threw down the McEgg, which nobody else will even touch, an eggplant boosted 540. By the end of the final jam, the crowd was screaming his name and every time he dropped in the house came down. Bucky arguably might have won it all, but in the end he was narrowly edged in to 2nd place. $15,000 more dollars now currently reside in Buck's bank account, and in his own words, he was really "just stoked to be here".
Rune Glifberg's name resides on one of the two banners above the Combi as the 2005 ProTec Pool Party Champion. It's about to be on a second one. Last year Omar crumpled up Rune's title defense and stomped on it. So you can imagine that this year, the monster from Copenhagen was definitely looking to wrestle his earlier title back into his own possession. During the days leading up to the event, Rune was killing it, and yet you got the sense that he was keeping a bit of his strategy on the down low. In his qualifying heat, Rune was abusing the Combi, almost mocking it with his lines, but this was simply a prelude to his domination in the final jam. Absurdly fast lines, the 5, alley oop late tail grabs from the square over the hip, kickflip Indy's, heelflips, and massive airs, and everytime you looked, Rune seemed to be in the bowls or well above them. The banner is being stitched as we speak and very soon, Rune's name will appear in 2 places high above the Combi. 1st place, $25,000 and bragging rights for the next 364 days are in Rune's pocket, not that he's know to brag in any way, but he could if he chose to. He is more likely to agree with Flip magnate Jeremy Fox who told me he thought Rune and the rest of the Flip boys did "Okay".
That wraps up the finals, and no one can doubt that this thing just keeps getting more and more intense each year. We'll be back with a few highlights and to shut off the lights and drop the final curtain post haste...
If you were looking for a favorite to win it all amongst these top 10 riders, it was more difficult than ever to pick one. With Patch out of the running, and Lincoln and Sergie in there, it was anybody's guess who was going to come up big and rake down the cash. The level of skating in the elimination heats was already on par with last year's finals, and that was only the beginning. 30 minutes of insanity ensued, with the crowd on their feet the entire time, spurred on by DJ Smokey's metal mixology and Duncan's commentary
Here's a rundown of the final jam finishers in order and how it all broke down. Keep in mind that any descriptions I am relaying to you pale by comparison to the actual event if you happened to be there or view the live webcast. Words cannot capture something so complex, beautiful, and meaningful. Not only that but being in that building to witness it all somewhat overwhelms the brain's ability to disseminate it in perfect detail.
Sergie Ventura was on a mission this year. Always known for bringing his massive air game, the VA Beach original employed a new strategy which incorporated frequent flying and good use of both bowls. It only took Sergie a couple of runs to find his groove and from there he assembled lines that were brilliant, mixing up massive flat spun 540's, 360 varials, tweaked japan airs, mutes, and a series of lengthy lip tricks to string it all together. Sergie was awarded 10th place and 300 bones for his efforts.
Lincoln Ueda does things that would kill most people who attempted them. I don't think I need to explain the mystery of how Lincoln can perform an 8 foot plus body jar without shattering his deck or breaking off the tail of it completely. I say I don't NEED to explain it, but what I really mean is that I CAN'T explain it. Lincoln's overall abuse of the bowls included the biggest airs of the event, one-footed japan slobs, kickflip indy oops, lien melons tweaked out to an impossible degree, and every time he attacked a wall the crowd went completely insane. Mr Ueda was a welcome presence in the final and he flew into 9th place and came up on $500.
Josh Borden is a crowd favorite at the Pool Party. After his impressive debut last year, expectations surrounding the young man were extremely high, and he did not disappoint. With premium board control and uncanny balance, Josh managed to stay upright through extremely difficult moves in the corners, tailslide reverts and such, and combined that with his big 540's, backside ollie truck bashes, kickflips, and an assortment of power moves through the shallow section. Josh glided into 8th, and mind you this is just months after a severely fractured femur. Tough as nails, this kid! 8th place is only temporary for a talent such as this
Friend and erstwhile mentor of Bob Burnquist, Bruno Passos always makes an amazing showing at any event he enters. These Brazilians, always smiling, always enjoying themselves, and always ripping. It's one of those things that always reminds me why any of us got into skating in the first place. For fun. Then again, Bruno was all business in the final jam. Big ollies, every liptrick under the sun, and flowing endless and difficult lines over every inch of plaster in the Combi, including a high speed traverse over the square hip, into the shallow and up into a lengthy stand up 5-0 around the main hip and into the round at about 400 miles per hour. Bruno finished up in 7th place, and grabbed $1000.
