X GAMES 15

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

As you may have heard, the Tony Hawk: RIDE video game is hitting store shelves in November. The game features a new, innovative peripheral that is essentially a skateboard without wheels. With accelerometer technology, RIDE offers the most realistic skateboarding experience in a video game to date.

Today, the in-game skateboarder roster was announced:

Tony Hawk
Paul Rodriguez
Ryan Sheckler
Mike Vallely
Nyjah Huston
Steve Nesser
Cara Beth Burnside
Lyn-Z Adams
Mike Mo Capaldi
Stevie Williams
Dustin Dollin
Daewon Song
Rodney Mullen
Christian Hosoi
Alex Olson

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

After a long day of skating on Sunday, Magnus Hanson came out on top with a first place win at Zoo York’s AM Getting Paid 2009 followed by Manny Santiago in second and Mickey Papa in third. Footage from the finals and Best Trick comps is coming soon.


The Park roster is extensive (20 athletes), but only a handful will be competitive for the podium. Of course, Rune Glifberg (DEN) is the clear favorite, but there are a few other competitors who could claim the title if they are skating their best.

Skating a bowl is all about style, and each skater has something different to offer. Defending gold medalist Glifberg, The Great Dane, has unique style. Tony Trujillo earned bronze in 2008 and skates the bowl fast, taking risks. Omar Hassan barely missed the podium in 2008 (finishing fourth) and has a natural, freestyle riding style around the bowl, doing whatever comes to him. Omar is always a top contender in bowl contests, but he's still looking for his first X Games medal: In fact, Omar's 16 XG competition starts (in 10 XG appearances) without a medal is an XG record; no other athlete has as many as comp starts without hardware. Andy Macdonald earned silver in 2008, and he's got the consistency, plus hard grinds and tricks, to make him a contender again in 2009, even though he's known more as a vert skater.


Meet Karen Jonz, age 24, from Santo Andre, Brazil. She is sassy, spunky, talented and possibly the most motivated woman in skateboarding. The defending gold medalist in Women's Vert has come a long way since she was a ragtag grom skating the streets of Brazil; she recently moved to the skatepark-saturated streets of Southern California, has started her own company and spends her "downtime" competing against the boys. We caught up with Miz Jonz (who, FYI, is busy 24-7) for a quick one-on-one.


Three-time X Games Big Air gold medalist Danny Way (age 35) has dropped out of X Games Big Air in order to focus completely on the X Games debut of Big Air Rail Jam, though he'll remain involved in XG Big Air as an announcer. Danny sees the Rail Jam as the next step in the advancement of skateboarding and said his whole mission is the progression he can bring to that event. "I'm skating the Rail Jam, so obviously I'm not retired," Way said. "It's not about me, me, me. It's about everyone else getting the exposure; that's my role."

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

Sheckler and Lasek Crowned ISF Skateboarding World Champions
Boston, Mass. – July 25, 2009 – Three-time Dew Cup champion Ryan Sheckler won the skate park finals and vert legend Bucky Lasek won the skate vert finals on Saturday at the Dew Tour’s Skate Open.

Both were also crowned the first ever ISF Skateboarding World Champions of their respective disciplines

With a score of 91.03, Sheckler beat out an all-star list of skaters in the park finals including first-time Dew Tour competitors Ryan Decenzo (second place) and Dennis Busenitz as well as Dew Tour podium regulars Chaz Ortiz, Paul Rodriguez and Greg Lutzka. Sheckler’s first-place finish included back-to-back frontside lips, boardslides and 5-0’s.

“It’s crazy that I’m the World Champion,” said Sheckler. “These guys out here are absolutely amazing and it could have been anyone’s day. Today was my day, and I’m excited to see what happens on the rest of the Dew Tour stops.”

Lasek took home the world title at the skateboard vert finals, with a run that included a heelflip stalefish and a nollie heel stale, earning him a score of 92.50. Lasek’s last first-place podium finish on the Dew Tour was at the first stop of the 2008 season.

