Vans Downtown Showdown 2006
Posted on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 by Ryan
Words by Ryan Clements
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek
And better yet, the setting for the event couldn’t have been more interesting. It was a real movie set inside the Paramount Pictures compound on Melrose Blvd. in Hollywood.
The way the Downtown Showdown works is that it’s a team vs. team contest. Here’s who was invited:
Foundation – Real – Birdhouse – enjoi – Alien Workshop – Girl – Toy Machine – Element – Baker – Zero
Apparently Zero decided to opt out, claiming that they were road beaten and battered due to Thrasher’s King of the Road. That’s a pretty legit excuse considering they won it for the third year in a row. We’re not sure what happened with The Sect, but Heath Kirchart was still there to rip the Mini Mega Ramp.
The Format can actually be a bit confusing. Here’s the basic breakdown:
The bank-to-wall portion of it was ridiculously tall. Most skaters had trouble even hitting the top of it. Kenny Anderson was locking into the most perfect feebles across the channel, but he couldn’t stick one until time was over. Another ripper that wasn’t in the money on this obstacle was Justin Brock. That kid skates full-speed-ahead at all times and literally jumps right up and runs to try his trick again when he slams. He was even running when time was over. Justin almost had the fs bluntslide shove-it on the curved rail, but couldn’t seem to nail it.
When it all broke down, this is how the top three stood:
3rd – $1000 – Corey Duffel – Corey’s amazing pop got him from the bank to the top of the wall on a fs nosepick first try. Then he proceed to one-up himself by kickflipping off the platform into the bank…it was insane and the crowd went nuts
2nd – $1500 – Mike V.
1st – $2500 – Josh Harmony – Mr. Harmony was completely on fire with every trick on the bar imaginable. Even though this was the first Jam of the day, Josh was skating like it was the last session of his life
But what’s cool about skateboarders nowadays is that many that you don’t know about have more diverse skills than just jumping down stairs and rails. Guys that you would think might not have the tranny skills busted out some serious moves.
Hats off to enjoi for being so simple, yet so creative with the design of the Gauntlet. They gave it their all in the Jam, too. Jerry Hsu was the only one to do a blunt fakie on it and Louie Barletta ‘almost’ landed a fs blunt kickflip (insane); however, Louie did land a crazy-ass alley-oop fs ollie over the hip to fs rock out on the side of the ramp.
Here’s who was in the money on this one:
3rd – $1000 – Alex Olson – Son of the famed, legendary Steve Olson, young Alex does not disappoint. Not anyone gets to skate for Girl, and they picked the right kid once again. Alex has the absolute best style and had several tricks for the Gauntlet, including a back tail and bs boneless to tail
2nd – $1500 – Dennis Busenitz – It seems that at every single one of our events we’re handing Dennis some money, but he sure-as-hell earns it with his skating. Dennis had the best ollies on the Gauntlet out of anyone, and he topped it off with a fs disaster over the hip (the only person to do something like that)
1st – $2500 – Rick McCrank – A skater of all terrain with mad tranny skills from those Canadian parks, McCrankers is a machine. He’s the Energizer Bunny on a skateboard and he was just getting started. He did a fs air, fatty-to-flatty over the hip and laughed and smiled the whole time he skated. A true pleasure to watch
Hats off to Jerry Hsu, who must have jumped down that thing 30 times trying fakie flips and nollie bs flips. I saw him icing down his ankle after the Jam. Another notable ripper was Birdhouse am Justin Figueroa, who did a nollie fs feeble down the handrail. Handrail? I didn’t mention a handrail, did I?
Oh, I almost forgot…so at 20 minutes into the Jam there was a surprise. The already gigantic stair set got an improvement (so to speak). We actually made it bigger! The Contest was stopped and Four Down came out and did some magic. In only a few minutes the 10-stair was transformed into a five-flat-five and a handrail was installed. The participants were less than excited and some were shaking their heads in disbelief. They couldn’t believe that it had gotten even bigger!
Remarkably, no one got noticeably hurt in all of the mayhem. When someone would fall at the bottom of the stairs, the stairs were so big that the skaters at the top on the platform couldn’t see the landing, so there were many near collisions.
