Eastwood Ramp Park Explodes Diversity into the Inline Scene

February 21, 1999

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Skaters and staff sessioned, hung out and warmed-up at Diversity's "Friday night Jam" while live music was spun on the wheels of steel

Wilmington, NC - Dave Mirra's Eastwood Ramp Park set the stage for the hugely successful Diversity Tour kick-off event featuring ASA Amateur Circuit competition. If the skating seen this weekend is any indication of things to come, look out '99 - 'cause it will truly be the year of inline. Skaters came from dozens of cities including Chris Peters from Buffalo, New York, Anthony Baumhart and Paul Noworyta from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Josh Amacher from Hilton Head, South Carolina, Anthony Timmons and Brian Bell from Atlanta, Georgia to name just a few. Anthony Timmons pulls a fakie lukang 540 over the launch box Having such a deep turnout from so many locations encouraged Chris Edwards, co-creator of the Diversity Tour. "The fact that we were able to create the positive and inclusive vibe we were looking for at our first event makes me confident that our sport's on an upswing and that together we're going to be able to deliver a promising and healthy future for all who love to roll," said Chris taking a short break from spinning the music at today's event. Chris continued, "It's all about the love and the common bond that our skates bring to all of us. Diversity has created an environment to bring us together to celebrate our differences."

Event Wrap-Up

by Jason Hines - Regional Director The weekend kicked off Friday night with pre-registration and the open jam session. Everyone was surprised by the number of skaters who showed up to sessino the night before the comps. Skaters signed in and then immediately took to the street course, turning the warm-up into an all out style festival. Saturday marked the first day of competition. The day kicked off with the expert prelims. The skating in the preliminary round can be described as nothing short of awesome - the same level of skating we saw at the Regional comps last year. After the smoke cleared, Chris Peters' smooth and flowing style barely kept him in front of Kevin Dowling (Mr. Technical) and Josh Amacher (Mr. Go-big). With the finals slated for later in the day, it was time for the Open Class skaters to take the course for what proved to be one of the most exciting comps ever witnessed at this level. Because of the new double elimination format, skaters were pitted against each other in a more enjoyable less-competitive format. Ryan Kasselbaum fought his way through the ranks up to the final two, taking his first loss to the undefeated Darick Dail. Ryan worked his way back through the skate-back bracket losing to Colton McDonald in the semi-final round and finishing in third place. Colton, who suffereda loss in the first round, used his smooth style working his way through the skate-backs until Josh Amacher prepares to lock on with a gap to disaster soul making all the way to the final round against Darick Dail. Darick and Ryan went off in the final round and in the end it was Darick who walked off with the title without a single loss all day. During the intermission, skaters either rolled to live music spun on the tables above the street course, or engated in the heated battle taking place on the rollersoccer course outside. This exciting sport is just one of the many activities being highlighted at the Diversity Tour events. After the break, it was time to take things outside to the vert ramp. After sessioning with Chris Edwards, the am competition began with many first time vert skaters trying tricks they had learned just minutes before with Chris. To their and everyone's surprise, they landed most. Bobby Hommel snagged fifth place securing the first Regional birth of the season. Chris Peters and Brett Tenant both skated smooth and confident, placing fourth and third respectively, showing the judges that street skaters can successfully cross over into the vert ranks. The real story on the 11 foot half-pipe was the battle for first and second between am circuit veteran Paul "Showtime" Norwyta and newcomer Anthony Baumhart. Paul's classic old-school style showed through in his picture-perfect inverts and his huge disaster inverts. As solid as his runs were, they weren't enough to beat Baumhart's technical style. With tricks like 540's, 720's, coping tricks and grinds that seemed transplanted from the miniramp, Anthony Bauhart earned the Gold and will move on to the Southeast Regional Comp back at Eastwood in July. This competition showed that level of vert skating is going through the roof. After the vert comp was over, it was time to move back to the street course for the expert finals. with the field narrowed to the ten best, the judges expected to see the level of skating taken up a notch and they were not disappointed. What started out as an expert comp turned into an all-out go big or go home festival. Skaters went HUGE with every trick, many utilizing the upstairs deck for bomb drops. In the end Chris Peters walked off with the gold followed by Kevin Dowling and Larry Cheek. All photos on this page courtesy of: Noel Sperry

Brian Bell with a stale gap during the street prelims