Damn Am Costa Mesa 2009 Skate Photos

Posted on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 by Rob

By Rob Meronek

Ricardo Paterno and Rob Maatman are two Euro ams that destroy it. This is Rob - backside noseblunt slide

Who Dat? I can't remember, but I do know Stevie's photo of this switch heel is going to look a lot better than my lazy one from across the parking lot. UPDATE: It's Will Fyock

Eniz Fazliov is another ripping Euro. That's a 360 flip down the stairset in that Euro way they do them

Tyler Elsey got in without any sponsors by sending me some video footage. That's a lipslide

Ryan Spencer is from Kihei, Hawaii. He had some large snaps. This is an ollie over the box

Last time I saw Peter Molek, he was hammered on the streets of Rotterdam. Thanks for coming all the way over to Costa Mesa, Peter. That's a switch frontside nosegrind on the rail

Ryan Spencer - frontside bluntslide transfer in front of the SPoTlight crew and judges. DJ Wade, Vern Laird, Ryan Clements, Jason Rothmeyer, Brian Howard, Mike Sinclair, Alex Moul, and Brian Young

Rob Maatman shows you how to catch a kickflip

In Nate Linford's footage he sent me to get into Damn Am, he did a heelflip indy so I almost cancelled him. He ended up doing pretty good in Friday's Qualifiers. This is a back smith on the rail

Dustin Blauvelt - switch frontside heelflip

Kechaud Johnson - frontside feeble

In the days leading up to the Contest, I saw footage of Caesar Rosado on Thrasher and his Mag Minute. I'm glad I got to meet this dude at the Contest. Super nice guy and he's ripping, too, plus hot dance moves while watching the Contest thanks to DJ Wade's jams. This is a big flip over the hip

Dan Knapp - smokin ollie transfer

I first met Matt Lonergan at the Maloof Money Cup earlier this year. He got in there by winning some video footage contest they had. He just missed the cut on Friday at 20th place. That's a frontside feeble down the rail

John Fitzgerald is taller than you and he uses those snaps that come with height to do stuff like this ollie over the rail to 5-0 down it

Sam Baker had some ripping footage that got him into the Contest, too. He's looking like a baby Colin McKay. This is a nollie laser flip over the hip. Usually a Tampa Kit is worn super tight, like a wetsuit or Batman outfit. This is the baggiest Tampa Kit I have ever seen

Donovan Piscopo - ollie up to 5-0 on the quarter

Nick Tucker - nollie inward heel

Alex Gourdouros - nollie big spin

Right after this, Vern said "I hate bonelesses, but that's a good looking boneless" on the mic. I agree, I'm not a fan of the boneless, but Lee Loughridge makes them look good just like the skater he's growing up to be

Mike Franklin is showing his support for DJ Wade with that shirt on this backside tailslide

Kids born in 1998 are doing backside 360's down stair sets. That's Alex Midler

Volcom set up some random stuff to skate behind the course. Luis Tolentino has a first try front bluntslide on this tall box

How about to fakie? Sure, Luis Tolentino has that first try, too

Dalton Dern was out back warming up on the quarter with back smiths

Luis Tolentino - switch nosegrind

CJ Dixon is on the 5Boro flow program now and it's looking like he's well on his way to being full on. This is a noseblunt slide on the rail

Jereme Knibbs missed the Finals by a couple spots, but it was hard enough just getting to the Semi-Finals. That's a kickflip over the rail

There always has to be at least one am shuffle. This time it's Angel Munoz

Andrew Cannon can do no grab tuck knees

Ethan Loy is David Loy's brother and you could easily tell in the style and flow of his skating. That's a back tail on the A rail. Welcome to the Damn Am

Also new to the Damn Am is, Manchild. He's 11 and very deserving of his nickname. This could be baby Busenitz right here. He never made this high speed frontside flip lipslide in his runs, but he was definitely killing it in practice. I am looking forward to watching this kid grow up for sure

Ethan Loy - frontside nosegrind

My autofocus failed me on this frontside flip sequence of Cesar Fernandez

Who Dat? Can't remember who this is nollie flipping here

Patrick Ryan - stalefish. The DNA OJ sure was not stale. They were making it fresh all weekend

Luis Tolentino - ollie over the box, no bump needed

Jereme Knibbs started his runs with a backside 360

Kechaud Johnson - kickflip

Clint Walker sure made a lot of new fans this weekend. This ollie over to feeble grind was just one of many unique moves he was throwing down

Clint Walker - 50-50 up and down the A rail

Ethan Loy definitely learned this from his brother

Chase Webb - frontside nosegrind

Jack Olsen - noseblunt slide

Andrew Cannon - crooks pop over, checkin'

Chase Webb - frontside flip

Back at the Maloof Money Cup this summer, we saw some random dude do a feeble grind frontside 270 out on a wet course that was pretty amazing. Turns out that was Damian Loud who I had the pleasure of meeting this weekend. He rips but fell off in his runs which is what happens to a lot of people. Check out this one foot nose manual on the box