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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (April 25, 2009)—The second stop of the ASA Action Sports World Tour (ASA ASWT) had as many thrills and spills and unexpected twists and turns as a NASCAR race when the first Skateboard Vert and Big Air BMX Triples contests of the season took place tonight at Target Center in Minneapolis. Twenty-two athletes took to the ramps—10 skateboarders and 12 bikers—to start paving their way toward this year's Action Sports World Championships. For two men the trip has begun; Pierre Luc Gagnon (Montreal, Canada) and Ryan Guettler (Queensland, Australia) captured first place titles in Skateboard Vert and Big Air BMX Triples, respectively, and amazed the audience with the skill and big tricks they had come to see.
The usual suspects took a while to find their groove in Skateboard Vert. Gagnon and Danny Mayer (Omaha, Nebraska) each failed to put together a successful 10-wall run for the first two rounds of the four allotted in the contest. Going into the third round Marcelo Bastos (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Rob Lorifice (Encinitas, Calif.) and Adam Taylor (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) were in podium position with Buster Halterman (Wellsville, Penn.) and Alex Perelson (San Diego, Calif.) hot on their heels. Round three, however, saw Gagnon and Mayer lay down the boards and pass the competition, sliding into their comfort zones of first and second place. When the contest ended PLG had captured his 6th consecutive ASA Action Sports World Tour Skateboard Vert title and Mayer held onto second, with Bastos rolling into third.
After claiming virtually all the major titles in 2008, including the LG World Championships and X Games Gold, and winning the early contests in 2009, Gagnon seems to be unstoppable. What does it take to beat PLG?
"I don't know," Gagnon answered when posed with the question. "Danny's [Mayer] been killing it lately. He's always there. I'm just going to keep training—hard."
Mayer makes no secret that he wants take a title from his friend. "I'm still happy with second, but I want to beat PLG. Tonight I got a slow start. But, if I had hit all of my tricks, I think I could have had a good chance. Pierre's looking so good through. He's hard to beat."
Two athletes made the Minneapolis ASA ASWT stop their debut in pro competition. Zach Miller (Del Mar, Calif.) faced the Skateboard Vert ramp and Colton Satterfield (Salt Lake City, Utah)
