george crosland photo blog

It only makes sense that Billy Marks should with the Blingfest since he is from Corona in the Inland Empire. You see, the main sponsor of the Blingfest is Active and they are like the king skate shop of the IE (Inland Empire is east of LA) or 909 if you are a real loc. Every year the Blingfest gets a little bigger and this year was no exception. It is amazing the amount of pro firepower that comes out for this event. Surely it is due in part to fact that Active has a lot of pull and can attract pro riders. Another factor is simply the fact that this event is so damn fun. It has the caliber of talent as the X Games with a lot less security hassles. This could be one of the more fun contests of the year. Not too mention the weather in November in the area is perfect. It was not too cold and not too hot - perfect day. A day for the pros to gather and imprese the kids.

The set up was this – 5 obstacle and 5 jams, winner take all. Well, that is not entirely true. The MC’s Chad Muska and Jamie Stone passed out Benji’s for tricks throughout the day. In addition, the Krew double set had winners for the best tricks as well but Marks was still the over all winner. The skaters were pumped, the crowd was hyped and the action was hot all afternoon.

See any names you know – welcome to Blingfest 2007

What the heck? Even Mike Vallely was there hitting the Vans “wall of Death” with old school tricks like this fakie to foot plant

Andrew spins to 50/50 on the first obstacle which was a euro gap rail thing

Chris Cole was so strong all day that it really looked like he would win the overall and I was a little surprised he did not win. What the heck though Chris picked up plenty of $100 bills through the day

Greg Meyers ended up getting 3rd place in the Krew best trick contest. Here is Greg on the 1st obstacle

On to obstacle number 2 as The Boss, Andrew Reynolds, front flips the hip

Andrew Pott over the hip

Chris Cole back lips the hip transfer ledge amidst the hectic session. There were bodies flying everywhere on every obstacle all the while some bands where playing and Chad Muska was announcing, it was a wild scene

Even the Chief participated in the skating. Not that Jamie Thomas is not metal as hell but he does not enter too many contests

Chris Cole again – backside nose grind to one footed out on the manual pad section, obstacle numero tres

Andrew Reynolds Krooked grinds part of the 3rd obstacle the manny pad. See, these guys skate the same dumb 1 foot tall pad you have in your driveway. You have no excuses, go get some

Josh Borden on the 4th obstacle, the Vans “Wall of Death” Keep in mind there was a gap between the transition and the vert which made it deadly

Jamie Thomas and Chad Muska – knucks

Johnny Layton - backside Boneless. Is it 2007 or 1985?

Have you ever seen a Chris Cole transition photo before?

David Loy – frontside blunt to yank out

Andrew Reynolds kickflip transfers from the transition to the bank. FYI Reynolds can skate transitions too

Brian “Slash” Hansen - indy nosepick

Terrell Robinson – flip to board. Terrel has it going on, tech, transition, new school and old school. Check his interview in theis month’s Sakteboard Mag

Chris Cole again doubles down with Terrell right next to him; talk about a heavy duo

Kevin Romar – nollie backside 360

Kevin Romar – varial flip?

Here is Adam Deyet’s nollie big spin heelflip to back lip which was the maneuver that won him best trick

Tyler Handley varial flips into $500 and an honorable mention on the Krew double set

Terry Kennedy comes off as a bad ass. Well he is a bad ass but he is a super nice dude as well

Billy Marks won the Blingfest, here is his boss Ed Templeton counting out his duckets for him

Adam Dyet winning what may have been his first pro win

Shane from Active, Jamie Stone from Transworld and The Muska

Greg Meyers ended up getting an honorable mention and $500 in the Krew best trick comp

Dyet

After the contest was over a few lucky people got to skate the course as the sun went down

Thanks to Active, Vans and all the other sponsors for making the Blingest possible

Results

Overall
Billy Marks

Best Trick on Krew double set
1 Adam Dyet
2 Tyler Handley
3 Greg Meyers