Lake Havasu City, Arizona - March 26, 2000
It was fitting that the Pro Street finals at the Lake Havasu City ASA Pro Tour event took place on a Sunday, because the Lake Havasu sun was the most formidable obstacle that the skaters had to overcome. Without a single cloud to provide shade, the temperatures soared into the 90's on the street course. The top ten skaters from the prelims completed their warm-ups in the early hours of the day, leaving the high noon sun as the setting for the finals. Only half of the field was able to better their first run score on the second run. A testament to the desert, where heat is king and first runs carry a lot of weight.

Despite the heat, the skaters put on a great show. Here's a look at the finals, skater by skater: Robert Lievanos, a member of the Esco-Zoo qualified 10th in prelims, so he was the first skater out of the gate. Robert skated a strong first run, with a big 540 over the launch box and a 360 to Royale on one of the quarter pipes. Robert wasn't able to better his score the second time around, but his first run was good enough to finish the day in 7th place. Shayne Skower, who was competing in his first-ever pro event, arrived at the street course only minutes before the finals were to begin. Even without much of a warm-up Shayne was able to skate to an 8th place finish with tricks like his True-spin Soyale down the entire start box rail. Daniel Hendershot, was the youngest skater in the competition at only 17 years old, but he didn't let that stop him. Daniel also didn't let the heat affect him. He was one of the few skaters who bettered his score in the second run, by hitting the switch-ups that gave him trouble in his first run. A Kind Grind to Alley-oop Soul down the start box rail was just one of the switch-ups that gave him a 6th place finish.

Eric Schrijn, another member of the Esco-Zoo had some trouble early in his first run, missing a few tricks, which threw off his rhythm. He came back in the second run, sticking every trick including a True-spin Mizou down the really fast start box planter. Eric's second run was good enough to give him a 9th place finish. Brian Shima, out of Redwood California, flew around the course hitting every obstacle in his way. Brian skated with a lot of heart, never letting a missed trick interrupt his run. Both of Brian's runs were very solid, but he turned it up a little bit more in his second run, giving him enough points to capture 3rd place.

The always-consistent Mike Budnik, made it to the finals, holding up the honor of the "older" skaters in the sport. Twenty-six year old, Mike skated very well, mixing up big tricks with very technical tricks. An Alley-oop Fishbrain on top of the sub-box was the highlight of his run and helped him lock-in the 4th place spot. The most creative lines of the competition were skated by Pat Lennen and Shawn Robertson. Pat started his run with a huge ramp to ramp transfer and big 360 over the death gap. He had some trouble with his second run, but his first run was strong enough to give him 10th place overall. Shawn skated extremely well in his first run, getting upside down with a huge Bio 540 over the launch box. He missed some tricks very early in his second run, but thanks to some urging from Arlo Eisenberg and the spring break crowd he ended his run with a big ramp transfer to disaster soul on the launch box.

The biggest battle of the day was between Jeremy Pennacchini from Warwick, Rhode Island and the ever-dominant Aaron Feinberg. Jeremy was very consistent throughout his runs, throwing at least four tricks that had yet to be seen in competition - the biggest two being a huge Fakie Backflip over the launch box and a Negative Mizou down the start box rail. Not even Jeremy's technicality was enough to beat the #1 competition skater in the world. Aaron Feinberg skated to first place with the day's biggest 540's over the launch box and his trademark clearing of the sub-box.

Although the women's runs were thrown in together with the men's, they still competed against themselves. Fabiola da Silva was once again crowned the queen of the street, beating out Kelly Matthews and Neda Gane who took 2nd and 3rd respectively. The Lake Havasu event was definitely a sight to behold. Big spring break crowds and beautiful weather together made it a stop on the Pro Tour that will be tough to top, but only time will tell. The next Pro stop is in Louisville, KY and will undoubtedly provide just as much adventure as Havasu.

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