The top three ended as follows:
3rd – $1000 – Josh Harmony – 100% heart and tons of guts describes Josh’s skating all day long. He slammed SO hard so many times on the hubba, but he just got up with a smile and went for it again. He’s a true professional and I know Ed Templeton must be proud to have him on the Toy Machine squad
2nd – $1500 – Nyjah Huston – One word describes Nyjah’s skating: Unbelievable. He started off with a kickflip, landing it his first try. And that set the stage for the carnage that was to come. Heelflip, switch heel, fakie flip, 360 flip…and I can’t remember anymore because I was announcing and not taking notes, but he had moves on the handrail as well, including a back lip and several kickflip back lip attempts that had him landing like a sack of potatoes on the ground
1st – $2500 – Corey Duffel – It’s rad to see someone win a Jam that’s not your average contest skater. The best was when Corey accepted his award…he yelled, “SATAAAAANNNN!” He was joking then, but he was dead-ass serious when he did a pop-shove to fs 50/50 and a 180 fs nosegrind on those gigantic hubbas. Nice work, Corey
This obstacle ended up being the last, and most anticipated Jam of the day. There were a great combination of competitors, with some straight-up street guys like Braydon Szafranski, who threw down a great frigid air (Don’t know what that is, do you?), and others like Heath Kirchart, who did the most perfect bs 360 nose grab of all time. Then he backed it up with a stylish bs nose grab air on the quarter-pipe.
When the tricks were counted and the scores were tallied, here’s what we ended up with:
3rd – $1000 – Mike V.
2nd – $1500 – Rick McCrank – He was a total natural on this thing. From his fs boardslide on the rail to his countless floating ollies over the whole deal, McCrank skated the Mini Mega like a master
1st – $2500 – Nick Dompierre – If you’ve ever seen Dompierre skate in person, you know that he’s a beast. He rode the rainbow rail like it was a flatbar on the middle of a pyramid, with the confidence of a season professional
The raddest part is that McCrank would not stop skating after time was up. He entertained the crowd for a solid 30-minutes after the Jam. He had kids chanting and the crowd smiling. Good times leading into the Awards.
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek
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These photos were posted earlier in the week before the event: |
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Practice – Teams – Format
What better weekend to make this happen on than Labor Day Weekend? Nearly everyone has Monday off, so why not throw a contest in the late afternoon on Sunday and have a good ol’ time celebrating Labor Day?
And better yet, the setting for the event couldn’t have been more interesting. It was a real movie set inside the Paramount Pictures compound on Melrose Blvd. in Hollywood.
The way the Downtown Showdown works is that it’s a team vs. team contest. Here’s who was invited:
Foundation – Real – Birdhouse – enjoi – Alien Workshop – Girl – Toy Machine – Element – Baker – Zero
Apparently Zero decided to opt out, claiming that they were road beaten and battered due to Thrasher’s King of the Road. That’s a pretty legit excuse considering they won it for the third year in a row. We’re not sure what happened with The Sect, but Heath Kirchart was still there to rip the Mini Mega Ramp.
The Format can actually be a bit confusing. Here’s the basic breakdown:
- Teams can bring as many riders as they want
- Only three skaters from each Team are permitted to skate each obstacle
- Top two scores for each Team are averaged to get the Team's final score
- At least one Pro's score must be used in the final result, even if it is the lowest of the three scores
- Overall Team results are calculated by adding each Team's individual obstacle place
- If only one skater from a Team skates, the second score will be a zero, which will likely put the Team in last place. For best results, have at least two skaters on each obstacle, with at least one being pro
- Alternates are permitted, but the removed skater will not be scored
Real Hella’ Hyphy
As you will notice, each obstacle is named after a company, and that means that particular company was the one that designed it. The Real Hella’ Hyphy obstacle itself was enormous. I honestly didn’t think that too much would go down on it, but once the skating started, it was on.
The bank-to-wall portion of it was ridiculously tall. Most skaters had trouble even hitting the top of it. Kenny Anderson was locking into the most perfect feebles across the channel, but he couldn’t stick one until time was over. Another ripper that wasn’t in the money on this obstacle was Justin Brock. That kid skates full-speed-ahead at all times and literally jumps right up and runs to try his trick again when he slams. He was even running when time was over. Justin almost had the fs bluntslide shove-it on the curved rail, but couldn’t seem to nail it.
