george crosland photo blog

Automatic skateboard magazine just sponsored a kick ass amateur event. It was a contest that consisted of 4 different skate obstacles and many local shops competing against each other via teams. The teams were made up of 4 riders and one alternate. A team manager told the organizers who would be skating. There was a thirty minute jam on each obstacle. Amazingly, it was a lot like the Downtown Showdown from last weekend. Although the battle of the shops has been around longer so maybe the Showdown was model after the battle. The world may never know.

Now you may think hmpf, amateurs, how rad could it be? Well, considering it took place in Vista, CA, in the middle of Southern California and there are a lot of sick ass ams, it is safe to say the skating was sick. Ams have such enthusiasm and good ams are always fun to watch. The event took place in the parking lot of Syndrome. You may know Syndrome better as some of the brands they make; FKD, Silver and a little team called Plan B. Wahoos provided the food and companies like Bones and stuff provided support. It should be noted that the parking lot at Syndrome is brushed cement; very grippy and very hard and un-forgiving. These kids are gnarly. There were four distinctly different obstacles; a tech fun box thing, a double set, a tranny thing, and a handrail. Awards were given out for each obstacle and overall. Teams were rated too. Money was given out, het these are ams. Everyone had fun.

Here is a noseslide to fakie on the tech feature. As throughout the event, skaters were coming at this thing from all angles. It was very hectic. Since these kids are practically pro, there were very few serious collisions all day

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Picking up where Part One left off, we have gone through the first two of four obstacles at the Showdown and here is the showboat part of obstacle #3. There was also some little wave thing and a jump ramp but the car jump was the main deal. This was the Real Sacto Rebate obstacle. Basically a re-creation of a Sacramento street contest in the 80’s with Gonz, Natas jumping off ramps, over cars and shit. To modernize it a bit, Real added a ledge to slide

Rick McCrank maybe over thirty but he is still metal. He took the Sacto Rebate obstacle AND the event overall, that is on top of being MVP at Goofy versus regular last week, insane

Speaking of old school killing the new school, how about Ed Templeton ollieing up and over a car and making this lipslide – sick, sick, sick

I think Gravette was the first to clear the whole car via frontside air

Tony Cervantes – Melon 180

John Ratray kills – all terrain, 3rd place on the Sacto Rebate obstacle

Dennis Busenitz – 5-0. Things started to get really hectic at this point. The crowd was hopped up on beer and energy drinks, the skaters were hyped and the security was nervous

Do you think Toy Machine rider Nick Trespasso that his boss, Ed Templeton, is old enough to be his dad and still possibly rips harder than him. Ed basically made these blunt slides but he kid slide out so I guess this is a bail shot, but not really. It was fucking metal

Angel Ramirez – back lip

Brayden at the height of the frenzy, drinking, smashing bottles and trying to flip cars, like a soccer riot. No Real damage was done though, just some good ol male angst being expressed in the usual non productive manner – good times

The Nuge is no joke!

The final obstacle of the event was the foundation worlds largest skateboard thing. Rick McCrank is shown doing a 180 to nose to 180 out

Tommy Sandoval won the world biggest skateboard event. This thing was like 7 feet of f the ground too, so bails meant a long drop

Tommy Sandoval – Back 180 off and over the landing ramp to flat

Tommy Sandoval – hyped

Alex from Foundation front flips to flat

Overall winner Rick McCrank, this guy aint even from the US

Step one – skate like a mad man, step two – hit your head and bleed all over the place, step three – go to hospital and get 27 stitches, step 4 – come back before event is even over. Omar Hassan

Tyler Mumma – Creature Darth Vader winner

Billy Marks – Girl EMB replica winner

Rick McCrank – Sacto Rebate winner and overall winner

Tommy Sandoval – Foundation world’s largest skateboard winner

Team winners (Zero 1st, Toy Machine 2nd) Johnny Layton, Billy Marks, Josh Harmony and Tommy Sandoval. See you next year cuz this was one of the finest street contests of the year!