“The first Dew Tour stop this season kind of crept up on me but I had a lot of fun out there,” said Lasek. “I usually ride on a bowl so I wasn’t used to wall-to-wall, but it was great and feels good to be the world champion.”

Skateboard Park Finals

1. Ryan Sheckler, San Clemente, Calif., 91.03.

2. Ryan Decenzo, Canada., 89.50.

3. Chris Cole, Philadelphia, Pa., 87.93.

4. Chaz Ortiz, Chicago, Ill., 86.70.

5. Paul Rodriguez, Tarzana, Calif., 85.98.

6. Greg Lutzka, Milwaukee, Wis., 80.75.

7. Rodolfo Ramos, Brazil, 81.30.

8. Carlos De Andrade, Brazil, 79.50.

9. Dave Bachinsky, St. Louis, Mo., 78.95.

10. Dennis Busenitz, Germany, 77.05.

11. Peter Ramondetta, Tulsa, Okla., 72.05.

12. Chris Mendes, Moreno Valley, Calif., 70.15.
Skateboard Vert Finals

1. Bucky Lasek, Baltimore, Md., 92.50.

2. Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Canada, 90.75.

3. Andy Macdonald, Boston, Mass., 87.75.

4. Sandro Dias, Brazil, 86.75.

5. Bob Burnquist, Brazil, 82.50.

6. Renton Millar, Australia, 81.75.

7. Adam Taylor, Cocoa Beach, Fla., 81.50.

8. Rob Lorifice, Carlsbad, Calif., 81.50.

9. Anthony Furlong, Tampa, Fla., 76.75.

10. Alex Perelson, San Diego, Calif., 60.00.

SKATEBOARDING SINGAPORE COMPETITION

SKATE COMPETITIONS

The Dew Tour World Championship of Skateboarding's park section has ended. Though there weren't too many surprises as to who made it into the finals, there were someupsets as to who made the podium and in what position. The divide in talent among the female competitors was a narrow margin and Vanessa Torres held on to take the victory. The men's finalist field was equally close and there were several contenders for that top spot on the podium. In the end, Ryan Sheckler was awarded first place narrowly out scoring Ryan Decenzo and Chris Cole. Full results and commentary after the jump.

Ladies first. To be perfectly honest, I was not all together impressed with the women competing in this contest. A few standouts aside, there seemed to be an atmosphere of apathy among the top female park skaters at this contest. Many women who fell during their runs seemed to give up prematurely afterwards. Two serious exceptions to that last statement were third place finisher, Alexis Sablone and second place finisher Lacey Baker. Sablone was both progressive and determined in her runs and a real pleasure to watch. Sablone was once a serious am on the rise with a spot on The Firm and the éS squads in the early '00s. She then disappeared from the limelight to pursue an architecture degree from Columbia University. Recently graduated, Sablone is back on the scene and still skating really well. Let's hope her determination and progression can breath some life in to the woman's field of play. Baker gets a mention for being one of the only ladies out there that I saw doing tech tricks and recovering quickly from beefy slams.

Women's World Champions. From left: Lacey Baker, Vanessa Torres and Alexis Sablone.


Woman's Podium
1. Vanessa Torres
2. Lacey Baker
3. Alexis Sablone

The men's park final was a packed house of serious rippers. Chris Cole, Chaz Ortiz, Ryan Decenzo, Ryan Sheckler, ,b>Dennis Busenitz, Peter Ramondetta, Greg Lutzka and Paul Rodriguez. Any one of those guys, on the right day, could be the winner of one of these comps. But beyond kudos for everyone who skated their heart out in the finals, the top three were well chosen by the judges.



