The Skatepark of Tampa.
I arrived in Tampa and the first person I saw was Bob Bulatowicz. Bob makes skateboards and surfboards, and sponsors rippers that the industry has yet to recognize. After we said our “yo-yo, w’supps”, I went to the counter to get my credentials.
Credentials don’t mean much at Tampa in terms of area access like the Dew Tour, but it does get you passed the posted guard at the skate park entrance. Yes! Clements put me on the list!! I’m in.
Slice of life.
The top AMs from everywhere were practicing and ripping the new course. Qualifiers were on Friday and Saturday and out of 200 skaters entered only 30 make it to the semi-finals on Sunday. The top ten will then meet up with the seeded AMs and the first place qualifiers from Friday and Saturday.
The CTRL girl.
Mike Rogers from Grind for Life had his booth set up full of info on fighting cancer and he was taking donations from the skaters to help the cause. Also, Sambazon was giving away some free samples of their products and CTRL acne products were there targeting the teenage demographic.
Timmy Knuth gets iced.
I found Timmy Knuth and David Loy checking out the comp from the sidelines. Knuth had a tweeked ankle and didn’t skate so well in qualifiers and David had a full arm cast on, not sure what happened to him.
John Monessi from Westside Skate Shop was hanging with his kids and supporting his team riders.
The outdoor park.
I was talking to T-Red from FTK magazine and he said he was looking forward to getting some great shots in the finals. He wouldn’t give up any of his picks to win, so I went in to get a good spot next to Martin Ramos from Kona.
I had my money on Kechaud Johnson. I knew him when I worked at the park in Dallas, so I had to go with some kind of roots.
Kechaud Johnson from Guapo Skateboards in Dallas, Texas was skating like a true Texan—big, fast and huge tricks. He busted clean b/s 180 flips over the pyramid, switch bluntslides, krooks up the concrete ledge all at super high speed. Felipe Gustavo has a magic skateboard and nailed the smoothest nollie-flip noseslides on the ledge. Cody Davis was fast and calculated, landing nearly 100 tricks in a run, it seemed.
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No one skated faster than Willy Akers, from 5boro. this guy was like a snowboarder on the course going huge and fast. big grinds, airs and the tech stuff too. Andrew Langi was killing the quarterpipe, making a f/s 5-0 to fakie over the love seat.
Action at the park.
No one could touch Luan De Oliveria from Flip. This kid had an insane bag of tricks that went on and on forever. He linked up flip tricks in the tech section like he was tic-tac’ing-nollie 360 kickflips and I don’t even know. That’s why I shot the finals in HD, video highlights coming soon!
Big thanks to Ryan Clements and Brian Shaefer for letting me shoot some great video. See you at the Tampa Pro.
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Results:
1. Luan De Oliveira (Porto Alegre, BRAZIL)—Flip, Globe, Volcom
2. Andrew Langi (Redwood City, CA)—Chocolate (flow), Force Trucks, Skate Works, LRG, Dakine, Etnies, Bones Wheels, Diamond Supply co., Elm Hats
3. Nick Merlino (Atlantic City, NJ)—Foundation (flow) Dekline Footwear, Pig Wheels, Destructo
4. Taylor Smith (Carlsbad, CA)—Vans, Independent, Plan B, Nixon, Boost Mobile, Monster
5. Kechaud Johnson (Dallas, TX)—Guapo Skateboards, Adio (Flow), Industrial Ride Shop, Krux
6. Cody Davis (Ramsey, MN)—3rd Lair, World Industries, Osiris, Bones Wheels and Bearings, Dakine, Destructo, Mada, Neff
7. Felipe Gustavo (Brasilia, BRAZIL)—Plan B (flow), Silver (flow), FKD, Bones wheels, es Footwear, Nine Star Skate Shop
8. Anthony Schultz (Carlsbad, CA)—Adio, Innes, Slave, Asylum Skateshop, Spitfire, Thunder
9. Willy Akers (Wilmington, DE)—5boro, Bones (flow), Volcom (flow), Ax Throwers, Kinetic Skateshop, Emerica (flow)
10. Collin Hale (Underhill, VT)—Symptoms, Talent Skate Park, Bones Wheels, Hurley, Destructo (flow)
11. Kyle Walker (Oklahoma City, OK)—Emerica, Volcom (flow), Thunder, Spitfire, Real, Arockalypse Skate Shop
12. Derek Elmendorf (San Diego, CA)—Powell, Bones, Thunder (flow), DC (flow), Swiss (flow), Black Wax, DeLa Creme
