Best Damn Shop Contest at Vertical Urge Skatepark

Words and Photos by Porpe

This past weekend Dylan Perry, Jereme Knibbs, and I headed up to Raleigh, NC for the 3rd Annual Best Damn Shop Contest held at Vertical Urge Skatepark.

Shops from up and down the east coast chose two riders to compete for bragging rights and having their shop’s name engraved on the “Stanley Cup” of skateboarding. The trophy is elaborate and made by the man behind Dominion Skateshop, Maury Blankship. A little important fact for you to know is that Vertical Urge has won the Contest for the past two years, with Dominion coming in 2nd place. So it’s only fair to say that there is a bit of a rivalry between the two shops.

The format was simple. Each shop invited was put into one of the three, 15-minute jam sessions. The top two teams from each jam would all compete against each other in a 15-minute final jam. Immediately after the finals was a 30-minute Best Trick Contest on the China bank/flatbar obstacle. Here are the results:

• Gilbert Crockett – $200 – Dominion Skateshop – It was a one man demo all day long. His switch flip from bank-to-bank was insane. Since I am full on amateur status in taking photos I missed it, but rest assured that it was properly done

• 6th – Westside Skateshop – TJ Sparks and Brent Sowinski
• 5th – Bluetile – Dusty Yauhilla and Aaron Green
• 4th – Palace Five – Shaun Gregoire and Justin Damer
• 3rd – Vertical Urge – Connor Champion and Ricky Covak
• 2nd – Skatepark of Tampa – Jereme Knibbs and Dylan Perry
• 1st – Dominion – Gilbert Crockett and Jordan Bradshaw

At the end of the day, Gilbert and Jordan made Maury proud, finally getting his shop’s name engraved on the trophy. Jereme, Dylan, and I headed out to dinner at Hi5, where everything on the menu is $5 and there was beer from all around the world to choose from. After that we headed over to the Ugly Monkey for the After-Party. The stars must have aligned that night because there were girls galore. Thanks to DC and Red Bull for getting together to throw the Contest and to Deluxe for coming in and giving the crowd and riders some free swag.

Ride on...

Porpe