When it all broke down, this is how the top three stood:
3rd – $1000 – Corey Duffel – Corey’s amazing pop got him from the bank to the top of the wall on a fs nosepick first try. Then he proceed to one-up himself by kickflipping off the platform into the bank…it was insane and the crowd went nuts
2nd – $1500 – Mike V.
1st – $2500 – Josh Harmony – Mr. Harmony was completely on fire with every trick on the bar imaginable. Even though this was the first Jam of the day, Josh was skating like it was the last session of his life
enjoi Dick Gauntlet
When I first saw the Dick Gauntlet I thought, “So where’s the rest of enjoi’s obstacle?” All that was there was this three-sided quarter-pipe that created two hips. The sketchy part of it was that it was 6’ tall with about 3’ of vert. ANY trick on this thing was good. It was SO gnar that I saw a couple of pros that were scared to do a rock-to-fakie on it. I don’t blame them one bit because just getting to the lip on that thing was crazy.
But what’s cool about skateboarders nowadays is that many that you don’t know about have more diverse skills than just jumping down stairs and rails. Guys that you would think might not have the tranny skills busted out some serious moves.
Hats off to enjoi for being so simple, yet so creative with the design of the Gauntlet. They gave it their all in the Jam, too. Jerry Hsu was the only one to do a blunt fakie on it and Louie Barletta ‘almost’ landed a fs blunt kickflip (insane); however, Louie did land a crazy-ass alley-oop fs ollie over the hip to fs rock out on the side of the ramp.
Here’s who was in the money on this one:
3rd – $1000 – Alex Olson – Son of the famed, legendary Steve Olson, young Alex does not disappoint. Not anyone gets to skate for Girl, and they picked the right kid once again. Alex has the absolute best style and had several tricks for the Gauntlet, including a back tail and bs boneless to tail
2nd – $1500 – Dennis Busenitz – It seems that at every single one of our events we’re handing Dennis some money, but he sure-as-hell earns it with his skating. Dennis had the best ollies on the Gauntlet out of anyone, and he topped it off with a fs disaster over the hip (the only person to do something like that)
1st – $2500 – Rick McCrank – A skater of all terrain with mad tranny skills from those Canadian parks, McCrankers is a machine. He’s the Energizer Bunny on a skateboard and he was just getting started. He did a fs air, fatty-to-flatty over the hip and laughed and smiled the whole time he skated. A true pleasure to watch
Element Double Down
If my reaction to the Gauntlet was wondering where the rest of the obstacle was, I had the exact opposite thought when I saw Element’s concoction. The Double Down was absolutely enormous! Rumor had it that it ended up exactly how the Element guys wanted it, and it was a behemoth. It was easily equivalent to a 14-stair and the hubbas seemed to be at a very steep angle.
Hats off to Jerry Hsu, who must have jumped down that thing 30 times trying fakie flips and nollie bs flips. I saw him icing down his ankle after the Jam. Another notable ripper was Birdhouse am Justin Figueroa, who did a nollie fs feeble down the handrail. Handrail? I didn’t mention a handrail, did I?
Oh, I almost forgot…so at 20 minutes into the Jam there was a surprise. The already gigantic stair set got an improvement (so to speak). We actually made it bigger! The Contest was stopped and Four Down came out and did some magic. In only a few minutes the 10-stair was transformed into a five-flat-five and a handrail was installed. The participants were less than excited and some were shaking their heads in disbelief. They couldn’t believe that it had gotten even bigger!
Remarkably, no one got noticeably hurt in all of the mayhem. When someone would fall at the bottom of the stairs, the stairs were so big that the skaters at the top on the platform couldn’t see the landing, so there were many near collisions.
