SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

When 18-year-old Alex Perelson became the fourth (and youngest) vert skater to land a 900, en-route to his first major competition victory at last week's Maloof Money Cup, Andy Macdonald was cheering as loud as anyone. "I've been skating with him since he was a little kid. We all know how talented he is, and that when he got all the physical and mental pieces together, he was going to win a big contest. It wasn't a surprise," says Macdonald.

There's no question Perelson is now the standard bearer for the future of vert skating. And there's no question Andy Mac, who turns 36 the day before the vert final at X 15, has been a fixture of vert's past. The question now is, can he represent its present, too?

Consider: His silver in last year's Park event (on a course that incorporates vert elements) gave him a total of 17 skateboarding medals and broke his tie with Tony Hawk atop the all-time list. With eight golds, five silvers, and four bronze medals, his place in skateboarding's history book is secure. But while Perelson's win at Maloof was huge, Macdonald has two big wins of his own this year, with golds at X Games Asia and the Dew Tour's China Invitational back in May. There's also his second place finish overall on last year's Dew Tour.

Macdonald credits last year's change in the X Games vert format—from a 3-run event to a jam session—with helping him adjust his competition strategy. "Now, we have a lot more tries to get that one great run," he explains. "It allows you to take more risk." And taking those risks has allowed him to reintroduce tricks to his competition runs that just a few years ago he wouldn't bother with, for fear that they weren't consistent enough.

When Andy says 720s create knee torque, this is what he's talking about.
The best example is his "lottery flip," so called because "when I first tried it, it was like winning the lottery every time I landed it." The 360 varial nollie heelflip is among the more technical tricks thrown by anyone in the vert field. Macdonald also reintroduced the 720 that he stopped throwing in 2003 after a double knee surgery forced him to completely relearn how to handle the considerable torque that the trick creates.

So, Macdonald brings momentum and a considerable bag of tricks with him to Los Angeles. He also brings energy none of his competitors—no matter their age—can match. By competing in Park, Big Air, and Vert, Macdonald will spend whole days without removing his knee pads; in one instance he'll have a little more than an hour between Park qualifiers and Vert finals, not to mention the fact that whatever Big Air practice he gets will be his only Big Air practice of the year. "It's the triathlon of skateboarding," he admits. "My schedule is just ridiculous."

The future of vert skating is coming to X15 and he's bringing a 900 with him. But he'll have to go through Andy "Iron Man" Macdonald to lay claim to the present
.

Up-and-coming Vert skater Alex Perelson just made history at the Maloof Money Cup by becoming the 4th skater EVER to land a 900. Perelson landed the 9 during his run this afternoon, and believe us when we say that everybody in attendence -- from onlookers to competitors -- went nuts. We'll have more later, but we thought we'd at least break the news as fast as possible. SICK, Alex!

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

CUSTOM NIXON WATCHES AWARDED TO WINNERS OF THE SECOND ANNUAL MALOOF MONEY CUP

Nixon was on hand to support the second annual Maloof Money Cup this past weekend in Orange County, California and awarded three, custom Nixon watches valued at $10,000 to the winners of Street, Vert and women’s Street. After three fierce days of competition is was Chris Cole (Street), Alex Perelson (Vert) and Leticia Bufoni (women’s Street) who each walked away with big checks, top honors and custom Nixon 51-30’s designed by 2008 Maloof Street Winner Paul Rodriguez and Nixon team rider, Colin McKay.

According to Nixon’s Marketing Director, Chad DiNenna, “Everybody loves a big payday when you win this event. The addition of these custom, limited watches gives a little extra something that will be around well after the money has been spent and is a lot easier to carry around than a trophy!”

The Maloof Money Cup 51-30 features a 6 hand chronograph with over 2 carats of diamonds on a black, high-polish case and features a custom engraved caseback with a combination python snakeskin and hand cut Italian leather band.

SKATE COMPETITIONS

The second annual Maloof Money Cup went off today at the Orange County Fairgrounds with (just like we said last year), some of the gnarliest skateboarding we’ve ever seen in a contest. Young vert ripper Alex Perelson nailed a 900 and first place in the vert comp, Adam Dyet landed a kickflip back tail down the Rincon rail and took the Best Trick, and Black Box dominated the street course with Chris Cole taking first and the 100 Gs and Tommy Sandoval coming in second. Not too bad for a day’s work. Photos, videos, interviews, and everything else in between will be coming to you in the next couple of days. Stay tuned.