Results (same as yesterday, just re-posted em)

Creature Darth Vader
1 Tyler Mumma $2500
2 Tony Cervantes $1500
3 Al Partenen $1000

Girl EMB
1 Billy Marks $2500
2 Mike Mo $1500
3 Sean Malto $1000

Real Sacto Rebate
1 Rick McCrank $2500
2 Alex Olson $1500
3 John Ratray $1000

Foundation World’s Biggest Skateboard
1 Tommy Sandoval $2500
2 Johnny Layton $1500
3 Rick McCrank $1000

Top Am
Alex Olson $5000

Top Pro
Rick McCrank - $10000

Teams
1 Zero $30000
2 Toy Machine $15000
3 Girl $5000

Biggest slam
Omar Hassan $1000

Leave it to none other than Mr. Eric Koston himself to welcome you to Paramount studios, the sight if the 2007 Vans Downtown showdown, Hollywood, California, USA

The Nuge warms up

Peter Ramondetta also warming up. Ok, the first three photos so far have been Koston, The Nuge and Peter Ramondetta so you know we got over 50 photos of METAL for this pictorial!

Mr. Alfaro grinds over the Darth Vader Helmet. You see the Vans Downtown Showdown is a contest on 4 separate obstacles. The obstacles were designed by 4 different skate companies; they can make whatever they want. Eight different companies sent teams to the showdown to compete. Each team needed to have at least 2 riders ride per obstacle and at least one pro per obstacle. The contest consisted of one 30 minute jam on each obstacle. Top awards were presented for each obstacle, overall team and overall skaters.

The first obstacle to be competed on was the Creature “Darkest Passage into the Depths of Doom and Despair”. It was a sick obstacle shaped like a Darth Vader helmet; skateable on all 4 sides. To get to the main skateable side though the skaters had to push, duck under a tunnel, go up a bank and come down to get to a quarter pipe type thing that had a ton of different lines on. Tony Cervantes utilizes the obstacle to perform a tres flip. Tony ended up getting 2nd place for the obstacle

Creature rider silent Mike shows you another option – to melon transfer jump ramp style. This was a very hard maneuver by the way. You also see a glimpse of the crowd and a real Hollywood set

J-Lay here shows you how to melon transfer of the quarter pipe I just told you about

Rick McCrank – backside ollie transfer amidst the chaos of the thirty minute jam

JT Aultz hangin in the back lot of Paramount

Slash rocks the Creature obstacle like a hurricane

Tony Cervantes looked like the winner but going through the photos I forgot the Tyler Mumma opened up this whole thing with this massive tail drop onto the bank. Tyler also did some lip trickery on the Creature obstacle to win that thirty minute jam

Omar Hassan performs a bluntslide transfer

Speaking of blunt; Omar stood up a little early going through the passage and clocked his head – 27 stitches worth

Tyler Mumma - back smith. This session was HECTIC, boards were falling on peoples heads, there head on collisions – super fun to watch

Team Creature and friends

Al Partenen is a transition master so it was no surprise that he managed to get 3rd place in an event with the likes of Rick McCrank and Eric Koston. Partenen is caught here performing a back tail to revert

Speaking of Eric Koston, here he is

Neil Heddings was ripping! Agree or disagree with his jail sentence, we all gotta agree that Heddings is a true skater

Next, we move to the Girl gone wild EMB replica. They even imported some of the original EMB local to sit under the wave and drink Budweiser while the new rippers skated the 30 minute jam. Here is Mike Mo with a switch 360 flip. Mike got 2nd place on this obstacle

John Lucero and Adam Alfaro

Josh Harmony

Steve VAN Doren flipping burgers

The crowd for the EMB obstacle was huge

Girl represent!

Chris Troy does switch frontside big spin

Fakie frontside big spin

Nick Trespaso is so hot right now – switch flip

Sierra Fellers

Tommy Sandoval performs a switch hardflip

Billy Marks won the EMB obstacle with a huge number of tricks and cigs

Billy Marks with a double kick flip – this is a make

J. Layton

EMB 3rd place finisher Sean Malto. Stayed tuned for the final two obstacles and the conclusion of the Downtown Showdown – a one day contest with so much metal it warranted two pictorials, stay tuned for more

Results

Creature Darth Vader
1 Tyler Mumma $2500
2 Tony Cervantes $1500
3 Al Partenen $1000

