August 3- 5 Huntington Beach, California

Holding a rollerblading competition in Huntington Beach is like having choir practice in hell. Huntington Beach is not so much a surf town as it is a surf Mecca. There are monuments to surfing scattered along the boardwalk, surf lookout points carved into the side of PCH, even a Surfer's Walk of Fame down Main Street. The chief method of transportation in HB is skateboarding and the skateboarders are militant. There has been a silent ban on rollerblading there since the late 1980's. So when the ASA showed up at the Fusion Event this weekend, we were ready for anything.

Well, almost anything.

Aaron Feinberg with a topside alley-oop pornstar at the top of the 14' wall ride.

The event was organized like last month's Hermosa Beach competition. There was a bowl, a street course and, of course, the Loop. Everything was set up right on the sand so we could see the beach from the decks. Yokels filed in off the boardwalks, lured by dance contests and free signed posters of Tony Hawk. The lucky ones found a seat just before the rollerblading began.

Saturday was the bowl competition. Since Matt Lindenmuth wasn't there, we couldn't count on his double back flip for an easy victory. Still, Mike Budnik skated the way a bowl should be skated - carving the corners with huge sweatstance and backside grinds - and walked away with the bronze. The Yasutokos expanded their usually flawless runs into another dimension and took first and second, Eito, the crowd favorite, coming in just behind his younger brother. Honorable mention goes out to Marco di Santi whose 540 to backside never quite connected, but stepped up the level of competition nonetheless.

Takeshi (pictured here) and his brother Eito boosted the biggest airs out of the bowl.

The street course comp was held on Sunday. Because it was a 'best trick' contest, the skaters were encouraged to destroy themselves for a moment of glory (and a $3000 first prize). Bubbas Yada attempted the Loop about a dozen times, but in the end, it was Randy Marino who pulled it with flawless style to pick up the bronze medal. Carlos Pianowski from Brazil pulled a wall ride to true spin soul across a fifteen-foot high death rail to bring home the silver. And it was Aaron Feinberg who took the grand prize with an effortless launch to disaster fastslide down a twenty-foot handrail. Honorable mention goes out to Shawn Robertson who transferred inside the Loop, from one wall to the other, like some stunt that was edited out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Carlos Pianowski: disaster backside royale over the 12' gap.

So why didn't the Loop win the comp this time? Less than a month ago, it was such a huge trick that Sports Illustrated ran it on a double page spread. Randy and Jaron were hailed as heroes for pulling that stunt in July, but in August, a Loop is only good enough to win the bronze.

Bubbas Yada landed the loop consistently in practice but could never stick it during finals.

Well, like anything, the novelty has worn off. Already, there are a bunch of skaters who can do the Loop, but how many guys do you know who would look at a fourteen foot high wall extension and think, "I'm gonna topside pornstar that" the way Aaron did after pulling his winning trick. We've already proven that rollerbladers can do things which skateboarders and bike riders won't even try. Now we're conquering new "impossibilities."