http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?fid4ct=3260 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:47:00 EST Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:14:00 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss RapidFeeds v0.1 -- http://www.rapidfeeds.com I know that you’ve always wondered who my favorite skateboarders of all time are. I know that you’ve been losing sleep at night because of this. I’ve been leaving you hanging for some time now but today is your lucky day because I’m finally going to reveal who I enjoy the most. So here it goes... My favorite skaters to watch live. 1. Rick Kosick 2. Paul Higgins (ESPN Analyst for X-Games Asia) 3. Christian Slater My favorite skate parts. 1. Pat Chanita (H-Street Video just because of his red shoes) 2. Joey Surrell (World Video when they jump that poor kid at Lockwood) 3. Christian Slater (Gleaming the Cube) Anyway, now that you feel fulfilled with my favorite skater picks, check out this video from SGV where a few skaters give their thoughts on their favorites. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=573427 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=573427 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 04:43:00 EST If you were to ask any random person on earth who doesn’t know Shaun White, “What do you think his profession is?” I think the majority of people asked would say, “That young man is definitely a model”. Well that or a cast member of Cirque Du Soleil. He’s not really a model but has made it into Vogue, which I’m sure is one of his life long dreams. Be sure that when you’re at your local magazine stand buying Thrasher, Big Brother, and Transworld Skateboarding, to get the latest copy of Vogue. It’s the one with Giselle Bundchen the cover. Come to think of it, maybe that's why you should buy it. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=573426 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=573426 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 04:42:00 EST The men closed out the second round of the Rip Curl this morning before handing over the waves to the ladies, who powered through Round Three. There were no huge upsets, though Silvana Lima and Jacqueline Silva did get knocked out. Check out the full results below for the round three results and the semifinal match-ups. For more about the events you can check out aspworldtrour.com. Rip Curl Women’s Pro pres. by Ford Fiesta Round 3 Results Heat 1: Samantha Cornish (AUS) 12.76 def. Nicola Atherton (AUS) 8.83 Heat 2: Layne Beachley (AUS) 16.96 def. Serena Brooke (AUS) 6.83 Heat 3: Megan Abubo (HAW) 12.33 vs. Rosanne Hodge (ZAF) 12.00 Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 13.84 def. Karina Petroni (USA) 7.26 Heat 5: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 13.33 def. Melanie Redman-Carr (AUS) 7.83 Heat 6: Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 14.67 def. Rebecca Woods (AUS) 12.27 Heat 7: Amee Donohoe (AUS) 10.97 def. Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 10.33 Heat 8: Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) 10.00 def. Silvana Lima (BRA) 7.03 Rip Curl Women’s Pro pres. by Ford Fiesta Quarterfinals Match-Ups QF 1: Samantha Cornish (AUS) vs. Layne Beachley (AUS) QF 2: Megan Abubo (HAW) vs. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) QF 3: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) vs. Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) QF 4: Amee Donohoe (AUS) vs. Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=573425 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=573425 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 04:41:00 EST Shaun White hasn't hit that many events this season but when he does, he makes it count. The red-haired wonder dominated the Burton US Open Slopestyle finals on Friday with a huge run full of 900s and even a BS 1080. Because White hasn't participated in many events this season, he finds himself in the top 20 for the season's TTR results. Tomorrow's halfpipe contest will be the final event of the season and determine the overall TTR champ, llikely to be Kevin Pearce, but Peetu Piiroinen and Risto Mattila are also in the running.after placing in the top ten results for the Slopestyle contest. The women's TTR leader going into the US Open, Torah Bright, missed the Slopestyle finals but Jamie Anderson didn't and moved into the top TTR spot with a #2 finish. However, Bright is likely to gain some ground back tomorrow in the halfpipe contest. Next week's Roxy Chicken Jam will be the final women’s event of the Tour. Norway's Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas won the Slopestyle contest on Friday. Check out this story for the full results from the event and more about the Slopestyle finals.. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=573424 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=573424 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 04:41:00 EST The Volcom team packed up and rolled through Hawaii, touring the island paradise with humble means by sleeping in hobo like conditions. Floors of a gutted abandoned building was their Hawaiian resort. It’s hard to believe that Volcom couldn’t put them up in something slightly nicer like a Motel 6 or even a hostel but I guess this tour shows that they are real cowboys; cowboys in Hawaii. What did this mean for Angel Ramirez, Caswell Berry, Brandon Westgate and Nike Trapasso? It meant a lot of dust, dirt, cold water, no accessibility to the outside world and one hell of a good time judging on the photo below. Check out the video filmed and edited by Thad Croskey and I’m sure it will inspire you to become a hobo just like I was. As a matter of fact, I’m going outside right now to roll around in my dog’s poo. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=573423 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=573423 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 04:40:00 EST If you’re an online nerd like me, you probably know that the 2007 Youtube.com awards were just awarded and if you’ve seen any of these videos, you’re probably thinking, “How the heck did this win?” There were only a few videos that I thought were really cool. Like for instance the video that won best music video. It had a pretty catchy hook but the entire song is the hook and the song got a little annoying after a while. But you have to check this video out. I swear, this kid’s voice is amazing. You look at his face and the voice that comes out is the last sound on earth you would ever imagine coming out of that mouth. Pretty crazy isn’t it? I wonder what he will sound like when he hits puberty. Then there’s the award for best sports video. And guess what? It’s a skate video. This video is really dope actually and reminds me of a Sony Bravia spot called “Balls” but this one is less dramatic and I think could have been a little better. The concept definitely deserves the award though. The skater in it is Matt Beach and was shot in Portland Oregon. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=573422 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=573422 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 04:39:00 EST The world needs more Bam Margera. And actually more Chris Cole ain't bad, either. Check out the latest episode of Element TV (#71 if you're counting) which shows off Bam having some fun in his new private park with Chris Cole and Kerry Getz. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet. I have done all the work for you and put the video below, but you can always check out more at the Element site. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569327 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569327 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:12:00 EST There was no action today (Tuesday) for the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach for the guys. It was the first day of the holding period for the men's contest while the women's contest holding period starts tomorrow (the 19th). But since we're talking Australia it will be tomorrow later today. I'm confused. Oh well, just be sure to check out the official site starting about 10 hours from now to see if the event's on. Until then, check out the Rip Curl-sponsored world champion surfers next to the Bells' Beach trophy. Mick Fanning did win here in 2001, while Stephanie Gilmore was champ in 2007. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569326 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569326 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:11:00 EST The beautiful landscape of the Czech Republic was the setting for the Swatch TTR 3-Star Quiksilver Snow Jam this past weekend in Pec pod Snezkou. The contest was a slope style setup blessed with a blanket of snowfall the night before getting everyone ready for the first day of qualifiers. It was Teo Konttinen from Finland who was takes the 3-Star Title and 550 TT R Ranking points, plus the 1st place cash prize of the 12 thousand euro purse. The evening was set for the leading 20 riders to compete in the Quiksilver Snow Jam best trick contest. Each best tricked earned the riders 50 Euros in cash. That’s just enough cash for some late night drinking and partying; a sport, which the Czech’s dominate. Check out the Top Ten Results for the Quiksilver Snow Jam 1. Teo Konttinen FIN 2. Matti Kinnunen FIN 3. Martin Cernik CZE 4. Marc Swoboda AUT 5. Jan Zajic CZE 6. Jesse Rontti FIN 7. Matej Novak CZE 8. Tuomas Alapieti FIN 9. Ville Paumola FIN 10. Matej Matys SVK http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569322 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569322 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:10:00 EST Darkstar took a skateboard tour this past summer across the South. The clean and squeaky south. Here is a quick edited montage of their skate park demos with skaters Chet Thomas, Paul Machnau, Gailea Momolou, PLG, Terell Robinson, and more. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569321 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569321 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:10:00 EST It’s official; streetwear hat brand Official will be holding its “Will Skate For Money” skate contest on April 6th. If you have never heard of Official before they are mostly a streetwear brand that do the occasional skate collaboration. It was conceptualized by Jason Maggio who is founder of street culture magazine Vapors, in December 2006. They constantly keep a fresh flow of hat designs to their shops. They’re pretty fresh so check them out. Click here for past episodes of Official. Anyway the contest takes place at a secret location until announced on April 5th one of the most colorful and romantic cities in the United States; Sacramento (a.k.a. "cow-town"). There’s a $300 prize for best trick so check it out if you have a dope trick in your arsenal of tricks. But just promise that if you show up, try not to look as bummed as the kid in the flyer below. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569320 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569320 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:09:00 EST Have you ever wished you could do a backside 5-0 grind? Well here’s your chance because Paul Rodriguez or as they call him on the streets “Rod Rig” will teach you on another edition of Plan B’s. “The Basics” Now when you watch this, don’t think you will be able to grind as long or as cleanly as Rod Rig. And I think the demonstration he provides is due to his pristine truck sponsor Silver, which he so proudly represents on his t-shirt. Anyway, watch this and then go outside and learn. Then come back inside to be disappointed and then turn on your Sony Playstation. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569319 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569319 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:09:00 EST The $10,000 Swatch TTR 3-Star Nordic Open at the Hemsedal Park in Norway took place this weekend with beautiful conditions and perfect weather (until the finals). Hemesdal is one of the sickest parks in all of Europe and rider Eric Botner took full advantage of home court to take first place after results were taken from the semi-finals due to a blizzard canceling the finals. On the women’s side, Norwegian rider Sigri Heen took home first place and 550 TTR Ranking Points. Go to the snowboard-mag for more info and pics. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569314 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569314 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:08:00 EST Man, this John Cardiel series of Epicly Later’d is going to make for a really good documentary. I hope they release this in full some day. This episode chronicles the events and settings that lead up to John getting paralyzed during the filming of Tent City. It’s a really heartbreaking story to see how everyone there reacted to the accident and how things just seemed to abruptly change for all of them. