Words by Porpe
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek

Our first stop was this place where Porpe last took it to the chest

They got some new stuff at that one park. Wish I could remember the name. Nah, not really. Who cares what the name is

Pat Stiener flowed like water on the the course at that one park

This park has concrete and wood. DMFP looped out on a few before clearing this gap

That's Porpe getting extreme. At least he's not taking it to the chest

We went straight to MIA after finally getting to Miami to have some sauce with everyone in town. Ryan Dodge, it's been way too long

We cruised the section of Miami known for $9 beers, silk shirts, tight coral shell necklaces, and that one song "Gasolina!!!!," among other things. Yep, South Beach. Porpe grabbed onto the back of a bus and got a taste of a salty Miami PD meathead. He then came over to us and gave a hard finger-pointing threat to be taken to jail. It's amazing how they find the need to be dicks without any provoking at all. Some really sad people wear the blue uniform

Six dudes with pants on the beach. We're too cool. Let's go

The gap to triangle in downtown Miami is nuts. Some insane things have gone down into this thing

Around the corner from the gap to triangle is this gap to grinder into the ground

So now we're back at MIA just in time for the SPoT team to give it a 7th place effort. That's Abdias 360 flipping the double set

All Cesar Fernandez needs is a mask and he's full blown street ninja in the black beanie, black shirt, black pants, and black shoes

Abdias Rivera - frontside nosegrind

Jimmy Lannon - backside nosegrind from the left of your screen to the right

DP's got some height on this kickflip into the bank

Levi 5-0's to fakie while Pat BSNG's

Pat Stiener's switch backside tailslides look better than your regular ones

Andrew Nott

Abdias Rivera - frontside halfcab flip

Can't remember who this is, but that's a switch frontside bluntslide

Pat Stiener - backside lipslide

Luiz Perez - front crook to fakie

Ben Gore - backside flip

Dave Bachinsky - frontside flip disaster

Luis Perez - gap to backside tailslide

Tim Johnson - meron grab, one of my favorite old moves

Evan Smith has it on the tranny. That's a frontside feeble

Evan Smith - front blunt

That's enough skateboarding. Let's lurk heavy metal parking lot style. Skatepark of Tampa Party Team supporters are holding it down. Tonight (Friday at 8pm) on Fuel TV, the Captain and Casey show featuring the Skatepark of Tampa Party Team airs. I have no idea how they made that day of madness into an actual episode

Matlin has a special ID

You know how when you're super drunk, then you run into someone that's more blasted than you are, then you don't feel so super drunk? Mike Espinosa made me feel less drunk. Good times. See you all next year

I was hoping we could bring home the victory and the cash after our 2nd place finish last year, but this is no easy Contest. There are plenty of rippers that come to represent for their shops and this year it seemed that the level of skating was at an all time high.

It was hard to pick just five guys from our squad because we have plenty of talent on our Team, but I felt we had the best chance with Abdias Rivera, Pat Steiner, Dylan Perry, Jereme Knibbs, and Levi Combs.

We left Friday morning at approximately 10am. Our first stop was at a skate park in Naples, where we enjoyed there new street section. After about an hour of skating we were back on our way to MIA.

We arrived in Miami, checked into the hotel, refueled on some Pollo Tropical, and sessioned the park. MIA has changed a bit since last year, and it has definitely changed for the better. The course is a bit more open, giving you room to push and create lines. After a few hours of skating, we left and headed back to the hotel and tried to take it rather easy for the night.

Even though we were on our best behavior, others guest in the hotel were rather rowdy. Rob, Levi, Dylan, and I made a quick stop in the hotel lobby bar. In the course of 30-minutes I was told to strip for alcohol and we witnessed a hit and run. I swear us Spaniards party hard and once we start we can’t stop. This explains why everything in Miami is open ‘til 4am and since us Spaniards are always running on Spanish time (late to everything we do), the party does not start ‘til really late. With this in mind and the chain of events we witnessed in the hotel lobby bar, we decided to have a pow-wow in the back of the F-350 and call it a night.

I love going to Miami because the beach is beautiful and the food is delicious. I decided we wake up early and cruise down South Beach before Contest. I am not too familiar with the area, but I know if you go to any small Spanish supermarket and they have $1.25 empanadas, you are in for a treat. So I picked up a couple of empanadas and a cup of shrimp ceviche for $2 and my pallet was in Heaven.

After the quick bite, I got into a minor confrontation with an officer of the law. He was not fan of me holding on to the back of buses while riding my skateboard and threatened to put me in jail. This could have been devastating, but I was fortunate enough to get out of it. Then after a quick session in Downtown Miami we were on our way back to the park for the Contest.

We showed up, the guys skated, and they destroyed. I am not going to list all the tricks that they did, but let me just say that it was an amazing display of skateboarding. The day at MIA Skatepark ended with a heavy parking lot rager, and a skate-off between Evan Smith and Dave Bachinsky on the mini-ramp. Evan Smith, no questions asked, ended up taking the $1,000 and I ended up leaving the Park with a good buzz. This good buzz would continue to the early morning because what is a skate event without a good After-Party?

Unfortunately, we were about 15 miles away from where the action was taking place, but fortunately Rob “Raging Asian” Meronek was there to save the day and pick up the cab fare for us to get to the After-Party. He ended up leaving early because he had a flight to catch the next day. So this leaves DMFP, Pat Steiner, and I at the club at 4am trying to get someone to takes us back to the hotel. We were unable to make it happen. Finally after a $40 dollar cab fare later we were back at the hotel ready to sleep after the long day.

Yes, the Contest was a whole weekend deal. There was another group of shops and one special clothing team that had to skate on Sunday. The special clothing team is Ybor City’s very own Shaqueefa Threads. All I have to say is I will never doubt Scotty again. He threw a performance of a lifetime.

After all was said and done we didn’t even make the top five, but all in all it was a fun-filled weekend with good people and long-lasting memories. Here are the results …

• 1st – Mesh – Evan Smith kills it and so did the rest of the team
• 2nd – Shred Shed – since when did Dave Bachinsky ride for them? I thought he was from the northeast
• 3rd – Vertical Urge – didn’t see them skate so I really don’t have much to say

A big thanks goes out to Matt Cantor, Ed Selego, Chris Williams, and the rest of the MIA staff for hosting such a good event. I hope to see this one grow year in and year out. Another thank you goes out to DC for helping make the event happen. See everyone again next year.

Ride on,

Porpe