My only contention is that the golden boy may have gotten a little more shine than the underdog in the final tally of points. Cole pulled some great stuff in his run and in the two jams he was judged on. Cole's crowd pleaser was a back 360 lip down the rail and his front blunt to fakie down the rail. Sheckler went big with massive backside 180s and a perfect kickflip back lip down the rail. However, the World Champion did fall several times during his run and in the jams. He was very impressive and clearly the crowd favorite but I tip my hat to second place finisher and rookie pro RyanDecenzo. In the final Decenzo unleashed a blizzard of switch tricks, tied the whole park together in runs and stayed on his board more than anyone else. Highlights from Decenzo's runs included nosebluntsliding the rail, switch bluntsliding the rail, switch 180 to Smith down the rail and a nollie backside noseblunt on the bump to bar.

Men's Podium
1. Ryan Sheckler
2. Ryan Decenzo
3. Chris Cole

The Dew is done. Vert finals have wrapped and the World Championship of Skateboarding for 2009 has come to a close. One thing I'll say about vert: a mainstream audience sure does love to see people fall from way up high. The "Oohs" and "Ahhs" heard when vert riders would go down were nearly as loud as the screams for Sheckler earlier in the day. Full Results and commentary after the jump.

The Women's finals were really just the Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins show. With Cara-Beth Burnside, Mimi Knoop and other women's notables notably absent, Lyn-Z's competition was a bunch of barely teenage girls, many of whom had trouble reaching the coping. For the first woman to land a kickflip indy in vert, the contest wasn't much competition. The highlight was watching Lyn-Z's valiant (yet ultimately unsuccessful) attempts to pull her first McTwist ever. With even Tony Hawk up on deck giving Lyn-Z tips, you know she's gonna pull it soon.


Women's Podium
1. Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins
2. Gaby Ponce
3. Karen Jones

Alex Perelson didn't light up the finals quite like he did at Maloof. But he still ripped.
The Men's vert final was a serious display of the tech moves that are really giving the field a shot in the arm. Pre-qualified riders, Bob Burnquist and Pierre Luc Gagnon put on quite a show, once again demonstrating why they're usually at the top of the podium.

Andy Mac had a flawless second run that earned big cheers from his hometown Boston crowd and a third place standing overall. PLG also had a perfect second run that included two 720s and a switch front heel. He hung on to earn second place.

But the story of the night was Bucky Lasek who had a flawless first run that included a signature eggplant 540 and a nollie frontside flip stalefish. Though he fell in both runs that followed, he still pulled enough tricks to seal the win.

Men's Podium
1. Bucky Lasek
2. Pierre Luc Gagnon
3. Andy MacDonald

SKATE COMPETITIONS

On July 21, 2009, the éS Game of SKATE made its way to Modern Skatepark in Royal Oak, Michigan, which is right outside Detroit. 50 skaters came out to play SKATE, including a large posse from The Crew.


The ground was buttery smooth at Modern, so most of the skaters were on point. A lot of good matchups took place in the last few rounds. The 3 skaters that made it into the finals were Cody Cepeda, Eric King and John Tod.


The final game was really close with Cody, Eric and John matching some tough tricks such as nollie bigspin heelflip. In the end Cody Cepeda finally took out Eric King with a switch backside heelflip. Congratulations to Cody and thanks to Skull Candy, éS, TransWorld SKATEboarding and everyone at Modern Skatepark!

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

At Saturday’s Skate Open (the only skate-only stop on the Dew Tour), TransWorld SKATEboarding will be hosting the Best Trick contest immediately following the finals. Skaters like Eric Koston, Nick Dompierre, Tommy Sandoval, Sheckler, and P-Rod are out already out there, so it should be a banger.

Look for the coverage right here on skateboarding.com or tune into NBC’s coverage on Saturday and Sunday from 4–6 p.m. EST.

Prelims are underway here in Boston at the Dew Tour's World Championship of Skateboarding. Here are my first impressions:
Seeing skateboarding go down on the floor of the Boston Garden is surreal. We're talking about a place where the Celtics play, where Larry Bird dribbled and dunked, a giant among mere mortals. To see skaters out there and being cheered for and embraced by this serious sports town crowd, is pretty cool.