Girl EMB
1 Billy Marks $2500
2 Mike Mo $1500
3 Sean Malto $1000

Real Sacto Rebate
1 Rick McCrank $2500
2 Alex Olson $1500
3 John Ratray $1000

Foundation World’s Biggest Skateboard
1 Tommy Sandoval $2500
2 Johnny Layton $1500
3 Rick McCrank $1000

Top Am
Alex Olson $5000

Top Pro
Rick McCrank - $10000

Teams
1 Zero $30000
2 Toy Machine $15000
3 Girl $5000

Biggest slam
Omar Hassan $1000

Imagine the Sole Technologies, the makers of Etnies, E’s, Thirty Two and other foot wear brands is located in your town. Next imagine they build one of the best free skateparks in So Cal, then imagine many of the worlds best skateboarders descending on the park once a year to compete in the warm California fall sun. That is just exactly what happens every year in Lake Forest California. Throw in bands like JFA and the Yeah, Yeah. Yeahs, a bunch of free prody, tons of fans, an am contest a pool contest and you start to get a feel for this thing.

For whatever reason teams are made up; goofy footers versus regular footers, skateboarding never was a team sport to me but I guess it is fagball (football) season. So that means even though Jereme Rogers won for the goofy footers he was still on the losing team? Each team had 15 people with the top 5 going straight to the finals. The top 5 were picked by the tam captains, there points awarded for tricks…ahh fuck trying to explain it. It was a good weekend if you enjoy skateboarding that what counts. If you enjoy Southern California college football, it was a bad weekend, both USC and UCLA lost. What it comes down to though was the ripping, seriously, look at the results to see who all showed up it was sick. One more final thing thing, there was an amazing array of skaters represented here. From Legends Rick McCrank and Andrew Reynolds to relatively unknown Luan De Oliveira to transition rippers Colin Provost and Tayler Bingamen, if you missed this free contest, well you missed it

While everyone was watching the action, these kids were finding gems in the Etnies trash bins

An overview from the crowds perspective. The park is in a little valley so pretty much anyone could get a decent view

Big crowds too

Tyler Hendley lives near the Etnies park and it showed, he ended up taking MVP honors for the goofy team – back 180 shuv it over the couch

Jordan Hoffart kickflips the couch

Tyler Hendley again with a massive kickflip. Not many people were even hitting this obstacle, let alone flipping it!

Danny Cerezeni with a Nollie to front board, Danny got 4th place for the goofy team or 19th place over all

2006 Damn Am winner David Loy rocks you like a hurricane

Andrew Langi – Back lip to backside smith on the quarter

Terrell Robinson goes frontside over the big jump. Terrell was one of the few to hit this thing. Unlike Taylor, who kick flipped (and got MVP) Terrell just frontside aired it and got 15th place

Goofy Footer Alex Olson nosegrinds the hubba

Jereme Rogers

Greg Lutzka talks to Jereme Rogers

Morgan Smith - heelflip to nose grind

Billy Marks

A study in style, here is regular footer Leo Romero with a front board

and here is goofy footer Nyjah Huston with a front board

Nick Fiorini – nollie krooks

It took until photo #18 to show you a photo of Ryan Sheckler

Lutzka 360’s up the euro gap

Rick McCrank – MVP for the winning team, regular foot rules!

Most skaters were doing trick ON the Zumiez couch thing here. Andrew Reynolds just went and front flipped the whole thing

Andrew followed it up with a kick flip to front board

Nick again – nollie krooks again

Melon to back lip and that ends the pictorial for Goofy versus Regular this year

Regular Team wins
1. Luan De Oliveira $15,000
2. Rick McCrank $10,000 + $2,000 for MVP
3. Sean Malto $5,000
4. David Loy $3,500
5. Leo Romero $2,500
6. Ryan Sheckler $1,000
7. Fabrizio Santos $1,000
8. Andrew Reynolds $1,000
9. Billy Marks $1,000
10. Tulio de Oliveira $1,000
11. Kurtis Colamonico $1,000
12. Ryan DeCenzo $1,000
13. Andrew Langi $1,000
14. Vince del Valle $1,000
15. Terell Robinson $1,000
Regular MVP: Rick McCrank