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569313 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=569313 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:08:00 EST Speaking of Jackassworld (see the item below), the site has an update on Steve-O, the Jackass/Wild Boy who was hospitalized a few days ago. You may have heard about it (if you don't read TMZ, well, then we're telling you about it now) but more details have come out. First off, Johnny Knoxville introduces the blog post by telling everyone that he and a group of six friends (Jeff Tremaine, Big Regg, Swizz, Rick Kosick, Dimitry Elyashkevich, Cordell Mansfield and Trip Taylor) went, with the blessings of Steve-O's family to confront him at his apartment to convince him to get help for a spiraling out of control life. When Steve-O refused, they had him committed. Ouch. We told him we wanted him to get help and when he refused we told him we were taking him to get help regardless of what he wanted. It was a helluva thing to have to do and a sad thing to do but it was the right thing to do. I lost a lot of tears when I came home from admitting Steve-O into the 5150 ward and I’m not ashamed to say I’ve lost a few tears since. Knoxville wrote. Then he introduces a note from Steve-O himself, sent to friends by his assistant. Here's an excerpt: I figured that, since I am an extraordinarily “tough” individual, I could handle it, and my legacy would be comprised of only that which could be described as “intense.” After four days in a psychiatric ward, a.k.a. “looney bin,” a.k.a. “cuckoo’s nest,” it has dawned on me that a great deal of what I produced, while on narcotics-induced “highs,” was a bunch of manic bullsh*t that made little-to-no sense and, furthermore, was devastating to those who love me the most. At this point, I am no longer “5150-status,” which was the three-day “hold” on me, resulting from suicidal behavior. I am now “5250-status,” which means that the “hold” has been extended to 14 days, for the exact same reasons. I’m not getting out of this “insane asylum” any time in the immediate future, so I’m going to learn as much from the experience as possible. So far, I’ve figured out that I did a great deal of damage to my brain by abusing drugs and, now that they’ve all worn off, I’m facing the consequences. I suppose it is an ironic “eye for an eye” situation that I am in, coping with the lowest “lows” that I’ve ever experienced as a form of punishment for the emotional distress that I have put my loved ones through with the self-destructive behavior that led me here. It's heavy stuff. And he's obviously reached the bottom of that valley that many addicts and people with destructive behavior have to get to before they can climb back out. You should check it out. Let's hope this is the start of something positive. And to show that Knoxville and company haven't lost their sense of humor about this, check out the image they have accompanying the blog entry. Lol! http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=568262 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=568262 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:37:00 EST Colby West put a nice cap on his season by taking the Paul Mitchell Halfpipe Competition at the 48Straight event at Sun Valley, ID, and in the process taking the season-long title. Coming in second was J.P. Solberg and Simon Dumont took third. Following the halfpipe event, the skiers took part in the "Monster Hit" compeition, which essentially was a best trick contest. Peter Olenick took first, followed by Solberg, Dumont and West. Check out the Jeep Skiing site for more. FINAL RESULTS – PAUL MITCHELL SKI HALFPIPE COMPETITION March 16, 2008 - Sun Valley, ID 1. Colby West – Canterbury, N.H. 92.2 2. J.P. Solberg – Waterville Valley, N.H. 90.0 3. Simon Dumont – Bethel, Maine 86.8 4. Peter Olenick – Aspen, Colo. 79.8 FINAL RESULTS – “MONSTER HIT” SKI HALFPIPE COMPETITION March 16, 2008 - Sun Valley, ID 1. Peter Olenick – Aspen, Colo. 2. J.P. Solberg – Waterville Valley, N.H. 3. Simon Dumont – Bethel, Maine 4. Colby West – Canterbury, N.H. 48STRAIGHT SEASON CHAMPION – Colby West http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=568261 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=568261 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:36:00 EST It's been a busy weekend down under. The Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach is coming this week and after much speculation, it appears that yes, after all, Kelly Slater will be there. Slater said he didn't plan on attending after winning the first event of the season at the Gold Coast, but his fellow pros took it with a grain of salt -- with good reason. "It’s just his style," Taj Burrow told The West Australian. "He normally turns up at the last minute, even late for his heat sometimes, and blows people out of the water." Current world champ and runner up to Slater at the Quiksilver Pro Mick Fanning has other concerns -- the 26-year-old married Karissa Dalton on Saturday. "That’s his deal,” he said. "I’m not going to worry about what other people are doing." Fanning's wedding was held at a golf course on the Gold Coast and guests, including Joel Parkinson, Dean Morrison and Mark Occhilupo, dressed up in 19th-century costumes. The Rip Curl Pro could kick off as early as later today US time (which would be morning of the 18th in Australia). Check out the official site to watch action live. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=568260 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=568260 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:35:00 EST After a day's delay, the halfpipe finals went down Sunday at the US Snowboarding Grand Prix finale in Killington, Vermont. Louie Vito won the men's event, as well as the overall season title -- an honor that earned him a brand-new Chevy Avalanche. For the women, Olympic gold medalist Kelly Clark took also took the women's event and season title. "I'm stoked on the truck. I got beat out of the tie breaker last year so I guess I had to wait a year but now I have a fresh looking Avalanche and it feels good to get it," Vito said. Clark won the season title last year, so she had plans for her new Avalanche. "I'm going to give my truck to my dad because I won one last year. My dad really needs a new car and I think my whole family will be really happy if I give it to him." The finals were delayed thanks to poor weather on Saturday. Kicking off action in the morning was a Slopestyle session, won by Janne Korpi for the men and Claudia Fliri for the women. Read more at the US Snowboarding site. OFFICIAL RESULTS - 2008 CHEVY U.S. SNOWBOARDING GRAND PRIX Killington, VT - March 16, 2008 Halfpipe Men 1. Louie Vito, Columbus, OH, 45.40 2. Greg Bretz, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 44.20 3. Peetu Piiroinen, Finland, 43.90 Women 1. Kelly Clark, West Dover, VT, 46.40 2. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 43.60 3. Clair Bidez, Minturn, CO, 39.90 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=568259 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=568259 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:34:00 EST This year's ninth stop on the ASP World Tour, the Billabong Pro in Mundaka, Spain, is reportedly being canceled. Unofficial reports have sprouted up across the web, though a message thread on ASP partner website FantasySurfer.com claims unofficial confirmation from ASP sources. The 2005 edition of the Mundaka Pro was canceled because of poor conditions due to harbor dredging and many surf fans questioned the value of the location though memorably it was at Mundaka in 2006 where Kelly Slater clinched his eighth world title (despite Bobby Martinez winning the event). Speculation is already building over where a replacement contest would be held, though Western Australia is being ruled out as it's being predicted as the location of this year's Rip Curl Pro Search in August. However, precedent points to the likelihood that there will not be a replacement named. The ASP has not had a 12-event season since 2003 and last year when contests in Fiji and Japan were dropped off the schedule, no replacements were named leaving a 10-event season, which is what would be the case again this season if Mundaka is canceled without a replacement. When it's official, we'll let you know. But until then, we'll leave you with this photo of Kelly Slater celebrating in what might be Mundaka's most memorable moment... http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=556488 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=556488 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:47:00 EST Surfer Magazine, in conjunction with the ASP, has its latest edition of Fantasy Surfer ready for the season. You can play it for yourself here. I've already got my first team picked out for the Quiksilver Pro and have lined up Kelly Slater, Bobby Martinez, Damien Hobgood, Bebe Durbidge, Ben Dunn, Luke Munro, Dane Reynolds and Roy Powers. You can change your lineup after every contest as long as you stay within the funds you have (you start with a $50 million budget). I know I am a little American heavy for now, but Mick Fanning is going for $12M and Taj Burrow for $11.5M so Kelly Slater's $10.5M is a relative bargain. Team name is the SoCal Swell if you care. Good luck everyone! http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=535065 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=535065 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:53:00 EST If I saw Mick Fanning, Stephanie Gilmore, Ryan Sheckler, and Shaun White, all on a ballot for the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award, I would totally vote for Paul Higgins, the ESPN Asian X-Games announcer. Unfortunately, he's not on the ballot. So my second choice would have to be the kid with the bright shining smile, SHAUN WHITE! And YES! He did win the Action Sportsperson of the Year Award. I hope he celebrates with honor, by inviting Mick Fanning, Stephanie Gilmore, Ryan Sheckler to his celebration party. And if possible, Paul Higgins. In other news, Roger Federer of Switzerland won the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year Award. Too bad he couldn't win the Aussie Open. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=535064 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=535064 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:52:00 EST The AST Dew Tour, the world's premier season-long action sports tour, today announced its schedule for the 2008 season (June-October). In addition to returning to Portland, Ore. and Orlando for the fourth time, the Tour will stop in Baltimore, Cleveland and Salt Lake City for the second consecutive season. "We are very excited about returning to Portland and Orlando after three successful seasons, and are eager to bring the AST Dew Tour back to our newest host cities, Baltimore, Cleveland and Salt Lake City," said Wade Martin, president of AST. "All five host cities have demonstrated great support of action sports and we know the fans will embrace the Tour in even greater numbers in 2008." The complete 2008 AST Dew Tour schedule is as follows: Event Date Location Panasonic Open June 19-22 Baltimore, Md.—Camden Yards Sports Complex Right Guard Open July 17-20 Cleveland, OH—North Coast Harbor Wendy's Invitational Aug. 21-24 Portland, Ore.—Rose Quarter Toyota Challenge Sept. 11-14 Salt Lake City, UT—EnergySolutions Arena PlayStation® Pro Oct. 16-19 Orlando, Fla.—Amway Arena Entering its fourth year, the AST Dew Tour is the most watched and attended action sports property in the world. Attendance for the 2007 AST Dew Tour totaled nearly 300,000 and an average of 41 million viewers tuned in via NBC and USA each year. The top athletes in the world will take part in this year's Tour, all competing for the highly coveted Dew Cup that will be awarded in Orlando at season's end to champions in each of the six disciplines. The 2007 Dew Cup winners include Nate Adams (Freestyle Motocross), Jamie Bestwick (BMX Vert), Ryan Nyquist (BMX Dirt), Daniel Dhers (BMX Park), Shaun White (Skateboard Vert) and Ryan Sheckler (Skateboard Park). Entering its fourth year, the AST Dew Tour is the most watched and attended action sports property in the world. Attendance for the 2007 AST Dew Tour totaled nearly 300,000 and an average of 41 million viewers tuned in via NBC and USA each year. The top athletes in the world will take part in this year's Tour, all competing for the highly coveted Dew Cup that will be awarded in Orlando at season's end to champions in each of the six disciplines. The 2007 Dew Cup winners include Nate Adams (Freestyle Motocross), Jamie Bestwick (BMX Vert), Ryan Nyquist (BMX Dirt), Daniel Dhers (BMX Park), Shaun White (Skateboard Vert) and Ryan Sheckler (Skateboard Park). http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=535063 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=535063 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:51:00 EST This note from Hurley following the ASR show this weekend: Dane Williams from the Hurley Marketing Dept. has been missing since Friday night at ASR (Action Sports Retailers Tradeshow). He was last seen Friday night at close to 2 am by the Hard Rock Cafe outside of the Marriott Gaslamp in San Diego. We are worried because no one has had contact with him since then. If you have heard from him or seen him, please contact the San Diego police department (619) 525-8400) or call: Amy- 714-553-4375 Jessica- 714-330-6952 Danny-714-613-2369 Or his parents Jim and Valen- 714-960-1341 Dane is pictured at right. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=514267 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=514267 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:07:00 EST While most of our attention might have been on Aspen this weekend for Winter X 12, there was a contest going on farther south that involved no amount of snow. We're talking about Matix's Lord Of The Lines skate contest that popped off in the midst of the ASR Trade Show in San Diego. The unique contest involves a setup that challenges its skaters to come up with the most creative line using a pre-determined set of manny pads/ledge boxes, one that will be used by every skater in the contest, hence the name of the contest. Well this year's event saw the title of Lord Of The Lines bestowed upon DVS/Matix skater (hmmmm favoritism???) Torey Pudwill who was followed by eS skater Bobby Worrest in second, and everyone's favorite Joey, Joey Brezinski, in third. The three shared a prize purse of $16,000 and bragging rights until next year. For more on how the LOTL contest went down check out the footage Transworld put up from the event here and also their photos from the event here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513890 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513890 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:25:00 EST Some might say that '07 featured the best class of emerging surfers in quite some time, what with the dominant form shown by Jordy Smith on the WQS and the appearance of the new European wonder Tiago Pires among other notable rising stars. With that in mind Surfing magazine decided to gather five such surfers, Smith, Tiago, Dayne Reynolds, Jay Thompson, and Ben Bourgeois, whom they deem as "The New Crop", and interview them to find out where their heads are at and how it got there. The group interview was originally published in print but thanks to Al Gore and Uncle Technology (brother of Father Time and Mother Nature) the internet gets a shot at an extended version of that interview. You can check Surfing Magazine interview "The New Crop" here. Also on a related note check out how Surfline ranked the pros with the close of 2007 here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513889 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513889 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:23:00 EST Shaun White didn't qualify first in the Men's Superpipe at Winter X 12 yesterday and he was quick to remedy that injustice by coming in with a huge first run out of three, scoring a 93.00. But he didn't stop there. In heavy snow that slowed other riders, White pulled out a huge third run including a Frontside 1260, a Frontside 1080 and a Frontside 900 and Backside 900. White scored a 96.66, coming close to his record score of 97.67 set in 2003 on the Superpipe. The win also gave him his 12th overall Winter X medal and tied him with Tanner Hall as the only athletes to get Gold seven times. Also, White became the first athlete to win gold in the Superpipe three times. Japanese sensation Ryo Aono, who did qualify first yesterday had a strong first run, scoring an 88.00, but his second run was a throwaway and his third the same. Mason Aguirre, who qualified third, was in third until Kevin Pearce took his final run, pulling an 85.66 to edge Aguirre for the Bronze. In the beginning of the competition, snow was falling but it cleared up by the time Aguirre and the top qualifiers took their first run. However, the snow was back in the third round, just in time to affect the top six boarders. Though White and Pearce were pretty much unaffected by the snow, Aguirre, Aono and Danny Kass all seemed to have problems...For more on the Superpipe Finals check the official recap here. The Superpipe was the final event of the day and of the Winter X Games 12. For all of the results from the day, plus photos and more, check out our Winter X Games coverage home... SNOWBOARD SUPERPIPE MEN’S FINAL Results from Aspen/Snowmass on Sunday, January 27, 2008 Name / Bib # / Hometown / Score 1. Shaun White / 347 / Carlsbad, Calif. / 96.66 2. Ryo Aono / 324 / Matsuyama City, Japan / 88.00 3. Kevin Pearce / 343 / Norwich, Vt. / 85.66 4. Mason Aguirre / 300 / Mammoth, Calif. / 84.33 5. Kazuhiro Kokubo / 377 / Sapporo, Japan / 83.00 6. Antti Autti / 329 / Rovaniemi, Finland / 82.00 7. Danny Kass / 337 / Portland, Ore. / 81.00 8. Iouri Podladtchikov / 384 / Zurich, Switzerland / 73.66 9. Gary Zebrowski / 388 / Papeete, Tahiti / 65.00 10. Elijah Teter / 385 / Belmont, Vt. / 52.33 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513886 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513886 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:22:00 EST The BMX Street finals at Simpel Session 08 (mentioned below) just wrapped up and Garret Reynolds ended up taking the top honor with Gary Young in second. Daniel Dhers ended up in third. Reynolds also won the Snickers BMX 180 Long Jump with an 8.5 meter jump... Full results forthcoming. Earlier in the day Peter Ramondetta (USA) won the skate street contest followed by Chris Pfanner from Austria in second. Last year's winner Enis Fazilov of Finland was third. Sierra Fiellers won the Red Bull Best Trick contest and placed ninth overall in the skate street finals. Here's the official site. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513885 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513885 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:21:00 EST If you're on the west coast are you awake? If so, you should be watching the live stream of the Simpel Session contest over in Estonia. You can watch it on the official site. They've got a little bit to learn about webcasting, as you hear Russian guys yelling and calling for judges, but heck, it's fun. First up will be the Skate Street finals, followed by the BMX finals later in the day. Here are the results from Saturday's qualifying sessions. For skate I know the top 18 made it to the finals because Sierra Fellers was the first skater to take to the floor. We'll post the winners later. Again, check out the webcast if you can. SKATEBOARDING QUALIFIERS: 1. Jani Laitiala FIN 2. Chris Pfanner AUT 3. Axel Cruysberghs BEL 4. Magnus Hanson CAN 5. Ondro Leskoviansky SVK 6. Tomas Vintr CZE 7. Samu Karvonen FIN 8. Peter Ramondetta USA 9. Ruben Rodriguez USA 10. Miki Tähtinen FIN 11. Ross McGouran UK 12. Hugo Liard FRA 12. Niko Ojanen FIN 14. Fabian Verhaeghe BEL 15. Lukas Danek CZE 15. Harri Puupponen FIN 17 Georges Agonkouin FRA 18. Sierra Fellers USA 18. Teemu Korhonen FIN 20. Chris Aström SWE 21. Erik Toivanen FIN 22. Enis Fazilov FIN 23. Madars Apse LAT 23. Chris Haslam CAN 25. Gena Kakusha RUS 25. Wille Mäkelä FIN 27. Sam Pairtax FRA 28. Aleksandr Tubin EST 29. Florentin Mairfaing GER 30. Hendrik Gross EST BMX QUALIFIERS: 1. Garret Reynolds USA 2. Daniel Dhers VEN 3. Scotty Cranmer USA 4. Gary Young USA 5. Tyler Morrow USA 5. Ben Hennon UK 7. Chase Hawk USA 8. Colin Mackay USA 9. Anthony Napolitan USA 9. Morgan Wade USA 11 Maxime Charveron FRA 12. Kym Grosser AUS 13. Brad Simms USA 13. Mike Miller UK 15. Bruno Hoffman GER 16. Jason Phelan IRL 17. Michael Beran CZE 17. Aaron Ross USA 19. Tony Watkinson UK 20. Harri Main UK 20 Karl Poynter USA http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513883 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513883 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:21:00 EST With the X Games going on it's easy to forget there's plenty else out there going on. One of the bigger things was the ASR show down in San Diego. It wrapped up yesterday, but we were there on Thursday and Friday to see what was going on. Check out our recap here. We have some photos, too -- from Thursday and from Friday. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513882 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513882 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:20:00 EST So much stuff happened Saturday at the X Games it seemed easier to do this wrap-up for all the key points and observations. So don't read too fast, you might miss something... * The results are the results. You can see the big ones here but there were a lot of repeat performances to follow Gretchen Bleiler, Sarah Burke and Tanner Hall, each of whom repeated Gold in their sports on Friday. Saturday Nate Holland, Andreas Wiig, Tucker Hibbert and Jamie Anderson repeated Gold (for Holland and Hibbert it was more than just a repeat. Where's the drama? Maybe in Men's Superpipe later today... * Speaking of men's Superpipe, the main story should be Ryo Aono's huge runs that kept him a solid #1 going into tomorrow's finals, but what about Shaun White's interview? I don't know if the best part was the guy in the back with a special poster (see below) or White's incomprehensible "Armageddon" reference. Or maybe it was the was reporter Tina Dixon's reaction to said interview and how she quickly said "Thanks Shaun" and got the hell out of there. We would post the video but ESPN's lawyers don't like that. * We will post Shaun White (and Gretchen Bleiler's) Oakley commercial. It was funny and is Shaun's latest cinematic masterpiece. It's also below. * Speaking of which, White's broken board was the story of the Slopestyle finals. Read more here. And it didn't look it was broken on a practice run -- at least not according to the video we saw on ESPN. * And since we're talking about Shaun White, it seems we're not the only one. Check out this article -- no surprise that more than a few athletes are wondering why Shaun White became the face of the X Games. Actually, it was more like Gretchen Bleiler was the face of the X Games this year. Here's one more fun piece. There are plenty more out there. * One more article of interest. What's with Sports Illustrated posting a Winter X Games story? Okay, so it's really the AP. That's cool. It's all about Shaun. Palmer. * The Jumper Big Air contest was fairly entertaining. I was entertained by the "Jumper" cam and the "Jumper" presence of Rachel Bilson, who was surprised to hear the words "Rodeo" and "540" used in the same sentence. And the "Jumper" bibs. Speaking of which, have you heard of a movie named "Jumper"? Apparently it's coming out soon. I wish I could see a preview or learn more about it somewhere... * Here's one last thought. I am very happy I was watch SnoCross on my DVR. I couldn't get to lap 25 fast enough. Keep up with all the latest results in our Winter X Games coverage home... http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513881 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513881 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:19:00 EST Nate Holland edged Markus Schairer today to take gold in the Men's Snowboarder X contest at the Winter X Games in Aspen. Winning the event is nothing new for Holland, who has already scored gold before. The same goes for the women's winner, Lindsey Jacobellis, who took her fourth gold in Snowboarder X. Last year Jacobellis missed winning Gold after a fall that echoed her widely-seen fall during the Olympics in Torino. For more on Jacobellis' redemption and Holland's third consecutive Gold check the full recap here. Keep up with all the latest results in our Winter X Games coverage home... Men's Snowboarder X Results - January 26, 2008 1 Nate Holland - 93.48 2 Markus Schairer - 93.81 3 David Speiser - 95.80 4 Graham Watanabe - 104.42 5 Seth Wescott - 109.23 6 Derek Wintermans - 119.85 Women's Snowboarder X Results - January 26, 2008 1 Lindsey Jacobellis - 102.00 2 Tanja Fredien - 102.67 3 Sandra Frei - 104.33 4 Dominique Maltais - 104.62 5 Mellie Francon - 112.05 6 Zoe Gillings - 126.88 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513880 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513880 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:18:00 EST Jamie Anderson edged rookie in her second of two runs to win her second-straight Gold medal for Snowboarding Slopestyle at the Winter X Games in Aspen, CO. Anderson scored a 90.66 in her second run after falling in her first. Claudia Fliri scored an 83.33 for second and Spencer O'Brien was third with an 80.00. Cheryl Maas of the Netherlands, who led in qualifying, had the final run of the day and the opportunity to overtake one of the top three but fell during her run. For more on the Women's Snowboarding Slopestyle Finals check the full recap here, otherwise keep up with all the results in our Winter X Games coverage home... http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513879 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513879 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:17:00 EST Andreas Wiig started off big, scoring a 92.00 in his first run, and held off competitors like Shaun White and Kevin Pearce to win the Snowboarding Slopestyle competition at the Winter X Games for the second year in a row. White accidentally broke his board before his first run and had to use it any way. On his second run he did use a new board but was unable to cleanly land a Cab 1080 and ended up with a lower score than his initial 83.33, which was good enough for the Bronze. Pearce scored the silver with an 88.33. White was looking for his seventh gold medal of all time at the Winter X Games, hoping to tie the mark set by Tanner Hall earlier in the Games. With the finish, White has 12 overall medals, a record,including six gold, three silver and three bronze. He still has the Superpipe finals coming up to add to his total. For more on the Men's Snowboarding Slopestyle Finals check the full recap here, otherwise keep up with all the haps in our Winter X Games coverage home... http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513878 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513878 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:16:00 EST A couple of big competitions closed out action on Friday night at the Winter X Games in Aspen. First, Gretchen Bleiler edged Torah Bright in the Superpipe finals in snowboarding (it was her third gold medal) and soon after Jon Olsson won the first-ever Big Air ski competition. To read more about Bleiler's win Click here (plus photos). You can find out more about Olsson's win here and just keep up with all the haps in our Winter X Games coverage home... http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513877 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513877 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:15:00 EST Given that they've just featured the Stereo Skate team in their United Nations section, it's only natural for The Berrics to pull Stereo's bossman and resident Hollywood celebrity, Jason Lee, aside to get profiled in their Department 8 section. As mentioned before here and in The Berrics' mission statement the Department 8 section is geared towards getting fans of the site interested in things that aren't necessarily skate-related (think art), so for this interview the focus is more on the different non-skate hats Lee wears including network television actor, photographer, and budding director. Check out the Department 8 interview with Jason Lee here. While you're at it also check out the Clinical Research interview (skate related) they did with one of Stereo's best, Clint Peterson. