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In the Expert class, we were treated to some of the best skating we have seen at the Am level since the finals in Vegas last year. All the skaters were pulling super technical tricks, whether it be grinds or spins, and of course everyone busted huge airs. For third place, we were treated with one of the always nostalgic runs from Paul Noworyta. Paul always skates with a combination of old school style and show stopping tricks like his tight inverts and waving to the crowd disaster inverts. The battle for first and second was between two skaters who made the longest journey, coming all the way from Brazil. Santiago Avelino seemed to be the front runner, pulling flatspins, natural and switch, head high 720's, and way over head airs. It still wasn't enough to hold back Adamas Nelson. He skated clean, pulling head high airs, 540's, 720's, flatspins, and Mctwists , along with all kinds of coping grinds. It was all good enough for him to walk away with the title. Make sure to keep an eye out for these three skaters in the future, not only on the Am Circuit, but definitely on the Pro tour someday.
The Expert Street prelims were nothing short of awesome. Everyone skated the course with speed and style, pulling off smooth lines with lots of huge gaps. Chris Padilla, as always, was ultra consistent and rode with awesome style, which pulled him into third place. Riding into second place was Greg Andrews. He went ultra technical with his truespins into every grind, and his flowing style all over the course.
Robert Arias talks to Chris and the ESPN film crew after taking home the expert street title.
Coming into first, and setting the stage for Sunday's finals was Robert Arias. He flew through the course with speed unmatched by anyone, and pulled off smooth grinds and the biggest trick of the day, a huge zero spin gap over the start box. If this was any indication of the finals on Sunday, we were in for some serious skating.
After the competition, Saturday night turned into one of the coolest sessions I have ever seen. The steaks were on the grill (once again, thanks uncle Bob), Mo was spinning, the Roller Rink was open, and everyone took to the course. It broke out into a skate session that went well into the morning hours. It was exactly what you would envision as a perfect night, awesome Bar-B-Q, Pros and Ams rolling together, and tons of people hanging out, recapping the awesome skating of the day. Sunday promised to be incredible.
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Paul Noworyta windmills so fast the camera can't catch him! Paul not only rips at vert, he rips at breakdancing too!
Sunday, March 28th
As I walked on site Sunday morning, I was excited with anticipation as to what was to come. We had already seen three of the most incredible days of skating ever, and we still had one more to go. At about 1:00, we were ready to start the Expert street Finals. The finals turned into a grudge match, with everyone going for broke. Despite the fact that all 10 skaters would be qualified for Regionals (four received buys for making it to the finals last year, and one qualified at the last event) they still wanted to take home the title.
Chris Padilla once again showed off his consistent and smooth style, using his first run to rocket him into third place. He pulled of true spins on the sub box, and huge 540's on the quarter pipes. Corey Sarchiz went off in his second run, sticking every trick and rocketing through the course, hitting 14 tricks in his run. However, it was not enough to hold back Robert Arias, who continued to go huge with all of his airs, and got a little creative by dropping in off a soul grind on the railing behind one of the quarter pipes. He was by far the best skater on the course that day.
After the Expert finals, it was time to move onto the head-to-head Open class finals. These guys kept the tempo just as high as the Experts did. Surprisingly, all the top finishers were young enough to compete in the 12 and under class! Chris McHugh snagged third place by pulling true spin alley-oop mizous and almost landing a huge 720 in the quaterpipe. The battle for first and second turned into an all out grudge match between Marc Pearson and Joey Chase. They each suffered a loss to the other during the prelims, so the final was a winner take all. Marc pulled switch true spin alley-oop mizous and parallel grab 360's over the spine, while Joey landed stylish soul grinds to reverts and 540 bomb drops off the spine. The judges had a tough decision, but they went ahead and gave the title to Joey. Both skaters definitely deserve credit for truly representing.
Immediately following the open class we were treated to the ultimate tension breaker of the day, the Inaugural Diversity Tour Yoo-Hoo Hackee Sac War! It was true east versus west fashion, with Chris Edwards in the middle acting as Mills Lane. The funniest thing was that the whole time the war was going on, Phil from the TV crew was screaming into the headset "KEEP ROLLING, KEEP ROLLING!!!" When the smoke cleared, I believe it was a draw, because Chris had to bail for fear of his life. Thank you Leighann and Connie for taking it upon yourselves to institute this tradition.
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