Atlanta King of the Park Contest

Words by Dylan Perry
Photos by Danny Dorsa

Dylan Perry - wallie

Jereme Knibbs - crail

Dylan Perry - alley oop nosegrab

Porpe - backside disaster

Dylan Perry 5-0 fakie

Jereme Knibbs - frontside crail 360

Jereme Knibbs - frontside tuck

Dylan Perry - backside 180 nosegrind

Thursday morning Jorge, Knibbs, and I head out of Skatepark around 10am to start the journey to Atlanta. On the way we make a pit stop in Orlando to pick up Dorsa, Steak, and Joe. Now that everyone was in the Clem 350, onward to ATL.

After a few movies we hit Georgia. First rest stop we get to there are "no skateboarding" signs. So this only means that it’s time to get out at skate some flat. On the road again for another couple hours we go to another rest stop only to find some marble benches, sketchy hand rails, and a few little hills to bomb. We actually skated there for about an hour. Jorge took a vision quest in the woods near the rest stop and came back with a turtle that stayed with us for the remainder of the trip. More driving and we finally arrive in Atlanta, check in to the hotel, Hooters for food, and then back to the city for some skating. A t this point Jorge heads over to some Oakley party while the rest of us cruise the streets. When all is said and done we leave the city and head back to the hotel. Vivian (the navigation chick’s voice in the 350) takes us on an hour journey back to the hotel. Get back at around 4am…time to sleep.

We skated at Progressive for most of the day. It’s equipped with A/C, so its very slick with all the dust that settles. Before they turned it into the skate park that it is today I believe it was a skating rink. When everyone was over skating at the Park we decided to head downtown again to skate once again.

The format of the Contest seems complex, but it’s easier than it looks. Two skaters skate head-to-head and the one who has the better line advances to the next round. Now the ones who don’t advance skate in the “losers bracket” on Sunday to have the chance of redeeming themselves and potentially working their way back up and taking on the winner from today. The winner of Saturday is guaranteed 1st or 2nd place. And the challenger has to beat the winner twice in order to be King of the Park on Sunday. It is similar to a Final Four layout system if you have ever seen one of those.

I made it a few rounds before getting eliminated, so I got bumped into the “losers' bracket” on Sunday. Knibbs skated until being taken out by Danilo Rosario for 3rd, and taking Danilo out was Timmy Knuth. So Timmy was guaranteed cash as well as either 1st or 2nd place in the entire Contest.

Arriving at the Contest, warm-ups and the Contest begins anew for the “losers' bracket.” Since I was eliminated in the 3rd round on Saturday I didn’t have to skate until the 3rd round in the “losers' bracket” on Sunday. Knibbs was waiting all day to skate since he advanced so far on Saturday. I advanced one more round and then was taken out. So I was done at that point. Knibbs was still waiting to skate against someone. Now if he lost that round then he would be done, but he held his ground in the first round he skated. Next he was up against Solomon Moseley (who advanced in the “losers' bracket” so far he was up against Knibbs) and out of that round Solomon took it. So Knibbs ended up in 4th out of the whole deal.

5th – Joey Pellegrino
4th – Jereme Knibbs
3rd – Danilo Rosario
2nd – Solomon Moseley
1st – Timmy Knuth

Danilo Rosario won Best Trick with a 360 flip noseblunt down the hubba.

Our good friend BC was one of the announcers for the Contest, but the main announcer was in the Twilight Zone or something because he wasn’t naming tricks right. Instead of 180 it was just 80, so it was said "front 80" instead of a frontside 180. And a nosegrind was a nosepick grind. Those are the only ones I can remember for now. Another thing is some of the songs they picked to skate to were pretty interesting. Papa Roach? For real? Awards were given out, product toss happened, and another contest was under the belt. Thanks to Pete Kelly and the rest of the Progressive Skatepark crew for all the hospitality.

Monday rolls around and it’s time to depart. Knibbs was introduced to Starbucks so we had to make a stop. We also stopped at Hazard County Skatepark and skated there for about an hour, along with a few other various street spots on 75. We also dropped off the turtle back at the rest stop that we found it at. More diesel in the Clem 350 and its back to Florida along with reality.