STREET RESULTS:
1. Chris Cole
2. Tommy Sandoval
3. Nyjah Huston
4. Torey Pudwill
5. Ryan Sheckler
6. Sean Malto
7. Greg Lutzka
8. David Gonzalez
9. Paul Rodriguez
10. Mark Appleyard

BEST TRICK:
Adam Dyet

VERT RESULTS:
1. Alex Perelson
2. PLG
3. Bob Burnquist
4. Andy MacDonald
5. Buckey Lasek

GIRL’S STREET RESULTS:
1. Leticia Bufoni
2. Lacey Baker
3. Elissa Steamer
4. Amy Caron
5. Marisa Dal Santo

The Maloof Money Cup has ended and the results are in. I'd hate to have been a judge for the finals for this thing. The level of skating and the number of tricks that went down was beyond the beyond. Seriously, in those final jam sessions, insane tricks were being thrown down every other minute. P-Rod would pull a switch tailslide and Torey Pudwill would pull a nollie flip back lip right after him. Then Chris Cole would pull the first full-cab bluntslide down a rail ever done in contest history. It was ridiculous. For those of you with too much ADD to read this whole post, here are the street results:

1. Chris Cole won $100,000


2. Tommy Sandoval won $30,000


3. Nyjah Huston won $20,000


4. Paul Rodriguez


5. Ryan Sheckler


6. Sean Malto


7. Greg Lutzka

Any one of these guys could have taken the cup.

Some special awards were handed out first. We had, the Tech Deck Best trick going to Adam Dyet for his kickflip back tail down the Rincon rail.


Then Zumiez Destroyer Awards were presented to a female and a male skater who killed the course all weekend long. For the ladies, that award went to Alexis Sablone and for the men, the award went to Torey Pudwill.

Honestly, the girl's final was a little disappointing to watch. Though the ladies were trying some serious moves, not a lot got landed in the time allotted. It was anyone's guess who would take the win. The results broke down as follows.

Girls Finals:


1. Leticia Bufoni, won $20,000.


2. Lacey Baker


3. Elissa Steamer

This kid is now one of four skaters in the world in the exclusive 900 club.
With the addition of the Mini-Mega, the super channel and the ramp's other bells and whistles, the vert comp was more exciting than most of them usually are. It was great to see guys like Bob Burnquist, PLG and Bucky Lasek combining mega skills with technical runs.honestly say the stock vert runs of old were not cutting it in this contest. But the real story of the vert comp was young Alex Perelson, who tied tech runs, big airs and some major, history-making surprises to take the win. In the jam session, as part of his run, Alex became the fourth person in the world to land a 900. And he backed up that jaw-dropping move with the biggest backside 360 melon I've ever seen over the ramp's massive channel. The new generation of vert has finally arrived.

Vert Finals:


1. Alex Perelson won $75,000.


2. Pierre Luc-Gagnon


3. Bob Burnquist

The Maloof Money Cup is over for this year, but the photos, footage and stories will tide us over for quite some time.

SKATE COMPETITIONS

The World Industries Amateur World Championships at the Maloof Money Cup have come to an end. And I have to say these guys were impressive. Some of the best am talent in the world showed up here in Costa Mesa to battle it out in the exceedingly hot midday sun. Unlike the pros that get to compete in the decidedly more comfortable evening, these hungry ams put in work on a concrete course so hot you could fry eggs on it.

Tons of today's popular ams from Andrew Langi (360 flip the Rincon replica big four block), to Manny Santiago (fronside shove to backside feeble grind down the UCI rail replica), to Collin Provost made a good showing but the most consistent emerged victorious taking home gilded cups, massive trophies and even electric guitars for their efforts.

Two Orange County locs were given special "hometown hero" awards for being local and ripping all weekend long). Element's Collin Provost and Birhouse's David Loy were those locs.

Abdias Rivera 5-0s the Rincon rail on his way to fourth place.
Australian phenom and Skate Mental, Nike SB am Shane O'Neill won the Zumiez Destroyer Award for skating well all weekend long. He was awarded a sawzall for his efforts to further his efforts to help take the knobs off unsuspecting handrails.

