2008 Volcom Wild In The Parks: Stop #9 - The 2008 Wild in the Parks tour blew into Portland, Oregon’s the Department of Skateboarding for the 9th tour stop Sat July 26!
2008 Volcom Wild In The Parks: Stop #9
The 2008 Wild in the Parks tour blew into Portland, Oregon’s the Department of Skateboarding for the 9th tour stop Sat July 26!
Our WITP visits to Portland always fly by and are far and few in-between so we do our best to relish it while we can. The Dept. of Skateboarding is an impressive indoor skatepark located in the North East section of Portland, OR. The park contains a newly redesigned street section plus a legit bowl and mini-ramp. Cal’s Pharmacy is a shop adjacent to the park and is also a pretty good place to lose track of time. Kyle Reynolds runs both and while he may be a man of few words, he definitely knows what he’s doing!
The 14 & Under Division got the WITP rolling around noon on a perfect Portland day. With some of the names in attendance, it didn’t take long for things to get out of hand! Ben Sauer flew out of the gates and set the bar pretty high with some heavies. This put pressure on the rest of the 14 & under skaters to put their A-game on display. I don’t think this was too much to ask because everyone stepped and delivered in a big way! The action went back and forth with no clear winner right into the last minute of the finals! The scores were incredibly close, but Joel Adams ended up taking 1st, Steve Adams 2nd and Carlos Hernandez claimed 3rd!
Sticking to time-honored WITP protocol, the 15 & Over Division was up next and was charged with the unenviable task of trying to take things to the next level! Over the course of the three 15 & Over heats we saw a ton of impressive tricks get thrown down in all three zones. Looking back on the first few minutes of heat 1 with rose-colored glasses, I distinctly recall a switch heel, kickflip back tail, nollie crooks and an inward heel. Mind you seeing is better then reading so you should definitely check the video (click on the link above). After everything was done but the awards, Edward Goncharuk locked down 1st, Michael Davis 2nd and Kelly Blum found himself in 3rd!
The Pro-Am Division was once again responsible for ending the day on a high note. Staying true to form, these guys brought it! It was clear from the starting horn that we were going to have a battle on our hands that could only be settled in the park. With guys like the Billups brothers and Anthony Grant skating the finals, we braced ourselves for impact! Switch three flips down the big 3-set, a kickflip back lip, switch bigspin are just a few of the dozens of hammers that went down! Everyone in the place was going nuts and with good reason! Again, you should set aside a few minutes in your busy schedule to watch the video. This one’s heavy…
We want to give a loud shout out to Kyle Reynolds, Tyler, Shaun and the rest of the exemplary gentlemen at the Dept. of Skateboarding for all their hard work and WITP support! A few of the people up on the podium at last fall’s WITP Champs in Texas hail from Portland so given the skating this time around I think this trend will continue. Thanks also to Chris Prouty, Robb “Redrum” Oldham and Teddy Schwalli for judging and everyone that helped clean up afterwards. Last but not least, thanks to Electric for supporting with glasses and $50 cash for their “Hype of the Day” award!
Results:
14 & Under 1st: Joel Adams 2nd: Steven Adams 3rd: Carlos Hernandez 4th: Kyle Valero 5th: Michael Donovan 6th: Ben Novak 7th: Ben Sauer
15 & Over
1st: Edward Goncharuk 2nd: Michael Davis 3rd: Kelly Blum 4th: Sam Wilson 5th: Graehme Bradley 6th: Joel Shelley 7th: Ryan Barron
Pro-Am
1st: Erik Billups 2nd: Anthony Grant 3rd: Kyle Billups 4th: Bob Anderson 5th: Elliot Murphy 6th: Robert Bemis 7th: James McCoy