Goofy Foot Loses
16. Jereme Rogers $1,000
17. Nyjah Houston $1,000
18. Tyler Hendley $1,000 + $2,000 for MVP
19. Danny Cerezini $1,000
20. Chad Fernandez $1,000
21. Nick Fiorini $1,000
22. Greg Lutzka $1,000
23. Alex Olson $1,000
24. Jordan Hoffart $1,000
25. Morgan Smith $1,000
26. Collin Provost $1,000
27. Darrell Stanton $1,000
28. Taylor Bingaman $1,000
29. Rodrigo Leal $1,000
30. Joey Brezinski $1,000
Goofy MVP: Tyler Hendley

I walk in and Mark Waters rousts me from taking photos, says I need a white wristband. I go to the powers at be and get a white wristband, he cuts it off. Such is the life of a skate photog. It was a great event despite the power trip. It is hard to describe the craziness of these events. The Etnies bowl is small, tight and kind of hard to skate. Throw in 1-4 of the best tranny skaters in the world skating at the same time in jam format and you get some hectic action. Oh, JFA was rocking the whole time, kids were slamming, and it was great

Looking over Chris Senn’s shoulder

Tyler Mumma lien air 360. Tyler is a local ripper and cracked the top 5

Remy Stratton was pro for G & S in the 80’s and currently is the Volcom TM. Still ripping mad skills though

Josh Mattson came in from Boulder Colorado and got 3rd freakin place in the pro division. You will see more of Josh in the future

Brian Patch, always a force – 4th place

Lester Kasai had hella tricks and got 4th place in the Masters

Pat Ngoho has smooth style; tonight he packed a lot of tricks and lines into his repertoire and clawed his way to 3rd place. Last night may have been the best I have ever seen Ngoho skate

Glen Charnoski originally from PA currently from Colorado and current GVR bowl masters champion. Glen was fucking it up and his victory was rightful. Frontside air to disaster

Steve Caballero is a true gentleman and legend – 2nd place in the masters

JFA was playing while the Master of Disaster did shit like this layback, so rad. Kids were slamming, Duane was killing and JFA was rocking

Duane Peters is 46 years old – invert revert

Kevin Kowalski– Lien to lipslide in the chaotic finals. Kevin was someone I had never seen but he was shredding

Last years pro winner and this years runner up – Omar Hassan

Chris Senn qualified first cuz he was fucking it up in the qualifiers but ended getting ninth, his energy level seemed to diminish

Pro winner Benji Galloway goes over the hip

This invert to fakie is one of many tricks that Benji did. Not only was his bag of tricks deep but he found every line the pool had

l-r, Steve Caballero (2nd), Dave Duncan, Glen Charnoski (1st), Pat Ngoho (2nd), Lester Kasai, Duane Peters (yelling at Glenn “enjoy your moment”), Eddie Reautegui – Masters podium

Omar Hassan looking mexi and Benji Galloway – 2nd and first in the pro division

1 Benji Galloway $3,000
2 Omar Hassan $2,000
3 Josh Mattson $1,000
4 Brian Patch $800
5 Tyler Mumma $600
6 Donovan Rice $500
7 Rion Linderman $400
8 Kevin Kowalski $300
9 Chris Senn $200
10 Michael O’Friel $100

1. Glen Charnoski $1,500
2. Steve Caballero $1,000
3. Pat Ngoho $800
4. Lester Kasai $700
5. Duane Peters $600
6. Eddie Reategui $500

1. Julie Kindstrand $500
2. Nicole Zuck $400
3. Allysha Bergado $250
4. Apryl Woodcock $150
5. Cressey Rice $50
5. Amelia Brodka $50

Vans recently moved it HQ from Santa Fe Springs in Southern LA County to Cerritos in Northern Orange County California. Last night they threw a little open house at the new digs. No one could have expected the response, the party was huge. Free beer and wine, free food, free music and the ramp was open to all. With all that I guess you would expect a huge turn out right? Still, it was pretty insane

The facilities - big place

Located across the street from Mitsubishis and Yamaha’s world headquarters

Many skaters were in attendance, Brian Patch (shown), Geoff Rowley, Omar Hassan and so on

Company Wellnes Program, workout in the weight room…

…or workout on the ramp, like Josh Borden here

arty logos on the wall

Let see, we got Rowley Shambles, maybe some J-Lays in here

The 60’s and 70’s display case

Old money

“Dude, thats my skull” - Sean Penn. Perhaps the most famous pair of Vans ever as seen in one of the top coming age films ever - Fast Times Ridgemont High. Seriously Fast times is up there with American Grafitti, American Pie, Rebel without a cause. If you have not seen Fast Times - watch it!

