Dew Action Sports Tour stop 1in Louisville Kentucky. The Dew Tour saved the most high-energy competition of the Panasonic Open for last: Skateboard Vert Finals Photos by Steve Olson.
Dew Action Sports Tour Skateboarding
The Dew Tour saved the most high-energy competition of the Panasonic Open for last: Skateboard Vert Finals. Twelve of the world’s top pipe skaters busted out insane amounts of air and ridiculous bags of tricks all vying for a shot at $15,000 and first blood of the 2006 Dew Tour season.
With Saturday’s heated Prelims ensuring that only the most disciplined and focused skaters advanced, the stage was set for what would be one of the best vert competitions the Tour has seen to date.
As AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells” filled the room, and each skater was introduced, you could feel the electricity in the air and knew that what ensued would be nothing short of a classic Southern showdown.
The first runs began with solid scores, flawless runs and sick tricks from the likes of Mathias Ringstrom with half-cab heelflip fakies, Rob Lorifice’s nollie flip indys and Lincoln Ueda’s absolutely unreal 540s that boosted him nearly 8 to 10 feet above the lip. Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Tas Pappas and Anthony Furlong also had really great runs, but some hard slams and tough breaks kept them out contention to make it into the top 3.
Next up was vert legend Bucky Lasek who nailed ollies to BS tailslides over the channel, earning him a score 70.25, and Euro standout Jean Postec who secured third with 540 tailgrabs and stalefishes and tons of indy flips. Andy Mac’s flawless creativity was in full display by tons of varial flip grabs and 5's and even backflipping onto the deck and acid dropping back in. What!?!
Not wanting to be upstaged, Bob Burnquist went last, dropping in switch down the channel and proceeded to dominate with switch BS ollies and airs over the channel, huge 540 stalefishes, eggplant reverts, heelflip FS airs and even switch kickflipping to fakie down the channel earning him the top first run score of 92.00.
The temperature just kept rising during the second round of runs with higher scores and more mayhem, including flawless runs from the likes of Neil Hendrix with nollie kickflip indys and huge, lofty airs, Mathias Ringstrom’s huge Japan airs and FS 540s, and Anthony Furlong also represented Florida with steezy fakie-to-fakie 540s and tons of flip trick wizardry. Although both Pierre-Luc Gagnon and Tas Pappas had some bails during their first runs, they also stepped up to the plate with nollie heelflip indys and FS rodeo 5’s, letting everyone know that they weren’t going to give up without a fight.
Bucky also had a strong showing which bumped him into second, but in the end, Burnquist kept his cool and couldn't be beat, finalizing his victory and earning him his first Dew Tour win. Aside from the glory and the spotlight, he also walked away with 15 grand and a Louisville Slugger bat, thrown in for good measure. When asked about his competition, Burnquist admitted that it wasn’t easy despite his perfect performance. “These days, with Bucky, Andy, Pierre and all those guys, it's not easy,” Burnquist said. “I knew I’d have to skate hard.” And skate hard is exactly what he did.
Check out Skateboard Vert Final results:
1. Bob Burnquist 2. Bucky Lasek 3. Andy Macdonald 4. Mathias Ringstrom 5. Anthony Furlong 6. Pierre-Luc Gagnon 7. Neal Hendrix 8. Jean Postec 9. Rob Lorifice 10. Tas Pappas 11. Lincoln Ueda 12. Max Dufour