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513876 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513876 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:15:00 EST You all are probably wondering what's going on with Epicly Later'd. After putting out a steady stream of episodes, from the Emerica Wild Ride arc all the way down to the recent Daewon Song stuff, the well seemed to have dried up these past couple of weeks. But fear not as it looks like Patrick O'Dell has been busy working on a John Cardiel episode, one that looks like it'll be worth the wait. Check out the two separate Cardiel trailers O'Dell has put up on VBS here (Trailer 1) and here (Trailer 2). http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513875 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513875 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:14:00 EST About a week ago we linked to a couple of photo books that were worth checking out. In those cases the books were both skate-oriented and also self-published (via publishing sites on the web), this time around though we got a new photo book worth checking out that's snowboard-oriented and professionally published. The book is called "28 Day Winter: A Snowboarding Narrative" and it focuses on riders for the Burton Team on their August 2006 trip south of the equator to places like Chile and New Zealand. The photos were shot by Dean “Blotto” Gray, Jeff Curtes, and Adam Moran, and of course feature some amazing shots (check below for just one example) which you can preview over at the book's official site here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513874 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513874 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:13:00 EST Ever since Jake Brown took his amazingly well-publicized slam at last year's X Games people all over the skate world have had to re-evaluate their list of greatest slams ever (c'mon we all know you've got one in your mind). And that's just the case with eS who have recently released their "Gnarliest! Slams! Ever!" list where surprise, surpise Jake Brown took first. The best part of the list? 5 of the 6 links have Youtube links...making it a list you're probably gonna wanna see. The worst part of the list? Heath's slam wasn't higher...but then again it isn't like this list is scientific or anything. Check out eS favorite slams here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513871 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513871 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:13:00 EST A little while ago we mentioned how the Fallen Team was over in the Far East (China to be exact) taking advantage of the country's numerous skate spots (and possibly its women too). At that time they had posted 3 separate galleries of photos from their trip thus far...well now they've added two more galleries and these are from the heart of China (aka not Hong Kong/Shanghai). You can check all the black and white mischief from China (including the first 3 galleries) here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513870 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=513870 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:12:00 EST Even though we won't get to the real thick of things at Winter X Games 12 until Friday evening think of this as a pre-course appetizer as results have been posted for the Women's Snowboard Superpipe qualification. With the results it looks like Winter X Cover Girl Gretchen Bleiler is living up to the billing by being the top qualifier. Check the full qualification results with pics below, and stay tuned for more coverage from the event. SNOWBOARD SUPERPIPE WOMEN’S Qualifying Results from Aspen/Snowmass on Thursday, January 24, 2008 (Top 6 advance to finals) Check the site for the full results http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=510354 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=510354 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:39:00 EST Being both a powerhouse and an innovator in the industry it's only natural for Burton to seize upon any opportunity to advance in terms of technology, and their latest step is just that as Burton has launched it's Burton Studios on iTunes. The venture is just another step for Burton in its quest to make its video content more readily available for it's audience (as well as another way to find a new revenue stream). With Burton Studios the company will now offer their videos along with their own "TV Shows" for download via the program I'm pretty sure almost 95% of you kids have for a fee of $1.99. As of now Burton is only offering their latest video "Thanks In Advance" and episodes of their newest show, Terje's Season Pass (also airing on FUEL TV) up on the Studio page, but I'm willing to bet they're gonna start loading that thing with a lot more stuff once the money starts pouring in. You can access Burton Studios via the link here or in the "TV Shows" section of iTunes. For more info on Burton Studios including more info on the two items up for download check the official announcement here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509747 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509747 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:39:00 EST Wanna know what's been going on with Stephanie Gilmore since her landmark ASP World Title win at the Billabong Girl's Pro Hawaii? Well, so did Surfing Magazine so they caught up with the amazing Aussie in Sydney to get some answers (not necessarily in the Dragnet way). See what they got out of her here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509746 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509746 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:39:00 EST We got more coverage in from the Marc Johnson Skater Of The Year party held in San Francisco last week...and they're good because they come straight from the source, Thrasher Magazine. Given that it was Thrasher throwing the party you know they had all the access they needed to take these pics and the results: plenty of girl pics, plenty of "skaters attending" pics, and most importantly plenty of pics of the man of the hour Marc Johnson. The gallery kinda speaks for itself, check it out at Thrasher's site here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509745 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509745 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:38:00 EST As promised The Berrics have finally released their "United Nations" feature on one of the most original/stylish skate companies out there, Stereo Skateboards. The clip features the full Stereo arsenal as amateurs like Zach Wagner and Tony Silva get their tricks in with the team's pros such as Clint Peterson and Daniel Shimizu and even the OGs Chris Pastras and Jason Lee (he probably has lots of time off thanks to the Writer's strike). What's worth note is how the 2+ minute features every nook and cranny of the Berra/Koston wonderland getting put to use. As with all Berrics clip it's definitely one worth checking out, which you can do at United Nations department here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509743 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509743 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:37:00 EST Though the business side of the ASR is a major part of the gathering, there is always stuff on the side worth checking out while in San Diego for the trade show and this weekend's version of the ASR is no different. Two such "side orders" to the ASR include the long awaited premiere of Rip Curl's 'Lightning Strikes...The Movie' which details Mick Fannings long and winding road to the ASP World Title. The premiere will take place 4pm this Friday, Jan. 25 at the ASR booth in the convention center. Later on that night you can catch the second event worth mentioning, the 1st Annual Momoo Benefit / Live Auction which will feature both a musical performance by surfer/musician Tim Curran and also Escalera (Danny Way and Bob Burnquist's band), and an autograph signing featuring Way, Burnquist, Ryan Sheckler, Rob Dyrdek, and Damien Hobgood. The star-studded event will take place at the La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas (a short drive from San Diego) with doors opening at 7pm Friday night. For more details on special event check the flyer below, and for more info on the premiere of 'Lightning Strikes...The Movie' check the link here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509740 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509740 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:35:00 EST Shaun White's already been associated with Target for awhile now (six years in fact) but the two have decided to move to the next level with White releasing a new line of clothes for the company. And we quote: The line will feature clothing for young men and boys and will be available in late July. This appears to be the final straw for another one of his sponsors, Volcom... Check it out. Can Ryan Sheckler be far behind? Also related, while Volcom may be losing one of its best breadwinners it's picking up something that could be potentially lucrative in their deal to purchase sunglass manufacturer Electric Visual. Check out Volcom exec Richard Woolcott break down the deal here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509739 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509739 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:33:00 EST So here's your first taste of results from the Winter X Games in Aspen. Tanner Hall took first in the Men's Skiing Superpipe qualifiers followed by Simon Dumont. After those two masters, it wasn't even close. Between the two of them they have won about the last six or so gold medals in the category so it's not really a surprise. Here's the results. Top 10 advance to the finals. Keep up with all 2008 Winter X Games coverage here. SKIING SUPERPIPE MEN’S Qualifying Results from Aspen/Snowmass on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 Name / Bib No. / Hometown / Score 1. Tanner Hall / 526 / Kalispell, Montana / 95.33 2. Simon Dumont / 504 / Bethel, Maine / 89.33 3. Kevin Rolland / 531 / La Plagne, France / 82.66 4. Andreas Hatveit / 507 / Sudndalen, Norway / 78.00 5. Mike Riddle / 513 / Sherwood Park, AB, Canada / 75.33 6. Jossi Wells / 517 / Wanaka, New Zealand / 75.00 7. Matt Hayward / 528 / Red Deer, AB, Canada / 73.00 8. Colby West / 522 / Canterbury, N.H. / 72.33 9. Peter Olenick / 510 / Aspen, Colorado / 72.00 10. Sean Field / 540 / Tahoe City, Calif. / 70.00 11. Sammy Carlson / 501 / Tigard, Oregon / 69.00 12. John Symms / 532 / Salt Lake City, Utah / 67.00 13. Stefan Thomas / 533 /Park City, Utah / 65.33 14. Xavier Bertoni / 536 / La Clusaz, France / 45.00 15. Justin Dorey / 538 / Vernon, BC, Canada / 36.66 16. Brent Abrams / 539 / South Lake Tahoe, Calif. / 19.00 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509737 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509737 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:32:00 EST The X Dance Action Sports Film Festival held its awards ceremony last night in Salt Lake City, UT last night. We have the winnersm below. "The Windsurfing Movie" actually won two awards including Best Director, while the best overall film was the Travis Pastrana bio-pic "199 Lives" while "Bra Boys" won Best Documentary. Best Biography went to the Tara Dakides film "Against the Grain." Tony Hawk was also given the Athlete of the Year honor. Lat34 will have more soon from the scene... BEST EDITING WINNER: The Man Who Souled The World BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN AN ACTION SPORTS FILM WINNER: Transgression BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE WINNER: New Emissions of Light and Sound BEST SOUND TRACK WINNER: The Windsurfing Movie BEST SHORT FILM WINNER: Fishbowl BEST ADVENTURE FILM WINNER: Journey to the Center BEST BIOGRAPHY WINNER: Against the Grain BEST DOCUMENTARY WINNER: Bra Boys BEST CORE FILM WINNER: Enjoy BEST EMERGING FILM MAKER WINNER: Britton Caillouette, Sliding Liberia BEST DIRECTOR WINNER: Johnny Decesare, The Windsurfing Movie ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Tony Hawk BEST ACTION SPORTS FILM WINNER: 199 Lives We've got photos and more coming soon! http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509736 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=509736 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:30:00 EST Big mountain skier Billy Poole has been killed while filming for the latest Warren Miller film in Utah. The accident after Poole jumped off a cliff and landed in a rocky area between the Solitude and Brighton ski resorts. This is the second time that someone has been killed shooting for a Warren Miller film. The last time is happened was in 1993 at Lake Tahoe when Paul Ruff was killed after jumping off of Thimble Peak. Poole, 28, was sponsored by Black Diamond. Check out some video of him in action below. Read more about the accident here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=508795 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=508795 Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:25:00 EST Unless you just haven't been paying attention you know we have been doing recaps of "Life of Ryan" after each episode on Tuesday night. This week's episode might be worth a little bit of a special mention thanks to an appearance by P-Rod and Jereme Rogers and some Plan B shooting for the company's upcoming vid. So if you want, check out the recap or see the photo gallery. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=508794 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=508794 Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:25:00 EST Is it already here? The Winter X Games start this week in full force on Thursday. We'll be covering it here on Lat34 with updates, results and photos but we also have an insider's perspective for you from Jeffrey Sadis, one of the techs on-site working with skier X and boarder X athletes. Check out his first updates for us here. There's info about the course, the athletes and more. This is something you won't see anywhere else... http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=508793 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=508793 Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:24:00 EST Kevin Pearce and Kelly Clark took the top honors in the halfpipe as the Burton European Open wrapped up earlier today in Laxx, Switzerland. Pearce locked up the win with his third run out of three, scoring a 94.33, edging Shaun White and his 90.67. Peetu Piiroinen of Finland finished in third with his run of 84.00. For the women, Kelly Clark had a huge first run of 92.67, setting the bar too high for anyone to catch up, including second-place finisher Torah Bright, who scored an 88.33. Hannah Teter was third with an 82.67. Cheryl Maas was a distant fourth with a 71.00. The Women's Halfpipe Podium at the BEO (photo courtesy of the BEO) For a full recap of the Halfpipe Finals of the BEO 2008 check the link here, also head over here for the full results from the halfpipe and slopestyle. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=502826 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=502826 Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:45:00 EST Aussie FMX rider Robbie Maddison made history on New Year's Eve 2007 by setting a new long-distance jump record of 322 feet, soaring more than the length of a football field in Las Vegas. Maddison's jump eclipsed the 310 feet reached by Ryan Capes in 2005. The jump was part of the "Red Bull Experiment" -- the first in what appears to be a series of world-record breaking attempts across different sports. After his first jump, Maddison appeared to be disappointed that he missed his goal of around 360 feet and took off to make a second jump. He cleanly landed that jump but failed to eclipse the record-breaking mark a second time. What made the jump even more amazing was the fact that earlier in 2007 Maddison broke his right leg while competing at the Red Bull X Fighters contest and he didn't event start riding in earnest until early December to train. The "Experiment" was originally scheduled to feature the first-ever flip of an off-road vehicle by Rhys Millen, but he was injured training for the jump on December 24. ESPN showed the footage of Millen's crash for the first time during the live broadcast, and what apparently happened was during a test jump Millen's ramp malfunctioned and his off-road vehicle overshot the protective set of cardboard boxes that were set up to cushion the landing of the vehicle. Millen broke three vertebrae in the accident. Red Bull didn't replace Millen in the night's festivities, but other athletes were interviewed, including Moto masters Brian Deegan and Mike Metzger and Red Bull super snowboarder/skateboarder Shaun White. Evel Knievel was remembered many times through the night, not only because he passed away last month at the age of 69, but also because he attempted the world-famous jump at Ceasar's Palace 40 years ago to the night of Maddison's jump. That jump, which was only 151 feet, was unsuccessful and footage of his terrible crash has been seen thousands of times since. Maddison said he had spoken to Knievel's family and that he was "honored to be able to do this and represent him." http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=483721 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=483721 Mon, 01 Jan 2007 14:00:00 EST There's no rest for the weary, especially for those surfers on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS). That's because shortly after the finish of the 2007 WQS season at the O'neill World Cup Of Surfing just a couple of weeks ago, the 2008 season is already ready to pick up with the O'neill Sebastien Inlet Pro, which begins January 4th. The O'neill SI Pro, taking place at Sebastien Inlet, Florida (duh), is the biggest and most prestigious surfing contest on the US East Coast as well as being one of the top 3 events on mainland meaning the event will be packed with tons of quality surfers. Not only that, there's also the fact that the opening event for the 2008 WQS season has raised the stakes by upgrading to a 5 star WQS event (from a previous 4 star ranking), meaning that in some way if you're looking to qualify for the 2009 season you've probably got to be there, which in turn means tons more quality surfers including CJ Hobgood who's not only there to spoil the fun for the up-and-comers (he's already qualified for the 2008 and is most likely gonna qualify for 2009 off the strength of his WCT showing) but also there to defend his 2007 O'neill SI Pro title. As mentioned the waiting period for the event will start on January 4th (running until January 11th) with 192 scheduled competitors ready to take to the WQS points (as well as the $110,000 purse) like desperate retail scavengers at a post-Christmas sale (sorry just got back from T.J. Maxx). For more on the upcoming O'neill Sebastien Inlet Pro check out the official ASP release here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=481347 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=481347 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:23:00 EST Two quick skate events coming up this January that you might wanna keep in mind: • First is Active/Element's "Charge The Parks" event with Mike Vallely taking place on January 12th, where you'll be able to hit up two different skateparks in Corona, CA (about an hour away from L.A.) and "skate, shed blood, and get gnar with Mike V." Each session that afternoon will make available an Element/Active prize package to one of the skaters at the session (could be you) Mike V. feels went the hardest. The first session will take place at 1pm that afternoon at Huber Skatepark while the second one will take place at Harada Skatepark starting at 3pm. For more info on the event check the Active announcement here. • The other event roughly a week later is more of a celebration. "For what?" you say. Well for Marc Johnson being named Thrasher's Skater Of The Year. On January 18th Thrasher will toast to Marc Johnson with a party in San Francisco where more than likely lots of pros will show up as part of some sort of congratulations. The best part is that the party is open to all, meaning you've got a chance to physically pat Marc on his back and tell him "Screw the other guys, your part in Fully Flared was the best". The only catch (admittedly it's a really small one) is that you gotta RSVP, most likely way ahead of time. The party itself will begin when doors open at 7pm and will feature music from legendary Norse gods Valient Thorr and "special guest DJ". There'll also be the premiere of Thrasher's 'King Of The Road '07' video. For more on the event check the info/flyer here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=481346 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=481346 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:23:00 EST I remember reading an article awhile ago about the possibility that Paul Rodriguez's connection with Nike could be a low level equivalent to Michael Jordan's historic connection with the shoe giant, where the Nike SB P-Rods could be an iconic shoe just like the ubiquitous Jordans. By the looks of the newest release of P-Rods it seems like someone at Nike SB has taken some amount of inspiration from that article. As seen in the pic included below (courtesy of In4mation) the Nike SB P-Rod 2 (aka the J-Rod) pays homage to the Jordans of yester-year with the black/red/grey colorway and the cement print that is distinctly Jordan's. Of course the shoe is still an SB shoe with logo and P-Rod signature to boot but something tells me that tons of non-skating sneaker heads are gonna try to get their hands on this so as fill out their 80's inspired closet. Apparently the shoe is out now (haven't been to Undefeated in a bit) so I'm guessing there's probably not much stock left, though you can obviously check out your local spot. For more shots of the J-Rods as well as some other new stuff from Nike SB check In4mation's blog here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=481345 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=481345 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:22:00 EST Just last week falling in line with media standards we put up our top 10 stories of the year. In it of course we covered everything from skating to surfing to snowboarding and beyond so we weren't able to focus of some of the nuances of the year. Lucky for us Surfing Magazine has picked up the slack in terms of surf stories with their Top 16 stories of the year (why didn't they choose I nice round number like everyone else). Looking through the list we're glad to see we got our part right as they, like us, have chosen the top surf story to be the dominance of the Aussies on tour this year with nods Mick Fanning, Stephanie Gilmore, and Bede Durbidge's Men's World Title, Women's World Title, and Vans Triple Crown wins respectively. Obviously it's not only about the obvious (redundancy count: 1) top story though, there's plenty of moments that captured their editors' eyes including the Sunny Garcia/Neco Padaratz dust-up at the Pipeline Masters, humanitarian gestures by both Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz in the Middle East and Dave Rastovich off the coast of Japan, and the phenomenon that is Jordy Smith (2 out of the 16 stories). Though some of those stories we've covered before we're pretty sure you wanna get another set of eyes on those stories as well as the others, you can do so at Surfing Magazine's Top 16 Stories of 2007 feature right here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=481344 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=481344 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:22:00 EST It's nearing the end of a month (a year even) so like clockwork FUEL TV has provided us with some of the programming highlights for the upcoming month. First among the programs worth noting is the series premiere on 8pm EST New Year's Day of Terje Haakonsen's "Terje’s Season Pass". As mentioned before, the 6-part series will feature Terje spending time with top pros such as Nicolas Müller, Shaun White, Mads Jonsson and Kevin Pearce to do the obvious (ride) as well as to get a peak into the life, from contests to tours, of someone at the top of their game (as if Terje himself couldn't provide all that info straight up). Other programming highlights of the non-premiere type include the multiple WCT broadcasts including the Roxy Pro Hawaii (January 21st @ 8pm EST) and the Billabong Pipeline Masters (January 28th @ 8pm), as well as the Blue Carpet Special for the latest wakeboarding film "Push Process" (January 21st @ 8:30pm) featuring our girl Dallas Friday, Andrew Adkison, and Danny Hampson. For the full FUEL TV Program Highlights for January 2008 check the link here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=481343 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=481343 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:21:00 EST It's been a long standing rule within the hiphop community that if you want to up your reputation (and thus your record sales) you should have some type of run in with the law (preferably of the "getting shot" variation). It's one of the reason 50 Cent has done so well with his career and one of the reason why Brian Austin Green hasn't. Well it looks like that unwritten rule is seeping into all aspects of pop culture including snowboarding, and the one leading the charge is Shaun White according to recent reports. That's because Shaun White was cited by the Breckenridge Police Department this past weekend for his role in "second degree criminal tampering". Sounds serious huh? I think I remember hearing similar charges in regards to members of the Gambino Crime Family. In those cases it involved wise guys trying to influence jury pools to get them off on charges of racketeering and murder. But as we all know White is in no way involved in La Cosa Nostra and his citation proves so, because what White was accused of tampering with is...get this...a fire extinguisher. Nope no guns, no blood, no corpses, just some gaseous powder that does nothing but save lives and make bears happy. The citation stems from White's recent trip to the Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge (where he was presumably at for the Chevy Grand Prix last week) where, according to reports and security camera footage, "a white male with long red hair" was seen chasing down a female friend in the game room of the resort and eventually pulling a fire extinguisher from the wall, putting it on the ground where a "large cloud of smoke" discharges. The incident gets further Saved By The Bell-like when later that night White was detained by the same police department in connection with a stolen vehicle (though White was later ruled out as a suspect). Now remember when I wrote "preferably of the 'getting shot' variation" well obviously White didn't read that part of the manual because this type of run in with the law will do nothing for his reputation except possibly...no wait, NOTHING. It actually might have an adverse effect, sort of like when Eddie Murphy got caught soliciting a transvestite or when Kevin Costner came out with 'Waterworld' (man that joke never gets tired...kinda like Kevin Costner's character in 'Waterworld'). Read more about White's newly minted criminal past check out the hilariously straight-forward news report on the incident here (my summary of the events couldn't have been any better). http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=468485 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=468485 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:12:00 EST Shaun White showed some of that Olympic form as he won the halfpipe competition at the kickoff event of the Chevy Grand Prix of snowboarding in Breckenridge, Colo. Gretchen Blelier, also an Olympic medalist, took the women's title over Kelly Clark and former gold-medalist Hannah Teter. Teter's brother, Elijah, was third for the men after Steven Fisher. For full results and more details check this out. Some photos follow... http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=464528 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=464528 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:13:00 EST ASP world tour rookie Stephanie Gilmore has clinched the world title today in Hawaii at the Billabong Pro Maui. Gilmore earned the title when her two pursuers for the title, Sofia Mulanovich and Silvana Lima, were defeated in round three by Keala Kennelly and Roseanne Hodge, respectively. Ausiie Gilmore is the first surfer, male or female, to win an ASP World title as a rookie. Thanks to three wins so far on the tour, at the Rip Curl Pro, NAB Beachley Classic and Mancora Peru Classic, had a strong edge over Mulanovich, who won two events this season, and Lima, who had no wins but five top-three finishes. To watch the event live (when it's on) check out the event website Round three reuslts for the Billabong Pro Maui follow. Heat 1: Layne Beachley (AUS) 11.75 def. Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 7.75 Heat 2: Melanie Bartels (HAW) 10.25 def. Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 7.50 Heat 3: Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 18.65 def. Rebecca Woods (AUS) 9.75 Heat 4: Keala Kennelly (HAW) 15.90 def. Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 7.50 Heat 5: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 18.55 def. Rochelle Ballard (HAW) 10.25 Heat 6: Claire Bevilacqua 15.00 def. Amy Donohoe (AUS) 12.00 Heat 7: Megan Abubo (HAW) def. Samantha Cornish (AUS) Heat 8: Roseanne Hodge (ZAF) def. Silvana Lima (AUS) http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=462361 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=462361 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:42:00 EST After a days worth of action yesterday that saw Andy Irons impressive return to the Vans Triple Crown and Adrian Buchan's defeat of Kelly Slater, The Billabong Pipeline Masters is off today due to small surf. As mentioned yesterday featured a completion of Round 1 action where a newly married Andy Irons reinserted himself into the Vans Triple Crown conversation with a event high score of 17.50 that boosted him straight into Round 4 (all first place finishers and the top 8 second place finishers in Round 1 heats at Pipeline get a direct line to Round 4). The defending Triple Crown winner Irons had been AWOL from the O'neill World Cup Of Surfing two weeks ago in order to get married, but with his Round 1 score at Pipeline he's looking to end his WCT year on a high note. While Irons pulled off the event's highest score for a heat Aussie Adrian Buchan came through with the event's highest single wave score with a 9.63 in Heat 6 of Round 1 which was good enough to push Kelly Slater into Round 3 action (the middle 16 finishers at Round 1 head to Round 3 while the last 16 finishers head to Round 2 to face HPSU qualifiers). Buchan had re-qualified himself for the 2008 Dream Tour after the first two legs of the Triple Crown so he was riding some personal momentum when he faced Slater. For the rest of the story check the site... http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=461055 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=461055 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:13:00 EST The X Games Dubai went down this past weekend in the Middle East which means that we weren't able to be there (you know how far the Middle East is? Far). But we are able to get you results plus some photos from the event. For photos from the Skate Finals (Vert and Street) check the gallery here, for photos from BMX and Moto X check the gallery here. X Games Dubai 2997 Results: SKATEBOARD STREET FINALS: 1. Tyler Hendley (USA) 87.44 (Gold) 2. Dayne Brummet (USA) 86.67 (Silver) 3. Tomas Vintr (Chezk Republic) 86.22 (Bronze) SKATEBOARD VERT FINALS: 1. Pierre-Luc Gagnon (Canada) Gold 2. Rune Gilfberg (Denmark) Silver 3. Juergen Horrwarth (Germany) Bronze BMX STREETSTYLE STREET FINALS: 1. Garrett Reynolds (USA) 93.44 (Gold) 2. Aaron Ross (USA) 92.78 (Silver) 3. Van Horman III (USA) 89.56 (Bronze) BMX FREESTYLE VERT FINALS: 1. Simon Tabron (UK) Gold 2. Steven McCann (Australia) Silver 3. Jay Eggleston (USA) Bronze http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=460039 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=460039 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:14:00 EST Some of you are probably fans of the tattoo shows on TLC like Miami Ink and more recently L.A. Ink and London Ink (the best one of the bunch in my opinion). And if you are a fan of the shows you probably know that Kat Von D from L.A. Ink is pretty good friends with Mike Vallely who's been on the show before (as well as Steve O from Jackass). You've probably also seen that they've been trying to build a mini-ramp inside the shop ever since the beginning of the show. Well the two storylines have converged in an episode that's finished filming and will air soon, as Mike V. stops by the shop again bring with him fellow Element skaters Bam Margera and Chad Muska to do some damage on the newly finished mini ramp (makes me wonder if Element and the show's producers have some type of deal in place...oh wait Element hints at it themselves). As mentioned the episode just finished filming so details aren't known as of yet BUT Element has posted some photos they took from the filming featuring Vallely, Marger, Muska, Kat Von D and the band Veins Of Jenna who I guess performed as part of the ramp christening. Check the gallery of photos here to get a taste of the episode to come. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=454150 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=454150 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:49:00 EST After 16 episodes of tour madness with some skating and profiling thrown in the Emerica's Wild Ride story arc has come to an end with Episode 17 on Epicly Later'd. This time around instead of focusing on any specific skater the episode brings it back to why they were all there in the first place: The Wild Ride Tour. The culmination of that tour was the special Wild In The Streets Main Event held in San Francisco earlier this year (July 4th) where tons of local kids gathered to take a marathon-like skate through the streets of the city with the boys on tour joining them, which the first half of the episode focuses on. The second half of the episode mostly involves reminiscing on the tour itself with many never seen before clips getting editted in while Emerica brand manager Justin Regan talks about his hopes that all the skaters who took part in the tour will remember it as something special. Though it's the final episode of the Wild Ride Tour it doesn't mean show host Patrick O'Dell is done...he's already teased us with the fact that the next episode of Epicly Later'd is gonna profile Daewon Song which means we'll obviously keeped tuned (on MTV as well). For the final episode of Emerica's Wild Ride on Epicly Later'd go here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=454149 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=454149 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:48:00 EST The first day of the Roxy Pro at Sunset Beach saw two rounds of action completed and, more importantly, three different pros keep their hopes. First and foremost was Stephanie Gilmore who kept her hopes of clinching the World Title at the event alive despite a sketchy first round heat that landed her in Round 2. Gilmore had early round jitters to blame as she scored a 4.33 in her first round heat, but things got back on track as she posted the day's highest total (18.10), including the highest single wave score (9.60), in her Round 2 heat. By advancing to Round 3 Gilmore still has a shot to win the World Title crown at this event (the penultimate event on the Women's Tour) which would put her in the history books as the first ever to win the Title as a rookie. The second pro to keep her hopes alive was Megan Abubo who after winning the Reef Hawaiin Pro earlier this month is looking to also grab the second leg of the Vans Triple Crown with a Roxy Pro win. Abubo was placed in a tough heat for Round 1 as she had to face legendary pro and reigning World Champ Layne Beachley as well as Rochelle Ballard, but Abubo rode the momentum she had built at Haleiwa and topped her heat to head into the Quarterfinals where she'll face the likes of current WCT No. 2 Silvana Lima in her heat. The last story of note is that of Rochelle Ballard, the iconic women's surfer who's been a stalwart on the women's World Tour through the years who also is making this year's Tour her last. Given the fact that she's planning on retiring from the Tour her performance at the Roxy Pro determine how much longer her swan song will last. Luckily her hopes to keep surfing is still alive as Ballard eeked through her Round 2 heat after scoring a 5.33 (the eliminated Jacqueline Silva had scored a 5.00 in the same heat). Ballard as mentioned has been a staple of the World Tour having been on the Tour since 1991. Despite winning no World Titles in that span Ballard has finished in the top eight of the year-end rankings 10 times, including a No. 2 finish in 2004. She has also been a driving force behind the upsurge of women's competitive surfing through her work with the union and other activities. To read up on Rochelle Ballard's Roxy Pro experience in light of her nearing retirement check the profile the Honolulu Advertiser has done on her here. For more on the first day's happenings at the Roxy Pro check the official recap here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=444118 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=444118 Wed, 28 Nov 2007 15:38:00 EST In what proved to be a grueling final day of competition Hawaiin native Roy Powers topped a stacked field and took home the 2007 Reef Hawaiin Pro title and a 2008 ASP World Tour berth. The day saw 5 rounds of action take place in intense surf conditions where many surfers were left spent having used all their energy to endure the 12 to 20 feet waves that pounded the surfers all day. Powers defeated Aussies Bede Durbidge (who finished 2nd) and Joel Parkinson (3rd), as well as Haleiwa local Sean Moody (4th) in a Finals heat where Powers nearly pulled of two perfect scores despite having already surfed through three 25 minute heats earlier. What's more impressive is that Powers along with Moody had earlier in the day taken down both 2007 World Champ Mick Fanning and defending Triple Crown Champ Andy Irons in the same Quarterfinal heat. Fanning had come into the contest riding a wave of momentum with both his World Title and Santa Catarina Pro win in bag and he showed it early with a high scoring heat in Round 5. But in Round 6 Fanning's score dropped, though he eeked out a berth in the Quarterfinals where he eventually was eliminated by Powers and Moody. Also of note in today's action Taj Burrow was eliminated early in the Quarterfinals by Basque surfer Aritz Aranburu who also took out Bruce Irons and clinched a 2008 World Tour spot before bowing out in the Semifinals. With the win Powers not only took home $15,000 but also took the early lead in the Vans Triple Crown standings and ended up in the 12 spot on the WQS rankings board (the Reef Hawaiin Pro is a 6 star WQS event) thus assuring qualification for next years tour. For more on Power's win including post-game quotes from all the major players at this year's Reef Hawaiin Pro check the official recap of the final day's action here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=438314 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=438314 Sat, 24 Nov 2007 03:20:52 EST While you're feasting this weekend on whatever Thanksgiving dinner had for leftovers why not also feast on another Feast that happened earlier this month, and that's the Flip's Feast Tour (clever usage of the word "Feast" huh...next word to play with: "redundant"). The tour update comes courtesy of Flip themselves as they have posted two separate recaps from the Northwest stops of the Tour (from Medford, OR to Spokane, WA). The recaps themselves are mostly about the randomness of touring with photo galleries featuring very little skating in favor of a lot of shenanigans (check out the ongoing tour van wars full of mustard, honey, ketchup, and probably other stuff not worth mentioning). There's also plenty of in-store shots full of packed in sweaty kids grabbing for any free product, which I know some of you are all well aware of. All in all the photos are definitely worth a look at if only just for the shots of the vans post mustard-ing, you can check out the Flip's Feast Tour's Oregon recap here and the Washington recap here. Also check out the Skateboard Mag coverage of the Flip Feast Tour for a different perspective (and up-close shots of the Ketchup covered vans). You can check out their galleries here and here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=438313 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=438313 Sat, 24 Nov 2007 03:20:22 EST While the men just closed the book on the first leg of their Vans Triple Crown the women are gearing up for the second leg of the Triple Crown with the Roxy Pro (which doubles as both a World Tour event and a Triple Crown event). When the event begins tomorrow out on Sunset Beach in Oahu there'll be two main stories to follow, the first being hometown girl Megan Abubo's chase for the Triple Crown. Abubo had been previously struggling (by her standards) for much of this year's Tour but with her dominating performance at the Reef Hawaiin Pro (both the first leg of the Triple Crown and a 6 star WQS event) she assured