And the top five who nabbed gilded cups, high fives and hugs from a very chesty-endowed hostess were:

5. Davis Torgerson
4. Abdias Rivera
3. Ryan Decenzo
2. Shane O'Neill
1. Felipe Gustavo

SKATE COMPETITIONS

I have to admit, I was under the impression that the am contest portion of the Maloof Money Cup was going to be a bit of a sideshow. I figured it'd be random ams from Orange County with a few standout sponsored dudes peppered into the mix. Boy was I wrong. I suppose with the addition of the Skatepark of Tampa guys to the judging staff (the guys that consistently bring in the best am contest every year with the Tampa Am), I should have assumed that they would bring in some good talent. And they sure did. To see who made the finals click Read More.



The am contest prelims were a serious show of all the guys that are about to break through to be the next generations of top notch pros. Guys like Chris Troy, Anthony Shultz, Theotis Beasley, Shane O'Neill and Vincent Alvarez were steady crushing.

2. Ryan Decenzo
3. Felipe Gustavo
4. Davis Torgerson
5. Louie Lopez
6. Vincent Alvarez
7. Morgan Smith
8. Theotis Beasley
9. Manny Santiago
10. Andrew Langi
11. Abdias Riviera
12. Nick Merlino

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

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SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

It seems to come down to service when talking about the Maloofs. Just how two brothers from a family that gained its initial fortune from Coors beer distribution in New Mexico came to be involved in one of the most spot-on skate contests seems like a total mystery. But, again, service seems to be the answer.

This American family of Lebanese descent has taken the money their father made from beer distribution, hotels, trucking and banking in the Southwestern states and expanded it to casinos, sports franchises, music, reality TV and now skateboarding, all with the customer in mind. There's no doubt that they bring their own interests to the table in each one of their business pursuits, but even before the first Maloof Money Cup last year, Joe and Gavin Maloof and event handlers, listened intently to what the skaters competing wanted. This year's event has only improved, by involving Geoff Rowley, Lance Mountain, Erik Ellington and Braydon Szafranski in the street course design, picking top skaters (instead of relatively unknown contest-only skaters), adding in Wild Card skaters voted in by fans and continuing with the jam format. But, it's still a wonder—why skateboarding?

You guys just get in?
Joe: Ah, I've been here most of the week.

I was watching the time lapse footage of the builders putting everything up.
Joe: Oh, yeah, it's crazy.

Seeing how you're the owners of the Palms Casino and knowing a bit about gambling, business and what a safe bet is, who would you put your money on to win the street portion of this year's Money Cup?
Joe: [Laughs] Oh, God. I gotta stay neutral, but I'm so excited because we've got the best in the world—any one of them, all of them, could win.

Fair enough. The Maloof family has a deep history in traditional sports. Your Dad was the owner of the Houston Rockets. You and your family are the current owners of the Sacramento Kings. But skateboarding is a little different from traditional sports. What sparked your interest in skateboarding and what made you take that interest to the next level spawning the biggest purse contest in the sport?
Joe: I think that, when I was young, I'd see everybody outside playing catch with baseballs or Frisbees, you know? But now, every time I look out the window, I see people skateboarding—from 10 to 40-years-old. I thought, "This is something I might want to get involved with." So, I thought, let's throw a little camp in Orange County and that's how it started. Then, it blossomed into this.

We were gonna do a camp and then I started having people come to me saying, why don't you do a competition? And, that's kind of how this came about.

Typical Maloof style.
Joe: It's the same thing [as other sports]. What I learned about skateboarding is these are wonderful athletes, number one. Number two, it's basically the same demographics as an NBA player. They're basically 19 to 34...you have some young kids—kids like Nyjah [Huston] and the younger skaters—but for the most part, these are high class, highly trained athletes that are amazing at the tricks they do. That's what captured my imagination.

And then another thing was when I saw Jake Brown fall. It upset me deeply. I though, "God, I gotta help that guy." That was the first thing I wanted to do, so I called him pretty quick after that and he's actually the first skateboarder I met who got involved.

So you saw that it was a big pastime with guys that were hucking their body and you thought it could be bigger?
Joe: Well, what I thought was, not everybody can be 6'5" 250 pounds and play linebacker for the Chicago Bears. These kids have an opportunity now to make a living at skateboarding. They have a lot of talent, they train. They're just as good as any athlete in any major sport I know, from basketball to football or anything else—I respect them, I really do.