Getting towards the end of the party

The ramp in a van - as seen in TV commercials

Shaun won the first three Dew Tour events in 2007 and it took a French Canadian to knock him down.

Vert skateboarding is coming so far and is getting to be in a better place than it was a few years ago. Shaun White, of course is pushing the level and attracting a lot of attention to the sport. Young kids like Alex Perelson are breathing new life into the sport. Mix that with the insane levels that the veterans like Bucky and Bob have brought vert skating too and you have a very fun to watch event. PLG, in his 20’s, is kind of in between the old guard (mostly in there thirties) and the kids like Alex (in their teens). Then you have guys like Rune Glifberg that kill vert and concrete. Yes indeed it is a good time for vert again.

The vert ramp was indoors in Salt Lake so unlike the skatepark event, it was un-affected by the rain. The fans were very excited to see Shaun White, of course. I am very spoiled I get to see these guys all the time but I guess if you live in Salt Lake it would pretty exciting to see a Gold Medalist in your town. Unlike the Ryan Sheckler show of skatepark, the fans seemed pretty excited to see all the vert skaters. The format was the best run of three takes it all.

Shaun’s first run was pretty insane. He makes 720’s look easy, so easy that he blasted out of the 7 right into a sketchy ass lipslide up the extension then into a 540 or some shit – insane. Shaun also did back to back 5’s which is common in snowboarding but much harder in skateboarding. After round one, Shaun was on top. Bucky’s second run topped Shaun’s first. Bucky does nit and twist as much as Shaun but Bucky’s top run has a little more variety than Shauns; Nollie Heel 360, boned out front 5’s, better use of the ramp and other trick put Bucky on top after round two. Shaun fell on his last two runs.

It came down to the very last run of the event and most people had pretty called Bucky the winner. Wait! PLG dropped in and NAILED his run, including a very solid 720. PLG was pumped and rightfully so. All of the top skaters had nailed their runs so this contest was no gimmee. Rune, Buster, Bob and Andy Mac all could have won if others had faltered. PLG took the whole show and deserved it.

Even though PLG won the battle Shaun won the war. With 363 points Shaun does not even have to show for the final stop to take the overall Dew Tour title. PLG (in second) has 262 points and if he wins in Orlando he gets 100 points – 1 point shy of Shaun’s 363.
I told Bucky, Bob and the other vert dudes; I bet Shaun is a no show in Orlando. Either way Salt Lakes vert event was sick!

1 PLG
2 Bucky Lasek
3 Shaun White
4 Andy Mac
5 Bob Burnquist
6 Buster Halterman
7 Rune Glifberg
8 Jean Postec
9 Anthony Furlong
10 Chris Gentry

Alex Perelson going mental

Rune Glifberg skated in a cement contest on Friday at South Jordan skatepark. The kids said he ANNIHALATED the park there. Rune is definitely leaning towards the crete lately but still nailed a run at the Dew Tour worthy of 7th place

Rune again – slamming metal to metal, this ollie up the extension, at speed to 5-0 was punk as fuck. You could here the clack up in the stands. Andy Mac looks on

Bucky – Nollie heel 360, that’s all I have to say about that

Andy Mac always has fun with his skating – sweeper. Remember the fun?

Alex Perelson was so upset with his run in San Diego last week that he punched the ramp and broke his hand, or arm. Now that is punk and that is the kind of aggression skating should bring out in people

Your event winner PLG

Bucky Lasek – nose bone front 5 – Fuck!

