Vans Downtown Showdown: Scion Bank-to-Bank

Words by Ryan Clements
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek

Tosh Townend - backside 5-0

It wouldn't be a contest if someone didn't do the mandatory fatty to flatty. Billy Marks comes through with this kickflip

Jamie Thomas - back lip. Sorry you have to look at that annoying purple thing with the shakka art on the side. Seriously, what kind of kook feels cool rolling around in a busted whip like that?

Chris Cole - kickflip

Andrew Reynolds - kickflip melon. Holy crap that was so damn good. You know how a lot of flip + grab tricks look uglier than a fat chick? This one Drew did was beautiful like a skinny blond big boobed Cali girl

When Andrew Reynolds frontside flipped up on to the roof, it was pretty damn good. Then he one upped himself and did it to fakie nose manual - damn!

We collectively thought that this obstacle was going to be a total bust. Honestly, when you looked at, it really seemed a bit hurting. But that didn’t stop the teams from putting a hurting on it. It started off a bit slow and the music and mics were difficult to hear due to the location down at the end of the street, but when things got rolling, the Scion Jam was pretty entertaining.

Andrew Reynolds – Chalk up another win for the Baker team. I said to Andrew, “I haven’t seen you do a kickflip melon since the one you did at the Bro Bowl in The End.” He laughed and said, “I tried to kickflip it without grabbing, but didn’t think I could do it.” Andrew was the only one to do anything over the entire obstacle with the exception of ollies and footplants.
Braydon Szafranski – At this point Braydon was subbing for Antwuan, who didn’t feel good. I think he was going for nose manuals, but I don’t remember, and it looks like he didn’t pull anything because he got a big fat zero anyway.

Steve Nesser – Steve ollied the entire thing.
Aaron Suski – Suski did a bs tailslide across the top of the platform. I thought it was after time, but I guess not, because he ended up in second place.

Eric Koston – Sparkles was making fun of the Contest and did some thread-the-needle boneless on top of the platform. I don’t think he was feeling it.
Sean Malto – Considering Sean got a goose egg, looks like he didn’t pull jack crap.

Billy Marks – I distinctly remember a 360 flip to manny across the platform and I think that he did a fs flip to switch manual, too. Considering the size of the gap to get up there, that was quite impressive.
Josh Harmony – Josh did a boardslide on the platform.

Corey Duffel – Corey ollied onto the platform and did a bs 180 to flat.
Gareth Stehr – Gareth was wrecking himself, but didn’t manage to pull anything off.

Jamie Thomas – I know Jamie wasn’t feeling this obstacle, but he still skated like a champ with a bs 5-0 and I believe a bs nosegrind, although he was having trouble holding onto the backside lip .
Chris Cole – Chris is a machine. He ended up in third, but I’ll be damned if I recall anything he did.

Daewon Song – Daewon has some killer stuff on the landing ramp side where you could skate it like a bank-to-ledge. His blunt was insane, but not enough to give him a good placing.
Cooper Wilt – Cooper was two for two...last place again.

Mike V. – Mike skated full force and took a hard fall on a fs 180 melon over the whole gimmick. The run-up to the obstacle kind of sucked, but Mike had no problem going Mach 5.
Tosh Townend – You would think that I would have remembered more of what went down, but cut me some slack because I was working, okay?

Scion Bank to Bank Team Results
1st	Birdhouse	74.67
2nd	Zero	73.67
3rd	Element	71.17
4th	Toy Machine	54.33
5th	Baker	47.00
6th	Foundation	34.83
7th	Girl	29.67
8th	Almost	16.67
Scion Bank to Bank Individual Results
1st	Andrew Reynolds	94.00
2nd	Aaron Suski	78.33
3rd	Chris Cole	78.00
4th	Billy Marks	75.00
5th	Tosh Townend	74.00
6th	Steve Nesser	71.00
7th	Corey Duffel	69.67
8th	Jamie Thomas	69.33
9th	Mike Vallely	68.33
10th	Eric Koston	59.33
11th	Josh Harmony	33.67
12th	Daewon Song	33.33
13th	Braydon Szafranski	0.00
14th	Sean Malto	0.00
15th	Gareth Stehr	0.00
16th	Cooper Wilt	0.00