Josh Brooks
Torey Pudwill back Smith transfers the rail. Launch Gallery »
Have you or your brother ever dabbled with a skateboard?
Joe: Oh yeah, I tried it once and that was the last time. I was in Albuquerque, where I grew up and there was a shopping mall—what was the name of that shopping mall? Kissel Callister...Kissel Callister was the name of that shopping mall and they had a slant that I went down and I ran into a drain. When I hit the drain, I went flying...I actually hit my face, tore my face up.

How old were you then?
Joe: I was about 13.

And that was the last time you stepped on a skateboard?
Joe: That's about it man, but that's why I have so much respect for what these guys do.

You definitely put your body in danger.
Joe: I think there's a whole lifestyle, too—the music, the dress, the apparel...there's a big celebrity to these guys.

What would it take to get you to have a go at jumping down the largest gap on the street course?
Joe: Oh, I'd give a million bucks to go and be able to do that.

I mean, what would someone have to give you to jump the largest gap out there?
Joe: I don't think I could do it. I don't want to make bets I can't win.

I guess you've been in Vegas long enough to know what's a good bet.
Joe: That would be a good bet for a mad man.

With your new foray into the skate world, who are the skaters that you've gotten to know?
Joe: First, we've gotten a lot of help from Rob Dyrdek. He's been real instrumental in helping us last year and he's been a consultant this year. Andrew Reynolds designed the course last year. Geoff Rowley designed the course this year. And the vert: Bob Burnquist, PLG, Jake Brown—they designed the vert, so, really, this is their competition. But, I would like it to be the world's greatest skateboarding event and it's like the way it is because they designed it and decided everything about it. All we did was build it.

Are there skaters that stood out to you as interesting characters or people?
Joe: Adam Dyet—you know? He's got his own thing going. The Lizard...

Lizard King?
Joe: See, I've gotta learn the names. He does his own thing. Paul Rodriguez—P-Rod—he won it last year. He's a nice guy. Bob Burnquist, Danny Way...he really helped us last year. We've really had help from all the top guys. I think they've kind of embraced it.

Who, in your opinion, puts in more work: a professional skateboarder or a professional basketball player?
Joe: God, I don't know. It's close, man. You know, Sheckler was out here yesterday and you could just see it in his face. You could see him skate one part of the street course over and over and over. I wouldn't be surprised if he skated the middle and then the other part of the course. These guys are determined—they're pros. They're the best in the world. Basketball players are wonderful athletes as well, so it's hard to compare the two.

You said you let the skaters plan the street course and how the contest would go down. Did you initially plan on doing it and having someone come in and direct it?
Joe: I think one thing we had to do was come with our hat in our hand. We had to ask the skaters themselves how to do things, 'cause I didn't want to come in here and do it my way, because that's the wrong way. Come in and do it the skater's way is the right way. I think what they appreciate is...we learned a lot from the X Games, the Dew Tour. We learned a lot from what they did, we respect what they've done and we've incorporated it into what the skaters want and it's worked out great.


Josh Brooks
The street course in all its glory. Launch Gallery »
Was there any consideration to build a course in a place where it could remain as a public skatepark after the slight backlash of complaints from tearing down last year's concrete course after the comp?
Joe: You know, we can't leave it here. I look at it two ways: the greatest in the world are going to skate this street course and then we're going to take it away, never to be skated on again, so it's kind of a little legendary. And it is, but then the business side of me looks at it and says, "What a waste." But, it's worth it, I think. I'm gonna do it every year. I think...I'm sure that we'll eventually have more than one of these, I hope, and maybe we can do a course in other parts of the country, where we can go into a city, build a course, have a Maloof Money Cup there and then leave the course for the public. Maybe that can happen in the future. It kills me to tear it down, but we can't leave it here. So, there's kind of a mystique behind it. It's kind of legendary that they skate it and then it doesn't exist any more.

With a contest now two years in the running and a really positive response what are some of your future plans to really push the Money Cup into the future and build it in the coming years?
Joe: My dad used to have this saying, "What we do good today, we must do better tomorrow." So, it's great and fabulous, but we've got to make it better next year. There are things we learn every year. We've learned a lot this year, the design, the format, how it should be judged—all that sort of thing. So, we just want to listen, take our advice from the skaters...if you take your advice from the skaters in the street, then we'll be okay.

