FLORIDA BOWL RIDERS CUP

Benji Galloway wins the 1st stop of the Florida Bowl Riders Cup

The sun was shining, the weather was perfect, and the energy was full on!

Florida Bowl Series Stop #1
Cocoa Beach Skatepark
by Sergie Ventura.....
This was the first stop of a 3 part series and what a way tokick things off in 2008. Thesun was shining, the weather was perfect, and the energy was full on!
This was my first time to these events and it was anunbelievable sight of progression and skill. The talent that rolled over theconcrete this weekend was amazing, made me think, see, and believe that ourfuture in skateboard is bright. The level that these kids were skating at wasdefinitely a sight to see! Check out what happened!?
In the Am division,
Timmy Knuth took top honors with his lein air to noseblunt tailgrab in, fs kf to lein disasters, fs kf over the hips, fast lines with highspeed grinds in the deep.
For the ladies...
Julie Kindstand took top honors again, adding another notchon her 1st place sector of here belt! Fine smooth lines with transfers only some made all weekend! Congrats gurl!
Masters
My hat goes off to these guys because most of us grew up watching these guys skate, and to see them still ripping after all these years was an honor again!!!!!!
It was a heated finals, Todd Johnson showed his originality with his lines, carving the vortex in ways only he could do, I don't think that I saw anyone else do his lines! Smooth, calm style that put him in 7th,fs airs from shallow to deep both ways was impressive! Tony Walsh an Paul O'hara carving up the place, not disregarding the cradle at all! Hope the young guns were taking notes! Ernie Els just missed the podium with his fast lines inthe deep. Jason Parkes, skated padless mind you, and had creative speed linesthru the vortex as well. Curt Baker, was on fire, everywhere and fast, he did tricks where most would do set up tricks, putting him in second behind last years champ, Buck Smith.
Well, if you didn't have your notebook out, hope you had your video camera out cuz Buck was getting bucked in the finals!!!!! His display of back to back tricks when you didn't think he had enough speed to even do a trick was a fine display of Bowl riding! Smithverts in the deep, along with his lein disasters on every part of the park! Especially when you didn't think he would do a trick, he would do something unexpected, not to mention his CARVE GRINDS everywhere, he was one of few who actually carved properly throughout the park, his lines were nothing but fabulous! Speed/power/style being the main elements accompanying in his bag of tricks!
The pros was heated about 100 degrees more heated
After a long knee recovery, Tim Johnson was back in the saddle with his display of long
Big transfers that no one else was doing. Stalefishes and FSairs in the deep putting him in 8th, welcome back, Tim to the Johnson!
Mikee O'Friel, coming from the West had smooth tricks around the tight corner, pivots to fakie all the way around into beautiful les twistin the deep, landing him in 7th
Nolan Munroe, coming from the northeast, started his runs in mach 4, going into the Cradle everytime, almost clipping the edge after going 11 o'clock at full speed, this guy had many transfer lines, he displayed the mall, and his 4ft BS airs in the deep and his friend the 5ft 360 vairial put himin 6th.
Mason Huggins, another one coming off a last year injury,was on fire with his smooth techinal style in the small section of the park, don't let that fool you, the stuff he was doing was nothing less than small!!!!! Ally oop bs nosegrindsto bs revert, crossbone lein airs over the hip to tail smack! Bs tailslide the clamshell to revert and just to add in for flavor, kf no grab in the Cradle! Welcome back Mason! I'm sure this series is just getting you started for the rest of the year with this big 5th.
Donovan Rice, what can you say about his staple guns in the deep, fs rockslide around the deep with his hand following the whole time inmach speed, fakie fs tailblocks to disaster on the clamshell put him in 4th.
Jimmy the Greek was in final mode again, his originality, his difficulty of tricks and where he decided to do them, with or without nospeed, put him in 3rd. You could see it in his eyes! He did everything he wanted, whenever, and whereever he wanted! A master on his skateboard! Crail disasters, while dodging everyone in the deep????
Morgan Burgess, this is one to watch out for because he's doing your lines, his lines, and everyone's lines but with his tricks, kf 50 50 on the quarter, 540's, heelflips, and also, dodging everyone while doing itall. He's an inspiration for the younger generation for sure, justifying that"you too can do what I do with perserverance!" this is why he got 2nd!
Benji (I am still jet lagged) Galloway was just himself again! Showing how to do something other than a setup trick before his banging tricks. The back to back combos and the difficulty of tricks he was doing wasfine display of competition riding, not to mention his lines were original, doing fs ollies over hips most would just carve or grind over. His fs RnRslides in the deep are one of my favs, bs lipslide over the shallow hip, fsinverts from deep to shallow over the hip, come on, do I need to say anything else?
The energy and hype was thru the roof, that's because thesky was the limit this weekend and we were outdoors, there was no roof!!! If you missed out, you can get this same feeing during the next stop in Oviedo, Fla. March 29th-30th, until then see you there.
Check the Photo Gallery for more pics....
Pro's results
1. Benji Galloway
2. Morgan Burgess
3. Jimmy the Greek
4. Donovan Rice
5. Mason Huggins
6. Nolan Munroe
7. Mikee O'Friel
8. Tim Johnson
9. Kevin Kowalski
10. Sean Barclay
11. Jordan Price
12. Will Powers
13. Sergie Ventura
14. Chris Berry
15. Chris Lehman
16. Packy Fancher
17. Timmy Knuth
18. JJ Naico
19. Sky Siijeg
20. Mike Peterson
21. Levi Combs
22. Matt Giles

Master's
1. Buck Smith
2. Curt Baker
3. Jason Parkes
4. Ernie Els
5. Paul O'Hara
6. Tony Walsh
7. Todd Johnson
8. Mike Rogers
9. David Ector
10. Kelly Lynn
11. Donny Griffin
12. Shawn Coffman
13. Kurt Thuemmler
14. Tony Misiano
15. Ray Fennessey
16. Brett Popini
17. Joe Ayala
18. Garr Poe
19. Jesse Martinez

Ladies
1. Julie Kindstrand
2. Amelia Brodka
3. Marlee Miller
4. Stacie Roberts
5. Heidi Fitzgerald
6. Brooke Crawford
7. Jen Stranko
8. Erin Wolfield
9. Megan Mabry
10. Althea Hewitt
11. Noelle Stolp
12. Jessica Rua
13. Lindsea Lumpkin
14. Emma Howell


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