The top three ended as follows:
3rd – $1000 – Josh Harmony – 100% heart and tons of guts describes Josh’s skating all day long. He slammed SO hard so many times on the hubba, but he just got up with a smile and went for it again. He’s a true professional and I know Ed Templeton must be proud to have him on the Toy Machine squad
2nd – $1500 – Nyjah Huston – One word describes Nyjah’s skating: Unbelievable. He started off with a kickflip, landing it his first try. And that set the stage for the carnage that was to come. Heelflip, switch heel, fakie flip, 360 flip…and I can’t remember anymore because I was announcing and not taking notes, but he had moves on the handrail as well, including a back lip and several kickflip back lip attempts that had him landing like a sack of potatoes on the ground
1st – $2500 – Corey Duffel – It’s rad to see someone win a Jam that’s not your average contest skater. The best was when Corey accepted his award…he yelled, “SATAAAAANNNN!” He was joking then, but he was dead-ass serious when he did a pop-shove to fs 50/50 and a 180 fs nosegrind on those gigantic hubbas. Nice work, Corey
Girl Mini Mega
The Mini Mega is exactly what the name states. It’s a miniature version of the real-deal Mega Ramp. I heard that the Girl camp called Mr. Danny Way himself and received the blessing and go-ahead to name it the Mini Mega. In case you haven’t heard about the controversy that I’m talking about…rumor has it that D-Way put a copyright on the name and he’s the only one allowed to call something a “Mega Ramp”. I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s what I heard. If that’s the case, I think it’s pretty damn cool that he allowed the play-on-words to go down…at least it shows that Danny has a sense of humor, which is something important for a professional skateboarder to have nowadays.
This obstacle ended up being the last, and most anticipated Jam of the day. There were a great combination of competitors, with some straight-up street guys like Braydon Szafranski, who threw down a great frigid air (Don’t know what that is, do you?), and others like Heath Kirchart, who did the most perfect bs 360 nose grab of all time. Then he backed it up with a stylish bs nose grab air on the quarter-pipe.
When the tricks were counted and the scores were tallied, here’s what we ended up with:
3rd – $1000 – Mike V.
2nd – $1500 – Rick McCrank – He was a total natural on this thing. From his fs boardslide on the rail to his countless floating ollies over the whole deal, McCrank skated the Mini Mega like a master
1st – $2500 – Nick Dompierre – If you’ve ever seen Dompierre skate in person, you know that he’s a beast. He rode the rainbow rail like it was a flatbar on the middle of a pyramid, with the confidence of a season professional
The raddest part is that McCrank would not stop skating after time was up. He entertained the crowd for a solid 30-minutes after the Jam. He had kids chanting and the crowd smiling. Good times leading into the Awards.
Final Results and Awards
The best part of the Awards was when we were announcing each winner the DJ had some DMX ready to go for the hype-effect. We would say, “And congratulations to Rick McCrank!” and the music would start in. I couldn’t believe how well he timed it each time…guess you had to be there.
Overall Team – Girl Skateboards
When all of the placings were tallied on each individual obstacle, the top team ended up being Girl Skateboards. All I can say is that they earned a well-deserved $30,000.
Top Pro:
Top Pro went out to Girl’s Rick McCrank. I don’t think that anyone could have skated as many diverse obstacles as Rick did that day and put a beating on them like he did. Enjoy the 10 G’s from that, the $2500 from the Dick Guantlet, the $1500 from the Mini Mega, and your share from the Overall Team prize. Damn.
Top Am:
After Nick Dompierre did a bs noseblunt on the rainbow rail on the Mini Mega, it was over and we knew that he was getting the $5000 for Top Am. Between that and the $2500 he won on the Mini Mega, Nick had a pretty good day I would say.
Honorable Mentions:
There weren’t really any Honorable Mentions, but there are definitely a few skaters and others that deserve some notoriety:
- Braydon Szafranski – He’s not getting mentioned just because he’s my boy, but Braydon took it upon himself to represent all of the Baker pros. Herman, Leo, Dustin, and Lenoce were all present and Reynolds was at home babysitting. Herman and Leo claimed injury, Dustin was trashed, and Lenoce was chilling with girl in tow
- David Loy – I think I’ve written it before, but this ATV is already, and will be much more in the future, a force to be reckoned with
- Ryan Dewitt – Thanks for trying to be the peace-keeper, Brother. We’re still backing you and the rest of the Element boys. Now send me my royalty check!
- Vans – Once again, the entire Vans crew was truly a pleasure to work with. From Steve Van Doren to Kristy to all of the crews that put it all together, it was a fun event and we’re already looking forward to next year
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