Automatic Mag’s Battle of the Shops 2006 Presented by Adio
Posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 by
Automatic Mag’s Battle of the Shops 2006
Words by Ryan ClementsPhotos and Captions by Rob Meronek
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Seeing the Sights before the Battle
I had already been in California for several days for “meetings” (reasons currently undisclosed) prior to picking Brian and Rob up from the airport on Thursday. They came out a day early to check out the sights and skate a bit. Our first stop was Carlsbad Skate Park (http://www.socalskateparks.com/park/Carlsbad). It’s real bad, and not designed by Jeff Taylor.
The next morning we stopped by the event site and realized that there was basically nothing for us to do, so we made our way up towards LA with a quick stop at the Giant Distribution Warehouse in Huntington Beach. A heated skate session was going down in their TF and we got to witness Chad Tim Tim and Stacey Lowery proceed to destroy a ledge for about an hour. The course was fun and after working up a nice sweat we got a tour of the offices and distribution areas. It’s always cool to see how others work behind-the-scenes.
Circa Premiere – It’s Time
From Huntington we headed up to Hollywood for the Circa Premiere. It cost $20 to park in the lot next to the Avalon – damn. We walked up and there must have been 1000 kids in line out front.
I’ve had the opportunity to attend a few video premieres in California and they’re always eventful. You get to see all of skateboarding’s VIP’s…damn, that sounds lame even writing that, but that’s how it seems when you’re there. Other than the video itself, which consisted of great skating, music, and editing, the premieres are sometimes more entertaining than the videos themselves. Here are a few things that I remember seeing:
- Ragdoll was hanging out next to the bar (imagine that) and snagged a bottle of liquor when the bartender turned around
- Jereme Rogers, with girlfriend Stephanie in tow, looked like he belonged on the red carpet for real. They rolled out early in a 5 series Mercedes with wheels that I’ve never even seen before. To add to the style, they had their little tiny puppy in the car, too
- Muska was there
- The was a really long line for the drinks, and when you got up to the bar the cheapest one was $7
Battle of the Shops
For the past three years Automatic Magazine has hosted a shop vs. shop contest at the Adio warehouse (I’m calling it Adio even though all of the shoes are now shipped out of Reno) in Carlsbad. This one-day-event hosts some of the best am talent that Southern California, and skateboarding in general, has to offer. The format consists of four, 30-minute jams on four different obstacles and each shop has one skater in each jam. A winner is crowned for each jam and then the shop with the overall highest points ranks supreme.
Tech
Rob walked up to me and said, “It’s impossible to get a decent photo of anyone skating this obstacle.” I’ll have to add that it was equally difficult announcing it. There were so many tricks going down on the manny pad, up (curved) ledge, regular ledge, and so on that it was hard to comprehend each maneuver and announce it before the next one was pulled.
When it was all said and done, Justin Schulte from Val Surf was the victor and received $1000. I do remember him pulling a manual up the up-ledge, rolling down fakie, and then kickflipping out, which I’m sure made Daewon proud. A close second place went to Danny Wallace from Pacific Drive who many thought was going to take it before the event even started.
Double Set
From the Tech Center we immediately started practice for the four-flat-four stair gap. And other than an ollie, it’s not like the skaters really needed much practice. The crowd was super-hyped and kept creeping closer and closer and closer to see the action first-hand with a front row seat. When that happens several spectators are bound to get a board to the shins. This time it just happened to be me that received one.
For the two Battles prior to this one the winner of the gap has been Jimmy Carlin from Street Machine, and this time he didn’t let anyone down either. I remember him doing a double kickflip so perfect that it was ridiculous. The rest of his bag was so deep that now as I write this it’s just a blur to me. He might not have won the $15k that was up for the Koston Game of SKATE (he got 2nd to Jim Bates in that one), but he earned his G at the Battle of the Shops.
I imagine that 2nd and 3rd was a tough decision for the judges, but results ended up being Josh “Doogie” Moore from Settlement and Joshua Grossguth from Pharmacy respectively.