So you and your brother came up with this idea together?
Gavin: Actually, Joe came up with the idea and then I just backed him up. He just noticed thousands and thousands of skaters and said, "There's gotta be something there," and he came up with this. It started out as a skate camp and then one thing led to another.

Like a lot of Maloof projects, I suppose.
Gavin: He's in the forefront, but everybody—all the family chips in.

What's the rest of the family think of it?
Gavin: Well, at first, there was some apprehension.

Isn't that how your family is with a lot of your ideas?
Gavin: Yeah, yeah, a lot of apprehension. Then, they came last year and saw that it was sold out, so they were like, "wow."

To learn more about the Maloof Money Cup, go to the Maloof Money Cup site. Also, you can watch live webcasts on FuelTV and get regular updates on the contest here on ESPN Skateboarding.

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

It seems to come down to service when talking about the Maloofs. Just how two brothers from a family that gained its initial fortune from Coors beer distribution in New Mexico came to be involved in one of the most spot-on skate contests seems like a total mystery. But, again, service seems to be the answer.

This American family of Lebanese descent has taken the money their father made from beer distribution, hotels, trucking and banking in the Southwestern states and expanded it to casinos, sports franchises, music, reality TV and now skateboarding, all with the customer in mind. There's no doubt that they bring their own interests to the table in each one of their business pursuits, but even before the first Maloof Money Cup last year, Joe and Gavin Maloof and event handlers, listened intently to what the skaters competing wanted. This year's event has only improved, by involving Geoff Rowley, Lance Mountain, Erik Ellington and Braydon Szafranski in the street course design, picking top skaters (instead of relatively unknown contest-only skaters), adding in Wild Card skaters voted in by fans and continuing with the jam format. But, it's stil a wonder—why skateboarding?

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

Meet The etnies Skate Team At An Exclusive Rider Signing And Follow etnies Behind The Scenes On Twitter Throughout The Weekend

Lake Forest, CA – The countdown has begun to the second annual premiere skateboard contest of the year: The Maloof Money Cup, a three-day, five event U.S. Skateboarding Championship and festival that will take place from July 10-12, 2009 at the OC Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa. As a presenting sponsor, etnies will be in the mix of it all, covering the tricks going down, team rider activities and all the behind the scenes happenings.

In between the action, the Maloof Money Cup Festival Village will host an exclusive autograph signing with the etnies Skate team including Ryan Sheckler, Mikey Taylor, Sean Malto and Devine Calloway at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. etnies will also give fans a chance to create picture perfect posed moments skating the LA City College rail at the etnies Photo Wall, spin the etnies Wheel of Prizes and buy contest t-shirts only available on-site during the weekend.

The etnies crew will also be tweeting along on Twitter with up to the minute action, come follow along to your favorites:

· twitter.com/etniesskate- Follow all the insane tricks the riders are throwing down, and have chances to win etnies shoes by answering etniesskate tweets and challenges at the Maloof Money Cup.
· twitter.com/DonBrownetnies- etnies Marketing Mastermind and S.P.O.T. Party Team Member Don Brown will be covering the contest and everything in between including his crazy antics.
· twitter.com/Skatepunk22- etnies’ own Mark Waters will be the official Master of Ceremonies and he’ll be tweeting about all the event happenings.
· twitter.com/etniesculture- For music and band info, celebrity sightings and event exclusives follow etnies culture.

To get a sneak peak of the brand new etnies TV commercials that will air during the Maloof Money Cup TV show on NBC and MTV 2 later in July, visit etnies.com today to see Ryan Sheckler’s huge COSTCO kickflip and backside flip down a Big 7 in Barcelona. The Maloof Money Cup will be airing on NBC July 19 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time/2 p.m. Eastern Time and on MTV 2 July 22 at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time/9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. For more details on the event, visit etnies.com.

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

Citystars is proud to announce that Andrew Pott is now officially pro. He’s the first addition to the professional ranks at Citystars for 2009. Andrew has been holding his own for several years now and has
continuously progressed and impressed with his skills on a board. Congratulations Andrew you’ve earned it!

Keep checking citystarsskateboarding.com for more coverage and updates.