Jean Postec

Cheerleaders for skateboarding, they were giving away shirts. I was thinking “I want to give them something”

Shaun White – bringing new blood to vert skateboarding

Chris Gentry, last place in the finals but first place in the party and hooking up with SLC chicks contest

Shaun White throws varial heel flip indys on vert like a kickflip on the sidewalk. Look at this shit, seriously, he is not even looking at his board as he catches it and still has to reel it in from that tweaked out position – sick

Bob is an alien – front 5

PLG on his victory run

Bob – one footed switch backside 5-0 – madness

Buster – Stale 5. I told him, “it’s a long way from Wellsville Pennsylvania in 1987, huh” He said “that is what my Dad said today”

Buster Halterman – frontside invert on the extension

Bucky with a fakie ollie to this? Actually this is missed flip trick but he just goes with it, pulls it and goes on with his run

Shaun White checking out where he fell on his second run

2 and 1 – Bucky and PLG

Sure there are a lot of sick skaters on the Dew Tour but according to the young female fans in Salt Lake, there is only one, Ryan Sheckler. After placing second in last nights best trick jam Ryan lived up to his TV fame by winning Street and securing the overall points lead for the 2007 Dew Tour. Even if Ryan is a no show for the final round and the next closest skater wins, Ryan still wins the overall. So, Ryan is king of skate, the TV screen and of the ladies. At one point early on Sunday morning, it was very quiet and all the boys were practicing, some girl in the crowd starts screaming out “Look at his butt. Look at his butt” The skaters tried to ignore the moment; Ryan kind of muttered to himself “I am over it” skated off and signed autographs on the other side of the course. At that moment it became clear that skateboarding has become so big as to transcend the sport it self. There is the real skateboarding you and I do, alone with our friends and the “reality” skateboarding of big events and TV. Love it or hate it, it all brings money into the sport, more parks, and more opportunities to make money doing what you love instead of working in a crypt. I must get back to the task at hand though….

The park event was delayed, due to a thorough rain on Saturday, until Sunday morning at 10:15 am. The early start time definitely was not in tune to the skate lifestyle. Greg Lutzka said “It is hard to skate this early”. The only ones that did seem to be fazed by the early time were the Brazilians. Rodolfo Ramos and Rodil Jr. hit the practice session full speed ahead while Ryan and Lutzka kind of cruised around.

The Brazilians ability to skate early worked for them as they took 4 of the top 5 spots. Even though Ryan won, it came down to the last jam session for Ryan to wake up and take it from Rodolfo Ramos. Ryan busted out a 360 kickflip over the gap, kickflip to front board and other stunts to take it. The Ramos trick list included; switch front 180 board, backside over crooks, front 180 switch crooked grind and more kiddies.

When the dust cleared it looked like this

1) Ryan Sheckler
2) Rodolfo Ramos
3) Rodil Jr.
4) Tulio de Olivera
5) Danny De Rosario
6) Austen Seaholm
7) Fabrizio Santos
Chad Fernandez
9) Greg Lutzka
10) Mathieu Theres
11) Pete Eldridge
12) Chris Cudlipp

Chad Fernandez melon’s over the hip

Ryan Sheckler – blunt

Greg Lutzka checks the slipperiness’ of the course while waking up

Saturday nights big winner Pete Eldridge

The course – could you rip it?

Drying off after the rain

Here is the line Saturday night, in the rain, after the event was over. These no doubt were Ryan Sheckler fans, no self respecting skater would wait through this, ha.

Danny De Rosario – front blunt

Austen Seaholm tip toes through a 270

Fabrizio Santos – front flip up the euro gap

Rodil Jr. heelflips over the big transfer into third place

Lutzka – half cab to front board

Ryan Sheckler – feebs

Chris Cudlipp skates a lot of tranny. So what is he doing in a street final? Tranny skaters stay on all their tricks which really counts in a street contest. No 69 tries for one 360 flip down Wallenburg in a contest – you gotta stick everything

Rodolfo Ramos – 5-0 up and out to second place

Ryan stokes out some fans

What does Debra here have to do with skateboarding? Nothing, but this was the scene in my Hotel Room on Sunday morning – no joke, so it is related to Salt Lake City

Vert
1) PLG
2) Diego Menezes
3) Sandro Dias
4) Mathias Ringstrom
5) Neal Hendrix
6) Alex Perelson
7) Anthony Furlong
Adam Taylor
9) Buster Halterman
10) Lincoln Ueda

Street
1) Greg Lutzka
2) Milton Martinez
3) Rodil De Araujo Jr.
4) Dayne Brummet
5) Felix May
6) Mario Saenz
7) Tulio Oliveira
Christian Huerta
9) Julio Cosio
10) Max Barrera