Tranny
SoCal has a lot of kids that rips ramps. There were a few older guys in the mix, but I would venture to say that the average age out there was probably about 20. For me, this was the most entertaining event of the day, but maybe that’s because I had a nice, cool spot in the shade to view it from. Here’s what I recall:
- There was some kid wearing knee pads that I really held back the urge to clown, but didn’t
- Justin Gordon from Utility did a feeble fakie on the center tombstone which had about 4’ of vert
- Drew Potter from Pacific Drive skated smooth and stylish
- There were a couple of sketchy kids in there that looked like they really had never skated a ramp prior to that session – one of them kept trying fs bonelesses to tail
- Jay Thorpe did an alley-oop melon over the channel so smooth and perfect it looked like he was on a vert ramp
Handrail
This is what we were all waiting for, right? Doesn’t any and every skateboarder want to see some serious handrail carnage?
The jam was about five minutes in and all was going well, when some Richie Belton-little-kid-look-a-like threw a can at Andrew Pott and covered the runway with beer. I approached the kid to tell him to get off the property and he keeps walking faster and faster away from me. I assume that many thought hat he was about to get an ass-whooping because about a minute later I realize that there were several others following me that pretty much want to give this idiot a beat-down. Right then I saw a cop car drive down the street, I told the cop what was up, and I made my exit.
Last I heard was that he got hit over the head with a board and ended up in the hospital. That’s not so good for him, but he completely brought it upon himself.
There may have been a lot of commotion, but that didn’t stop the handrail rippers from skating. The beer had dried up and everyone was hucking themselves upon my return. One kid was like, “Is this Contest going on or what?” I replied, “Hell yeah, it’s going on! Do this!”
In the background I realized that the entire Carlsbad Police Department had rolled up with lights flashing, K-9’s, and there was even a ghetto bird flying around. I got the “hurry up and get this done” tap on the shoulder. When it was all said and done, here’s how the Handrail ended up:
5th – Cameron Brooks (Urban) – I’ll be damned if I can’t remember a single thing about Cameron…sorry
4th – Jake Smith (Utility) – Same goes for this kid
3rd – Michael Prince (Asylum) – I’m a big fan of this kid. He’s entertaining to watch and he gives a 100% effort
2nd – Charlie Castelluzzo (Pacific Drive) – His switch fs 5-0 was gnar, but not quite gnar enough
1st ($1000) – Marquise Preston (Pharmacy) – You don’t get picked up by Chocolate for nothing and Marquise has the bag and style to back it up
The scores from each obstacle were tallied and the overall Shop Winner was Pharmacy, who was psyched to take $5000 back home.
Special thanks to Mike Migdol, Jeff Taylor, all of the Adio staff, Four Down, and the rest of the staff and volunteers that worked to make this event possible. Thanks to the little bastards that didn’t steal the banners, too.
Battle of the Shops Full Results
Comments
Article Archive by Category
- All Ages Contests
- Anniversary Parties
- Art Shows
- Awards Ceremonies
- Boards for Bros
- Booze Cruise
- Celebrity Sightings
- Chill Cam Dumps
- Christmas
- Clash of the Crews
- Coastal Carnage
- Comedy
- Cons Triple C's
- Contest and Event Coverage
- Copenhagen Pro
- Course Construction
- Damn Am
- DC King of Series
- Demos at SPoT
- Digital Product Toss
- EOTM Parties
- Event Schedules and Details
- Franks for Nothing
- Go Skateboarding Day
- Heat Sheets and Skater Lists
- Industry Event Coverage
- Information About SPoT
- Make-A-Wish Contests
- Maloof Money Cup
- Nerdsday Thursday
- News and Press Releases
- Parties
- Product Watch
- Red Bull Events
- Road Trips
- Shoe Releases
- Shop Tours
- Skate Bid'niss
- Skate Missions
- SPoT Skate Shop Ybor
- Tampa Am
- Tampa Pro
- The Bricks
- Throwback Thursday
- Tourist Missions
- Toys for Tatas
- Trade Shows
- Vans Downtown Showdown
- Video Premieres
- Warped Tour
- Zaturdays
Shop
- Accessories
- Backpacks/ Bags
- Beanies
- Bearings
- Belts
- Complete Skateboards
- Decks and Boards
- DVD's
- Girls Gear
- Griptape
- Hardware
- Hats
- Headphones
- Jackets
- Jerseys
- Kids Shoes
- Long Sleeve Shirts
- Magazines/ Books
- Pads and Helmets
- Pants/ Jeans
- Sale/ Closeout
- Shoes
- Shorts
- Socks
- Stickers
- Sunglasses
- Sweaters/ Hoodies
- Tank Tops
- T Shirts
- Trucks
- Wallets
- Watches
- Wheels
- Woven/ Polo/ Knit Shirts