Damn Am 3rd Lair Day One and Bowl Jam

Words by Ryan Clements
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek

If you keep up with what we do here at Skatepark of Tampa, then you know that we travel quite a bit. Some trips I really look forward to while with others I just go through the motions. For some reason I truly enjoy traveling to Minnesota. It might be because of the beautiful June weather, or the fact that 3rd Lair SkatePark is in skating distance to the hotel, or maybe because the bars are right next to the hotel. Yeah, it must be because of the bars!

This is my third trip to Damn Am MN. The first two times I drove up…and what a drive it is! Taking a plane is not quite as exciting, but flying for three hours compared to driving for 30 saves quite a bit of time. However, if I had it my way, I’d be on the road. Schedules and timing just doesn’t permit nowadays…

Friday is the official beginning of Damn Am with check-in and practice all day for the competitors. It’s a fun, mellow day with some serious ripping all around the Park. And there is no shortage of stuff to skate at 3rd Lair…the place is huge!

As the sun goes down the Bowl Jam heats up. We had abut 20 entrants and they all got two, 45-second runs to attempt to make it into the Final Jam. The judges broke it down and it was on…they got one skate-until-you-fall intro run and then it was an all-out no-rules 15-minute Jam! Here are some highlights:

• This one might not be a highlight per say, but Curren Caples is one tough little guy. He had a collision with Greg Fountain and got tossed like a rag-doll, only to get up and realize he lost about 1/3 of his front tooth. Hopefully those are still his baby teeth
• I’ve never met Mike Barnes from Florida before, but he dialed fs inverts during the Jam
• 40-year-old Glen Charnoski hangs in there with the young guys. He’s still ripping with tuck-knee eggs and les twists

Even though the level of skating was ‘up there,’ the judges had a difficult time determining the winner because no one really took over and dominated. Here’s how it broke down:

• 4th – Levi Combs – I wasn’t going to list 4th place in there, but since it was our boy Levi from Skatepark of Tampa, he made the cut. The deep end of the bowl is a bit different than what we’re used to at home, but Levi still made it happen
• 3rd – Mark Clements – no, the last name didn’t earn him his spot, Marky ripped with every revert possible and lines in and out of the chaos
• 2nd – Josh Foley – no one has more lines in this bowl than Josh. He skates faster and grinds farther than anyone and he’s got 50-50’s and 5-0’s into the deep end to fakie at Mach 10. Congrats on just graduating high school, Homie!
• 1st – Anthony Shultz – last-minute entries are the best. Right before the Contest began Shultz asked Schaefer, “Can I skate?” We wrote his name on the list and it was on! He learned bs smiths earlier that day and had them dialed in the deep end and skated that bowl like he had one just like it in his backyard

Bowl Jam Final Results

1st	Anthony Shultz
2nd	Josh Foley
3rd	Mark Clements
4th	Levi Combs
5th	Greg Fountain
6th	Derek Seurynck
7th	Glen Charnoski
8th	Mike Barnes
9th	Alex Brunelle
10th	Curren Caples

Bowl Jam Qualifier Results

1st	Anthony Shultz
2nd	Josh Foley
3rd	Mark Clements
4th	Curren Caples
5th	Greg Fountain
6th	Glen Charnoski
7th	Mike Barnes
8th	Derek Seurynck
9th	Alex Brunelle
10th	Levi Combs
11th	Dylan Strait
12th	Adam Hopkins
13th	Jordan Fountain
14th	Fred Luyet
15th	Conan
16th	Pop Kill
17th	Swamp Trog
18th	Matt Giles
19th	Yoshi
20th	Dakota White

Steve from 3rd Lair hosted a Guitar Hero jam. Schaefer should stick to the real guitar

Cindy used to be married to Tony Hawk. She's Riley Hawk's mom

Last time I saw Chris Troy, he had a foot cradle. Now he has frontside heelflip wallrides

Jason Barr - front blunt on the bank to wall

Derek Seurynck - frontside nosepick

David Loy - frontside noseblunt with no braces

Tanner Zelinski - backside flip

Donovan Piscopo - back crail

The Florida crew is thick. Giles, The Deal, Wizard Smoke, Jake, Levi, Body, Jata, Pee Wee Kirks, and Jack

Swamp Trog was last seen in the Moat Race in Tampa a while back

Anthony Schultz won the Bowl Jam, and my early prediction is that he's going to win the street on Sunday. This is a lein frontside noseblunt

Levi - sugarcane

Mark Clements was doing backside big spin disaster to back revert. This is a frontside 5-0 backside revert through the corner

Josh Foley - 5-0 fakie

Shortly after Curren Caples rode away from this giant melon grab, he got a tooth knocked out by some kid with make-up on

Fred and her sidekick here are in a crew called Montreal Skate Bitches. They ripped in the Bowl Jam last night

After the Bowl Jam, the Turf Club was the spot for yet another night at the bar. The whole Adio team was there including Ed Selgo

There is no smoking indoors in Minnesota now. Chimile, DJ Wade, Rhino, Zumiez Karyn, Jeff Taylor, Chris Roberts, Danny Montoya, and Mike Owen don't care