ASR & Battle of the Shops – September 2008
Posted on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 by Rob
Words by Porpe
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek
Porpe
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek
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Day One – Mini-Ramp Demos
The first day of ASR was filled with welcomes, hellos, and nice-to-meet-yous. There were three mini-ramp demos that took place. First demo is open to all. Second and third demo is open to top am and pros only. Here are a few highlights from the first day:
- Noel from Cons – what a sight for sore eyes, a blind man can notice this girl’s sex appeal
- Bill Weiss – he was putting on an impressive display of skill on the entire ramp. Too bad he could not pull the full cab to tail on the vert extension, the crowd really wanted to see it
- Tony Magnusson and Dave Hackett – it was nice to see the over forty crew being able to hold their own on the ramp
- Andrew Langi – fresh from winning three g’s at Thrasher’s Bust or Bail Contest in San Francisco, to putting on a show at the mini-ramp in San Diego. Vern you definitely did sleep on this kid. Switch front blunt on the vert extension. WTF?
- Chad Bartie – if he skates like he was skating this past weekend he might be taking Volcom’s Ramp Jam next week at Surf Expo. The nollie nose grind from low to high every try was ridiculous
Underskatement Vol. 4
When the demos weren’t going on there was still plenty to do. IASC was showing a film titled Underskatement Vol. 4 at their booth. The video consisted of different sections displaying a wide range of cinematography. The three parts of the video that stand out are “Fix Pushers,” a “documentary” on a group of mongo pushers, the short piece on Og, a Brazilian skater who suffered from polio as a child and now skates with his hands, and Bobby Worrest’s “Behind the Grip Tape,” yet another “documentary” on Bobby’s accomplishments off the board. If you have not seen it, check it out – it’s worth every second of your time.
Converse Release Party
That first night of ASR was the Converse “Re-Release” Party and their re-attempt to get into the skate shoe business. Remember when they tried to get into the skate industry back in 2000/2001 with that one helium shoe that you never bought? Well it seems that this second time around they’re doing it right with a legit line of shoes and a pretty ill team. Their line consists of shoes from the past and not from the future and it looks like it is really going to work out for them. With a team of Anthony Pappalardo, Ethan Fowler, and from the rumors circulating around this weekend, Nick Trapasso, they really can’t go wrong. Oh yeah, and the Party was a blast with free food, open bar all night, and an acoustic set from Social Distortion.
Day Two – Mini-Ramp Demos
The second day of ASR was more of the same. There were three more mini-ramp demos with the same guys in there doing the same tricks, but all in all very entertaining to watch. Two things did stand out. First, Duane Peters skated the ramp with no mercy and Brian Schaefer did an eggplant via Vern’s request with a board that was not his, while a crowd of two hundred people screamed his name. Schaefer loves the attention. Remember the semi-wasted back tail in a caveman get-up and sandals he did at Volcom’s Ramp Jam a couple years back?
Day Three – Automatic Mag’s Battle of the Shops
Our final day at ASR was all about Automatic’s 5th Annual Battle of the Shops. 23 shops pick their best guys to battle it out on four different obstacles. Each shop picks out five guys assigning one dude to each obstacle and picking one guy as an alternate just in case of injury or serious case of blowing it. Here is what went down:
Tech
The obstacle consisted of a manny pad/box that was connected to a bank-to-bank manny pad, which was connected to a double sided step-up with a ledge to the side of it that was connected to another bank. My description sucks, so look at Rob’s photo for a better idea of the obstacle. The riders got 30-minutes to land their best tricks:
- 3rd – $200 – Street Machine – Nick Tucker – this kid was killing it with Joey Brezinski-type tricks. He did an inward heel flip manny 360 flip out
- 2nd – $300 – ZJ – Justin Cefai – the judges were looking for those who were skating all the obstacles and this kid did just that. His frontside half cab nose manny up the wedge to nollie half-cab switch manny down got him his well deserved 2nd place finish
- 1st – $500 – Val Surf – Justin Schulte – he was killing the entire obstacle and barely squeezed by to get the 1st place finish by .33 of a point
Double Set
It was a four-flat-four with just enough room to run, throw your board down, and toss yourself down. They gave the 23 riders a 30-minute jam and it was on:
- 3rd – $200 – Pacific Drive – Adrian Gephart – he must have done something good to beat John Dickson’s early destruction of the set to have gotten him 3rd place, but can anyone recall his tricks?
- 2nd – $300 – Surf Ride – Tim Thomas – this dude was smooth as ice and was throwing down a variety of tricks. His switch 360 flip was off the hook
- 1st – $500 – Street Machine – Jimmy Carlin – has anyone ever seen someone land so many tricks down a set in one session? A well-deserved 1st place for Jimmy
Tranny
It was on the mini-ramp. To keep it organized the tranny section was broken down to two heats with an intro skate-‘til-you-fall run. Each group got 15-minutes:
- 3rd – $200 – Momentum – Curren Caples – a crowd favorite and always fun to watch. You can tell that during practice he was holding back because when the Contest started his airs were twice as high
- 2nd – $300 – Active – David Loy – with his staple tricks such as lien-to-tails on the vert extension and tweaked out stalefish grabs, this young man is a force to be reckoned with. The nosegrind from low to high on the a-frame box was absolutely ridiculous
- 1st – $500 – Santa Cruz – Josh Mattson – it was a three-peat for Mattson and his last name says it all…MAD-son. He was skating out there like he had something to prove and took out his only competition in his heat, Cameo Wilson. While Cameo was skating the vert extension, Madson flies out of nowhere and they both went down with Madson’s board hitting Cameo right in the kidney. Watch out if your're skating a ramp with this guy
Rail
They save the best for last, making the rail the most action-packed part of the whole Contest. It was a 30-minute jam and here is what went down.
- 3rd – $200 – Pharmacy – Marquise Preston – he probably did more tricks than anyone on the rail, but was lacking the on the difficulty which explains his 3rd place finish
- 2nd – $300 – Ninestar – Andrew Pott – no doubt that Pott absolutely destroyed the Contest. Every trick he did was flip-in and his “Nyjah Houston” (big flip front board to fakie) was insane
- 1st – $500 – Pacific Drive – Andrew Elliott – he threw down a big bag of tricks including a pop shuv-it fs 5-0 and a kickflip front board shuv which landed him the 1st place spot
Overall Shop Winner
The judges added up the place standings for all the shops and whoever had the lowest points won. Don’t ask me to explain this…you can take it up with head-judge Jason Rothmeyer:
- 3rd – $1000 – Active – Theotis Beasley got 10th, John Dickson got 4th, David Loy got 2nd, and Justin “Figgy” Figueroa got 4th, giving them a total of 20 points
- 2nd – $1500 – Pharmacy – Keelan Dadd got 4th, Joshua Grossguth got 7th, Cameo Wilson got 4th, and Marquise Preston got 3rd, giving them a total of 18 points
- 1st – $4000 – Pacific Drive – Anthony Williams got 6th, Adrian Gephart got 3rd, Adrian Mallory got 5th, and Andrew Eilliot got 1st, giving them a total of 15 points
Porpe
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