The other thing I'm surprised by here in Boston is the varied assortment of contest pros, skateboard heroes and what I like to call "rando-comandos." Sure Chaz Ortiz is here and Ryan Sheckler and Terry Kennedy. And sure the random Brazilian pros are here who earn a good chunk of their living skating in comps. But the weird thing is the amount of skateboard heroes and rando-comandos that are scattered across the park course. Turn your neck one way and you'll spot David Gonzales, Chris Cole and Nick Dompierre. Turn your neck the other direction and you'll see some Asian, Canadian or South American pro who's never sold a board in the United States. And I mean no disrespect to those guys either; some of them are seriously killing it out there. Here's my quick hit lists of guys I was expecting to see (who are all here) and guys who I'm pleasantly surprised to see

Talk about unexpected. Tony Trujillo is here?! Rad.
Predictably Present:
Ryan Sheckler
Chaz Ortiz
Terry Kennedy<
Fabrizio Santos
Tyler Hendley
Chad Fernandez
Carlos De Andrade
Dane Brummet
The Ramos bros.
Kurtis Colamonico< (who looks like he may have had a sponsor upgrade: He's rocking DGK gear y'all!)

Pleasantly Surprised to See:
Nick Dompierre
Jake Duncombe
Danny Fuenzalida
Peter Ramondetta
Billy Rohan
Dave Bachinsky
David Gonzalez
Ryan Decenzo

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

If the over-aired Adam Jones' double pits to chesty FMX commercial wasn't enough, Axe Body Spray has signed on Ryan Sheckler for a skate version of the commercial. By the looks of it, the FMX version of the double pits to chesty looks way gnarlier, but we're more than positive that the dudes that actually buy Axe will be way more persuaded by Sheckler's studly skating and boyish charm.

Axe's YouTube channel is full of all types of interesting stuff, including this super-random Axe produced skate video featuring Sheckler, Greg Lutzka and recently retired Jereme Rogers. It's a 6 minute long skate vid with a double pits to chesty commercial slyly inlayed throughout. I've just got to ask, what's next? Maybe a little Kelly Slater or Corey Bohan?


So I'm out here in Boston for the Dew Tour's Skateboarding World Championships. With a suffering economy and more and more pros having families with mouths to feed there actually should be some unexpected guests at this Dew Tour stop apart from the usual contest super stars (Sheckler, P-Rod) and rando-comando Brazilian park rippers. A few weeks ago, at the Maloof Money Cup I ran into Deluxe Team Manager John Alden. He mentioned that more and more of their riders are getting involved in the contest game to get some wider exposure and pad those paychecks. So don't be surprised to hear about Dennis Busenitz and Peter Ramondetta gunning for the podium. They're both here in Boston and ready to throw down.


Feels like it's Antihero day here today, but they're comin' in hot with the booty. Check out their breaking news story. You have got to love these guys. To see the their previous in-depth reporting, check out Action 18 News, where "When news breaks, it's because they broke it!"


The newest installment of the Beauty and the Beast Epicly Later'd just came out today and a good portion of the episode poses the question, "If you had to trade one Antihero member for a Girl member (or vis versa), who would you trade?" The question's a hard one, I would assume, for anyone on a team of skaters that they generally like, but even more so when you take into account the caliber of skaters—young and old, icon or future icon, street shredder or park murderer—that both teams have or had. I for one, could see Brian Anderson on either team, but know from talking to him that he just wants to stay with his friends.The rest are a toss-up, so I suggest delving into their pasts to see who goes where. These are only the facts, in video—just a list of the things they've each done to help decide. Take a look. Who would you trade.

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

Blind has released its 3rd Blind Brotherhood deck, this one being for Scott Kane.

The Blind Brotherhood Program is something exclusive to Blind and it’s their way of supporting fellow skateboarders. Blind chooses one fellow industry skateboarder each season and produces a deck in his name on behalf of the Blind Brotherhood program and when the deck is purchased a portion of the proceeds will go to help benefit that rider.

Our first Blind Brotherhood deck went to Bryan Farabegoli, who was diagnosed with a tumor, the 2nd to Kenny Hughes and our 3rd is going to Scott!