After popping up here and there with seriously impressive moves, Dan Plunkett has just been given the go-ahead nod to join the Skate Mental am team. Formerly riding for Ricky Oyola's Traffic Skateboards, Plunkett is a serious powerhouse. Though originally from Upstate New York, Plunkett is part of the same crew of Down To Earth Lords of Chaos rippers currently holding down Atlanta, Georgia. Other standouts from DTE LOC include new Real pro Justin Brock, Krooked am David Clark and and New Alien Workshop pro Grant Taylor. On Skate Mental Plunkett joins Brad Staba, Reese Forbes, John Motta, Matt Beach and Shane O'Neill.
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The kind of logo design that's just so outrageous it works.
Normally the release of bearings would go largely unnoticed, but when it's accompanied by a video of Bryan Herman's part stylish, part grimey skating, it's instantly propelled into skateboarding's collective conscience. It also doesn't hurt that Shake Junt is the kind of company that has been able to stratify itself with pre-teen to teen fans that just want to be down and dudes like me, who aren't necessarily rolling around the skatepark barking "G-Code, fool!" or "Get there while you can!" but still can't deny the hilariousness of a bearings logo that incorporates two bearings into a booty, with legs that appear to be chicken wings going into stiletos. I mean, that's hilarious...especially when it's all written out like that. Click it and watch it.
I want to preface this release I received wrapping up Sessions' 11th Annual Tim Brauch Memorial Skateboarding Contest by saying how sad I was when Tim Brauch died. I never really knew him, but I watched him at a demo at our local shop, Flying Fish (now defunct), in Madison, WI—almost thirteen years ago. I remember he was a ball of energy, just ripping the mini ramp. He skated the back of a sofa that we moved up as an extension and I stood there with my foot on it to make it stay put. I think he blunt kickflipped it. When I watched his parts, I always got the feeling he was one of those really down-to-Earth guys—the kind of person who got just as excited about skating years into it as he did the first day he ever stepped on his board (I mean, how awesome is it that he would put jump ramps up to rails?). So, it's as poignant to see people celebrating him as much now as they did when he was alive:
Scotts Valley, CA September 29, 2009- This weekend Sessions kicked off the 11th Annual Tim Brauch Memorial Skateboarding contest at the Scotts Valley skatepark in Scotts Valley, CA. This year was one of the biggest years yet with over 120 skaters from the grom to grandmasters level and they were destroying the courses. On Saturday the groms and ams got down on the street contest competing for a ton of great prizes from our sponsors. The bangers were out that day in the amateur division showing off some sick tech skillz and killing all aspects of the street course. Are 360 flips the new kickflip? I don't know why but it seems that everyone has those dialed these days and so steezy. DJ D'Funkt mixed it up the entire day and kept the kids rollin'. Saturday was finished up by the premier of Supercharged, the documentary created on Tim Brauch's life.
Aaron Jones
Steve Caballero was there with his always smooth boardslides.
On Sunday, day two of the contest, we switched up the park to the Lake Cunningham Regional Skatepark in San Jose, CA and prepared for the heavy hitters in the Girls, Local, Pro, and Grandmasters divisions. All competed in the sixteen foot skull bowl to take home the 1st place prize purse hosted by the World Cup of Skateboarding. Hosoi and Caballero ended up in the finals battling it out for first place but Hosoi's continuous 6-foot blasts out of the skull bowl couldn't match Cab's flow in this round. Cab stole the show with his unreal flow and buttery slides leaving the judges with no other choice but to put him on top of the podium. Bands such as No Use For A Name, Clay Wheels, Whiskey Sunday, S--tkickers, and Street Core performed live throughout the day as well as DJ RS2, who mixed it up for us in between sets. In addition, local artists came out to display their work for the day. The turn out was great this year and we appreciate everyone that came out to support Tim Brauch!
To finish the weekend up right Wahoo's Fish Tacos through an amazing after party that had a special live performance by RS2 Solid Sound. Thank you to all of our sponsors, especially Etnies, Wahoo's Fish Tacos and Skullcandy, and to everyone who made this event possible!
Results:
Grandmasters Division:
Steve Caballero
Christian Hosoi
Tony Mag
Mark Partain
Josh Nelson
Pro Division:
Brad McClain
Michael Brookman
Steven Pineiro
Sky Siljeg
Josh Rodriguez
Locals Division:
Chris Henderson
Cory Juneau
Jerry Gurney
Brad McClean
Shane Sullivan
Girls Division:
Lindsey Adams Hawkins
Allysha Bergado
Priscilla Lee
Lizz Armanto
Erin Wolfkiel
Ams Division:
Tommy Werner
Adam Emery
Anthony Anaya
Dylan Hilton
Christian Lanza
Groms Division:
Jake Selovar
Drake Riddiough
Ryan Sanders
Joshua Douglas
Ethin Montes
ABOUT SESSIONS:
Aaron Jones
Hosoi blasts a Judo in Tim's memory.
In 1983, a retail shop was started in Northern California, when the world of skateboarding was introduced to plywood ramps and street style skating and opened the first skateboard and snowboard retail outlet. Sessions is now a leading action sports company that designs, merchandises, sources, and distributes high performance snowboard apparel, accessories and apparel for the core, youth-driven sports segment. Today, Sessions has placed itself within the realm of music, snowboard and skateboard culture. More about Sessions at www.sessions.com
ABOUT THE TIM BRAUCH MEMORIAL FUND:
The Tim Brauch Memorial Fund is an independent scholarship fund and skateboard park development fund established in 1999. The fund was created to continue to keep giving back to the kids and the sport of skateboarding that Tim loved so much. By giving scholarships and donating to skateboard park development we are promoting kids to be active outside. Our vision is that through skateboarding kids will develop discipline, confidence, motivation, and other traits that encourage succes
