Ontario, California - May, 27 2000
For weeks before this event I was looking forward to the street competition. Because Ontario, California is so close to so many skaters' homes, it was going to be one of the best competitions of the season. With 34 of the best skaters in the world competing and many more looking on, the competition lived up to its potential. Even though the skaters should be concentrating more on consistency than big tricks in the prelims, when a competition has so many great skaters, you have to pull out some big tricks to make it to the finals. Randy Spizer might have been the greatest example of this. He took the big trick approach in his attempt to make the finals. Throwing tricks like a launch to top soul to a 360 drop down off the huge grind wall and a fakie wall ride to 360 out. Even though Randy didn't make the finals he helped to set the tone of the competition.

I won't keep you wondering who took the top three spots. For the second week in a row, Sven Boekhorst took the top spot. Continuing his hot streak on street, Sven was able to capture first place with tricks like a gap to true spin alley-oop soul and a corkscrew 720 over the launch box. Jeremy Pennacchini was able to duplicate his finish from Lake Havasu and ended up in second place. Jeremy is the only skater to use tricks like an alley-oop negative mistrial in his run and it seems to be working for him. In third place, making his first appearance in the states this year, was Bruno Lowe. Bruno threw in tricks like a very slow and high inverted rocket 540, to edge out Sam Fogarty, who took fourth. Sam captured fourth place with a solid first run. He used his second run to try and land a huge bio 900 for the enthusiastic Ontario crowd.

Although Jaren Grob finished the prelims in first place, he wasn't quite able to put together an entire run in the finals and ended up in fifth overall. A pair of Australians, Matt Salerno and Blake Dennis, finished up in 6th and 7th respectively. Thierry Lallemand from France skated to 8th overall, with solid grinds over the death rail and huge 360's over the launch box. Two Americans finished off the top ten. Mike Budnik in 9th and Randy Marino, who always seems to be having a lot of fun in 10th. On the women's side of things, the competition played out, as it was expected to. In first place was Fabiola da Silva, in second was Kelly Matthews and rounding out the field in third, was Anneke Winter from Germany.

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