6th place landed squarely on the shoulders of Andy MacDonald. For some unspecified reasons, Andy doesn't seem to enjoy the crowd support that many other riders do. I'm somewhat at a loss when I look at what he is capable of on a skateboard, to explain why. What I can explain is that Andy is one the most polished guys out there and he brings out so many tricks, it's impossible to ignore. Big 540's, kickflip 360 body varials, alley oop kickflip indy airs, nosebone tail grabs, the list is pretty much endless. Andy Mac took home 6th place, and a $1500 check.
Getting into the meat of things now, it's appropriate to mention Bacon Skateboards' Benji Galloway. Benji is the dominator of the World Cup bowlriding circuit, and after his impressive wins at Mammoth and Peoria, not to mention a lot of other victories and top placings, it was not at all surprising to see Benji in the finals, let alone the top 5. Overhead stalefish airs, impossibly bent, invert reverts, frontside slide and rolls, and a heavy bag of assorted bombs carried Benji to 5th place and made him $2000 richer. Had Benji been able to string a couple of longer runs together, he could have finished higher for certain, but it should be noted here that in the jam format, this is tough for anyone.
Allow me to tell you a little something about Bob Burnquist. The guy is completely nuts. There is something very alien and otherworldly about his ability to somehow pull things that defy every governing law in the universe. And when Bob isn't tossing a huge frontside rodeo 540, a massive method air, or a huge backside ollie body jar, he is usually impossibly contorted, riding backwards through something like a switch 360 ollie, switch backside lipslide, or any number of other things that no one else can even comprehend. Bob has an uncanny ability to appear for all the world as if he is about to take the huge slam, and somehow regain complete control over both his board and his body. By far, Bob has the most unique approach out there and after each of his runs I looked up to find each of the judges shaking their heads in utter disbelief. Believe it though, Bob hurled himself into 4th place and took home a tidy $4000.
A case could have been made for each of the top 3 finishers to win it all. Herein lies the difficulty with contests. When you have the best skateboarders in the world, all with unique and different styles and tricks, how exactly do you break it down accurately? Every contest has controversy, and I reserve any judgement on the judges simply because I do not envy their task of determining who "won". I like to think I can study such things and break them down into a relatively organized fashion, but days after an event I will find myself flashing on a trick or a run that was buried in my consciousness that influences my opinions, and mind you this is long after the trophies and checks have been given out.
Last year's champion, Omar Hassan, once again came with his game face firmly on. Omar strings together impossibly long runs, using every feature of the Combi in his assault. To say that Omar is an intense individual, would be a gross understatement, and if you're close enough to see his eyes during this thing, you can see the fires burning. Omar brought out heavy duty lip tricks including long Schroeder bombs, and connected it all up with 540's, an assortment of airs to fakie, and an absolute mastery of the entire pool. Omar was out to seriously defend his title from last year, but fell just short landing in 3rd place. You have to understand that even a top 10 placing is a massive battle, so 3rd is heavy to say the least. Omar grabbed a check for $8000 and a trophy for his efforts.
Bucky Lasek absolutely destroyed it in this years event. Last year the man from Maryland was injured and still made an impressive showing, but this year was a whole different deal. Bucky put together switch frontside corner airs, massive 540's, method airs to fakie traversing most of the face wall and the corner in the square, 360 ollies, and assorted other heavily contorted air variations. Not only all of that, but Buck threw down the McEgg, which nobody else will even touch, an eggplant boosted 540. By the end of the final jam, the crowd was screaming his name and every time he dropped in the house came down. Bucky arguably might have won it all, but in the end he was narrowly edged in to 2nd place. $15,000 more dollars now currently reside in Buck's bank account, and in his own words, he was really "just stoked to be here".
Rune Glifberg's name resides on one of the two banners above the Combi as the 2005 ProTec Pool Party Champion. It's about to be on a second one. Last year Omar crumpled up Rune's title defense and stomped on it. So you can imagine that this year, the monster from Copenhagen was definitely looking to wrestle his earlier title back into his own possession. During the days leading up to the event, Rune was killing it, and yet you got the sense that he was keeping a bit of his strategy on the down low. In his qualifying heat, Rune was abusing the Combi, almost mocking it with his lines, but this was simply a prelude to his domination in the final jam. Absurdly fast lines, the 5, alley oop late tail grabs from the square over the hip, kickflip Indy's, heelflips, and massive airs, and everytime you looked, Rune seemed to be in the bowls or well above them. The banner is being stitched as we speak and very soon, Rune's name will appear in 2 places high above the Combi. 1st place, $25,000 and bragging rights for the next 364 days are in Rune's pocket, not that he's know to brag in any way, but he could if he chose to. He is more likely to agree with Flip magnate Jeremy Fox who told me he thought Rune and the rest of the Flip boys did "Okay".
That wraps up the finals, and no one can doubt that this thing just keeps getting more and more intense each year. We'll be back with a few highlights and to shut off the lights and drop the final curtain post haste...