herself a berth (her 12th) in next year's Tour relieving some of the pressure she's been dealing with. Abubo now is looking to see if she can ride the momentum she built for herself at the Reef Hawaiin Pro and grab another win at the Roxy Pro to boost her chance at earning the Triple Crown as well as her first Tour win of the season. For the rest of the story check the site... http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=438312 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=438312 Sat, 24 Nov 2007 03:20:02 EST You can thank some egghead scientists for pretty much everything associated with modern life and the following is no different, because if you missed out on any of last weeks action at the Active Bling Fest and Active Am Contest held in Rancho Cucamonga, Califonia (not a great place to be other than for the contest by the way) you don't have to worry (not like you were worrying anyways) because 411VM has put up footage of both events. As a reminder the Active Am was won by Sun Diego skater Wes Kremer while the Bling Fest had two (you can actually say 4) winners, the overall winner being Billy Marks while the KREW Best Trick winner was Adam Dyet (get our recap of the event here). You can watch the highlights of both events at the 411 update here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=438309 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=438309 Sat, 24 Nov 2007 03:19:22 EST As we're officially moving into the holiday season and closer to the official beginning of Winter it's worth taking note of the various snow resort openings across the country (actually just the West for now) in case you're starting to get the urge to hit the slopes, so we've done you a favor and listed a few of the recent openings from across the land below: • Open three days ago (Nov. 21st) was world famous Vail Mountain in Vail, Colorado. The resort opened up two of its Born Free trail for snowboarding/skiing while the The Eagle Bahn Gondola will offer scenic rides for those just interested in seeing some snow (most likely old people). For more info on Vail check their official website here. • Another Colorado resort, Beaver Creek, opened up yesterday with both the beginner Haymeadow run and the intermediate Latigo trail open for snowboarding/skiing. For more info on Beaver Creek check their official website here. For more check the site... http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=438308 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=438308 Sat, 24 Nov 2007 03:18:58 EST Bucking this season's trend of extended off days for contests the Reef Hawaiin Pro has been all business the last few days and yesterday was no different as the women's side of the event wrapped up competition, finishing four rounds in one day. By day's end the spotlight was on Hawaii's own Megan Abubo who took home the Reef Hawaiin Pro crown over 2nd place finisher Layne Beachley, and 3rd place finisher Karina Petroni. Abubo's landmark day (this was her first ever win at the first leg of the Vans Triple Crown) started off on a high note as she scored the first perfect wave of the event and her career in the first round of the contest. Things never really looked down for Abubo from that point on as she went on to take the event with consistency throughout her heats. With the win Abubo not only takes home a $30,000 purse but also requalification for the 2008 ASP World Tour as well as the lead in the Vans Triple Crown standings. Though she didn't finish first in the event Karina Petroni also had a day to remember as her 3rd place finish has earned her a spot on the 2008 World Tour, making her the first Floridian to join the Tour since 2002. Of the feat Petroni said, "It feels fantastic, it really does. I’ll be the first East Coaster since Lisa (Andersen) and I’ll go on and represent for the United States." Other news from the day included Jacqueline Silva clinching the 2007 WQS crown with her Quarterfinal finish (the Reef Hawaiin Pro is also a 6-star WQS event), and four heats of men's action. A detailed recap of the whole day's events from Abubo's win to the men's heats can be found at the recap here. But yeah congrats to all the winners, especially Megan Abubo and Karina Peroni both of whom also happen to be past Girl On girls. Check out Abubo's Girl On Profile here, and Patroni's profiles (she was so great she had two) here and here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=427773 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=427773 Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:01:22 EST For those of you living in Southern California we got a great way to celebrate the upcoming Veteran's Day holiday and benefit a great cause at the same time. Mother's Tavern, a bar in Sunset Beach (near Huntington Beach), will be holding a Stephen Murray benefit night this Saturday where 100% of the bar's profits from the night will go towards the Stephen Murray Family Fund. If you aren't aware of the story of Stephen Murray and the Stephen Murray Family Fund, a story which we've been following for quite some time, you can get up-to-date right here. The actual event will begin at 8pm at Mother's Tavern and will feature appearances by Murray's friends (he's got tons of them), raffles and most likely a real up-to-date update from family members. The address for the event are as follows: Mother's Tavern 16701 Pacific Coast Highway Sunset Beach, CA 90742 Phone: 562-592-2111 Also in other Stephen Murray related news, a group of BMXers from the Props Rock-N-Roll Tour (which Stephen planned to participate in prior to his injury), have gotten together and organized an auction to benefit Murray's family fund. The riders including icons like Mat Hoffman and Morgan Wade, will be auctioning off 11 autographed bikes on eBay as well as memorabilia from the Tour including banners, shirts, helmets, etc. The auctions will have staggered start dates with the auction for Mat Hoffman’s bike having already kicked the auction off earlier this month (though it's still up for bid until the 10th). Each bike will also come with pictures of the pros posing with their respective bikes for added collectibility. For more info on the auctions as well as a link to each auction as they become active check the Props Visual site here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=419346 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=419346 Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:00:56 EST In "I wonder what Shaun White's thinking about this move?" news: starting next year what used to be known as the Vans Invitational, the third stop on the AST Dew Tour held annually in Portland, will now be known as the Wendy's Invitational. That's because it's been announced that Wendy's, yes that fast food hamburger joint, has signed on to become a multiyear title sponsor of the AST Dew Tour. What this means is that beyond the naming of the event Wendy's will also receive tour-wide exclusivity in the restaurant category along with the general marketing benefits of being ultra-visible at a highly attended and broadcasted event. On the other side of the equation the AST Dew Tour will get a big fat (and by all indications grease-stained) check which means both parties walk away from the table happy (and with a higher cholesterol count too). As a side note (well actually not a side note since the entry started off with a mention of this) it'd be great to see the look on a 6 year-old's face at the Wendy's Invitational when they think that Wendy has just won the Skate Vert contest at her own contest. It'll be just like the first time a stoner watches Donnie Darko. To read more on the business aspects of Wendy's and the AST Dew Tour hooking up check out the official announcement of the deal here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=419345 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=419345 Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:00:16 EST We knew we had to draw you into this story through some underhanded way, thus the attached picture, but this is a nice story worth reading. Pro Surfers including Dave Rastovich, Karlie Mackie, and Karina Petroni as well as celebrities such as Panettiere (pictured at the event), model Hannah Fraser Rastovich, and Australian actress Isabel Lucas took part in an event to help bring awareness to the commercial slaughter of dolphins in Japan. The event took place in the "notorious killing cove in Taiji Japan" over the weekend as the group of surfers, activists, and supporters paddled out on boards and formed a circle in the cove to protest the estimated 25,000 dolphins and porpoises that are are slaughtered by Japanese fishermen each year and are harvested for their meat in annual drives or captured for sale to marine and captive swim parks. Upon completing the circle the group also laid flowers in the water as a symbolic offering for the dolphins that have been killed. The whole event was watched by police and local fishermen (who are involved in the dolphin hunting practice), who earlier had planned to stop the event but changed their mind after negotiating with the group led by Rastovich in a surprisingly peaceful meeting. To find out more about what happened in Japan check out the story here, to find out more about the cause itself head to the Surfers For Cetaceans site here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=404666 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=404666 Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:28:39 EST In other Red Bull/Motorcross news: This Friday and Saturday night Red Bull FMX riders including Travis Pastrana, Ronnie Tenner, Jeff Tilton, and others will be paying the Glamis Beach Store in California a visit to screen the newest movie from Pastrana and the Nitro Circus crew, 'Thrillbillies'. It's good to hear Travis Pastrana has taken a break from his Rally Car career and squeezed in a little time for FMX. The event begins at 8:30pm Friday night and 7:30pm Saturday night so if you're interested in checking out Pastrana hold court make sure you're at the Glamis Beach Store (5379 E. State Hwy 78, Glamis, CA 92227) at those times. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=404620 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=404620 Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:55:09 EST The Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour is back at it for 2008 and this time they're planning to hit the good ol' U.S. of A. If you didn't know the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour is a motorcross tour that features the world's top riders making stops at some of the most unique places in the world (unique in the sense of "They had a Moto X event there?") to showcase their skills. Past stops have included bullrings in Spain and castles in Ireland so hopefully you get the drift. For 2008 the creativity doesn't stop as Red Bull has planned a five stop jaunt through Mexico City, Rio De Janeiro, Rome, Fort worth, and Madrid. Mexico City will feature riders facing off in the now familiar setting of a bullring at the Monumental Plaza de Toros in April. After that it's headed to Rio in May where Brazilian samba will meet motorcross at the famed Sambadrome. Then it's off to Rome where the event will take place in the historic Circus Maximus where motorcross will now take the place of Charleton Heston-like chariot racing. Following Rome the tour will make its first ever American stop as it goes after the Toby Keith demographic by hitting up the rodeo at the Forth Worth Stockyards in Texas. Finally come July the tour will head back to Europe and visit a familiar haunt at the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid. Sounds like a whirlwind tour full of adrenaline, motorized madness, and stereotypes. For more on the 2008 stops of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour check the official announcement here. Complete dates and riders list will be announced later. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=404619 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=404619 Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:53:30 EST It seems now we have an answer to why Travis Pastrana had forgone a lot of recent Motorcross events for rally car racing, as this past weekend Pastrana took his second Rally America National Championship Series title. Pastrana's title came after placing first at the final race of the Rally America championship, the Lake Superior Performance Rally in Houghton, Michigan. Heading into the event Subaru Rally Team USA driver Pastrana was tied with DC Shoes owner and fellow Subaru team member Ken Block for second place in the overall point standings, both just four points behind overall leader RockStar Energy Drink Rally Team driver Andrew Pinker. Within the first day of the event though Block was knocked out of title contention after damage to his car eliminated him from the contest, then in the following day Pinker fell behind both his fellow RockStar teammate Tanner Foust and Pastrana, leading to Pastrana's eventual win. Pinker still finished second in the overall standings with Block coming in behind him at third. To read more about Pastrana's win and to get the complete final standings of the Rally America Championship Series check Rally America's official site here. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=403606 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=403606 Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:21:51 EST Hot on the heels of our profile of the SMP Skatepark in China, the AST (the people who bring you the Dew Tour) has announced the creation of the AST China to take place in Beijing in April 2008. The AST China will be a Skateboard Vert and Park event featuring some of the top skaters who qualify on the basis of their Dew Tour point standings (ummm we have feeling Ryan Sheckler and Shaun White will be some of the first participants named). In addition to the Dew Tour participants local Asian skaters will get a shot at the pros as qualifications will take place throughout China for skaters looking to take part in the AST China competition as wildcard-like qualifiers. The venue, sponsors and prize money and all the other meat and bones of the inaugural AST China competition will be announced at a later date. To find out more about the AST China and to keep up-to-date with AST announcements check the AST home page here early and often. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=403603 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=403603 Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:20:38 EST Bucky Lasek showed why he was the Dew Cup champ the last two years by taking the PlayStation Pro in Orlando Sunday, but the win came in the shadow of an injury to this year's Dew Cup champ, Shaun White. White was injured while practicing after he had completed his first of three runs. He was knocked unconscious but was eventually able to leave under his own power. He was reportedly diagnosed with a concussion on the scene and, according to Dew Tour officials, he was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Hospital for further tests and observation. Even with the injury, White ended up in third behind Lasek and Pierre-Luc Gagnon. Check out a gallery here from the finals and the full results below... Skate Vert Finals - 2007 PlayStation Pro 1st- Lasek, Bucky- 95.50 2nd- Gagnon, Pierre-Luc- 94.00 3rd- White, Shaun- 91.00 4th- Macdonald, Andy- 88.25 5th- Furlong, Anthony- 83.75 6th- Postec, Jean- 83.25 7th- Taylor, Adam- 82.25 8th- Dias, Sandro- 71.75 9th- Burnquist, Bob- 68.50 10th- Mayer, Danny- 65.25 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=393294 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=393294 Mon, 22 Oct 2007 04:11:48 EST Daniel Dhers has won the BMX Park finals at the PlayStation Pro in Orlando, the final stop of the AST Dew Tour. The win also gives Dhers the Dew Cup and the $75,000 payday that comes with that. Dhers edged Mike Spinner in a close final, winning by only half-a-point. Ryan Nyquist was in third-place, followed by the legendary Dave Mirra. For more, you can look at our gallery here from the finals and the full results are listed below... BMX Park Finals - 2007 PlayStation Pro 1st- Dhers, Daniel- 94.67 2nd- Spinner, Mike- 94.17 3rd- Nyquist, Ryan- 92.67 4th- Mirra, Dave- 90.33 5th- Enarson, Dennis- 89.67 6th- Canina, Diogo- 88.17 7th- McCann, Steven- 88.00 8th- Cooke, Allan- 87.50 9th- Darden, Rob- 86.50 10th- Tooker, Marcus- 85.00 11th- Harrington, Josh- 84.83 12th- Cranmer, Scotty- 83.50 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=393293 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=393293 Mon, 22 Oct 2007 04:11:11 EST There were other events happening this weekend other than the Dew Tour. One of the more exciting ones was in Oceanside, CA, where the etnies Goofy vs. Regular surf contest went down. The contest was easily won by the Regulars, who were led by team captain Evan Slater -- Surfing magazine's editor-in-chief. TransWorld Surf editor Chris Coté led the Goofy team. There was a prize purse of $50,000 split among nboth teams. See the results below. Surfers marked with an * were selected by the team captains as the starting five for each team. GvR Surf - Final Results - Oct. 21, 2007 Regular Team: 1. Team MVP Sebastian Zietz – $8,000 2. Jay Thompson – $4,500 3. Austin Ware — $2,000 4. Toby Martin – $1,500 5. * Cheyne Magnusson – $2,500 6. * Ratboy – $2,000 7. * Kieren Horn – $2,000 8. Chris Waring – $1,000 9. Noi Kaulukakui – $1,000 10. * Adam Virs – $2,000 11. Brandon Guilmette – $1,000 12. Jason Bennet – $1,000 13. * Sunny Garcia – $2,000 14. Kyle Knox – $1,000 15. Sean Marceron – $1,000 Goofy Team: 1. * Timmy Curran – $2,000 2. * Cory Arrambide – $2,000 3. * Mike Losness – $2,000 4. * Mike Todd – $2,000 5. * Tonino Benson – $2,000 6. Travis Mellem – $750 7. Eric Snortum – $750 8. Ricky Whitlock – $750 9. Matt Keenan – $750 10. Dylan Slater – $750 11. Josh Buran – $750 12. Jeremy Heit – $750 13. Ryan Carlson – $750 14. Kai Barger – $750 15. Jesse Merle Jones – $750 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=393292 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=393292 Mon, 22 Oct 2007 04:10:08 EST Also taking part this weekend was the 2007 Tigé Pro-Am Wakeboard Championships in Cancun, Mexico. Phillip Soven continued his domination of wakeboarding scene in 2007 by taking another win, while Dallas Friday made her way back to the podium over the higher-seeded Emily Copeland Durham and Raequel Hoffman. Check out the main results below... Pro Men's Final Standings 1. Phillip Soven 2. Danny Harf 3. Andrew Adkison 4. Trevor Hansen 5T. Rusty Malinoski 5T. Adam Errington 7T. JD Webb 7T. Daniel Watkins 9. Austin Hair 10T. Chris O'Shea 10T. Bryan Hutton 10T. Tino Santori 13. Chad Sharpe 14. Danny Thollander 15. Ricky Gonzalez 16. Randall Harris Women's Professional Finals Heat #: 01 1 Friday, Dallas - USA 56.11 2 Copeland, Emily Copeland - USA 54.89 3 Merritt, Raimi - USA 47.00 4 Hoffman, Raequel - USA 39.56 5 Hoffman, Shawna - USA 38.22 6 Jackson, Jenacee - USA 28.33 Professional Wakeskate Finals Heat #: 01 1 Hansen, R. - USA 80.00 2 Taylor, Nick - USA 66.67 3 Grubb, Brian - USA 50.00 4 Balzer, James - CDN 36.67 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=393291 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=393291 Mon, 22 Oct 2007 04:09:40 EST Nate Adams made it four out five in this season's AST Dew Tour by taking the PlayStation Pro in Orlando Saturday. Adams already won the Dew Cup last month in Portland but the win means he is this year's AST Dew Tour Athlete of the Year, an honor bestowed to the athlete who scores the most point over the length of the tour. Adams is the only athlete so far this season to win four of five stops, although Shaun White can match that Sunday in the Skate Vert finals. However, since White finished third in his only non-win tour stop, Adam's second-place finish means he is the Athlete of the Year. For the honor Adams takes home an additional $25,000 to go along with the $75,000 he wins for the Dew Cup and the $15,000 he earned for winning the PlayStation Pro. Jeremy "Twitch" Stenberg had a strong showing, ending up in second for the contest, followed by Todd Potter. For the Season, Adam Jones was second in the points race, followed by Mike Mason. FMX Final Results - PlayStation Pro 2007 1. Nate Adams, Glendale, Ariz., 93.17. 2. Jeremy Stenberg, Temecula, Calif., 92.33. 3. Todd Potter, Temecula, Calif., 91.50. 4. Jeremy Lusk, San Diego, Calif., 90.73. 5. Takayuki Higashino, Japan, 89.83. 6. Dustin Miller, Gardnerville, Nev., 89.67. 7. Wiley Fullmer, Chino, Calif., 89.67. 8. Mike Mason, Carson City, Nev., 89.50. 9. Mathieu Rebeaud, Switzerland, 88.87. 10. Myles Richmond, Cherry Valley, Calif., 84.00. AST Dew Tour FMX Final Points Standings 1. Nate Adams, 475. 2. Adam Jones, 276. 3. Mike Mason, 257. 4. Jeremy Lusk, 256. 5. Todd Potter, 246. 6. Jeremy Stenberg, 217. 7. Wiley Fullmer, 193. 8. Myles Richmond, 186. 9. Takayuki Higashino, 180. 10. Beau Bamburg, 178. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=391156 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=391156 Sat, 20 Oct 2007 23:56:53 EST From the "I Would Have Done The Exact Opposite Files" comes news that Kelly Slater has been detained by police in Israel. Allegedly bodyguards for Slater got in a scuffle with photographers who were trying to take pictures of the pair together outside the hotel Slater was staying at with his Israeli supermodel girlfriend Bar Rafaeli. Photographers who were there called it a "brawl" but they're paparazzi so we take that with a grain of salt...actually with a whole salt shaker worth of salt. Reports say the scuffle broke out after Slater pushed one of the photographers causing the scuffle to break out. This isn't the first time the same Israeli supermodel girlfriend has been involved in a scuffle with photographers, a similar scene broke out last time she was in Israel with her then boyfriend notorious model dater and life coach Leonardo DiCaprio. Now here comes my commentary: See if this was me we were talking about none of this hoo-hah would have ever happened because I would have been inviting photographers to take pictures of me with a supermodel. Hell I would have hired a town crier to follow us around and announce "Hear Yee! Hear Yee! This be Cary with his supermodel girlfriend Bar Rafaeli!" while ringing a bell and possibly carrying around one of those huge arrows those real estate people use for open houses. The town crier would also be wearing neon colors like he was a fan of electronic music or neon colors. But then again when has Kelly Slater ever listened to any of my advice? To read more about Slater's run-in with the law check the AP report here. To see what all the big fuss is about with Bar Rafaeli just look to the right. http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=391090 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=391090 Sat, 20 Oct 2007 22:10:29 EST The Sheckler Show sputtered to a stop in Orlando Saturday, with Ryan Sheckler losing in a close final to Greg Lutzka. Sheckler already clinched the Dew Cup in Salt Lake City but the second-place finish means 2007 is the first time Sheckler will finish a Dew Tour with less than four wins. Of course, Sheckler was hoping to win all five tour stops, but Lutzka had other ideas. Sheckler's may still be able to lock up the Athlete of the Year honors, depending on how Nate Adams finishes in the FMX finals later Saturday. If Adams wins, he will be the Athlete of the Year. With a second-place finish, Adams and Sheckler would be tied, leaving the door open for Shaun White to take the honor with a win Sunday in Skate Vert. Photos to come, but check out the resules below plus a couple of shots from the Skate Park prelims on Thursday... Skate Park Finals - PlayStation Pro 2007 1st - Lutzka, Greg - 90.83 2nd - Sheckler, Ryan - 89.58 3rd - Araujo Jr., Rodil - 85.08 4th - Santos, Fabrizio - 84.33 5th - De Andrade, Carlos - 81.92 6th - Ortiz (A), Chaz - 80.42 7th - Seaholm, Austen - 81.75 8th - Fuenzalida, Danny - 81.00 9th - Barr, Jason - 77.25 10th - Peterson, Mike - 76.50 11th - Ramos, Rodolfo - 75.25 12th - Parent, Thomas - --- http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=391078 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=391078 Sat, 20 Oct 2007 20:34:04 EST Luke Parslow has won the BMX Dirt finals at the PlayStation Pro in Orlando, FL, the final stop of the AST Dew Tour. But the real focus going into the day appeared to be the race for the Dew Cup -- the honor given to the best overall athlete over the tour's five stops -- between Ryan Nyquist and Cameron White. Nyquist won the first two tour stops but has stumbled since and was not at the top of his game Saturday, failing to complete the final trick of his first run and leaving the door open for Cameron White after scoring an average of 87.09 in his final two runs. White couldn't finish his first run and had a great second run. But he needed a win to take the overall Dew Cup and a score of 85.19 to take the lead. He failed to complete his third run allowing Nyquist to secure the Dew Cup. The race for the Cup was forgotten during the second set of runs when Ryan Guettler fell while trying to land the double backflip. Guettler was knocked unconscious from the fall and was taken off the field on a stretcher after regaining consciousness. He did not require hospitalization but the medical staff was careful since Stephen Murray was paralyzed in June attempting the same trick. The crash came a day after T.J. Lavin suffered a compound fracture in his leg during the BMX Dirt prelims. Guettler was the number one qualifier on Friday thanks to landing the first-ever 1080 in a dirt competition and was expected to throw an amazing run during the finals. Guettler was up and walking later in the competition but the medical staff did not allow him to complete his third and final run and were determining whether to clear him for the BMX Park competition, which will hold its prelims Saturday night. Following the finals, Murray was honored with a special that featured the first look at his fateful run that resulted in his paralysis (the actual crash was not shown). Murray, his family and his fellow riders were interviewed about the crash and the aftermath. The TV package featured a look at Murray in Craig Hospital in Denver, where he is undergoing physical therapy. In the extensive interview, Murray revealed that though he's been paralyzed below the neck, he was recently able to move his thumb and index finger. "I'm a fighter, you know. I'm not going to believe that I'm going to be... a quadriplegic all my life" Murray said, "I don't think I'm ever going to compete again. But I just want to be there for my kids.. Be there for my family." Keep up with all the updates re: Stephen on our Stephen Murray update page and visit www.stephenmurrayfamilyfund.com to donate to help Stephen and his family. BMX Dirt Finals - PlayStation Pro 2007 1st Parslow, Luke - 92.67 2nd Enarson, Dennis - 92.67 3rd Napolitan, Anthony - 92.33 4th Doyle, Chris - 92.17 5th Nyquist, Ryan - 90.33 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=391021 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=391021 Sat, 20 Oct 2007 18:44:22 EST Chad Kagy has won the BMX Vert finals in Orlando at the PlayStation Pro, the final stop of the AST Dew Tour. For Kagy, the win shows a glimpse of what might have been had Kagy not broken his collarbone in August before during Big Air BMX practice at the X Games. The result was he missed one stop of the Dew Tour and didn't make the finals in the second as he wasn't full recovered. Kagy actually tied with Jamie Bestwick with a 92.67, with a tiebreaker going to Kagy. It was a crowded final, with Steve McCann ending in third and Simon Tabron in fourth, both ending with a score above 92.00. The win was not without controversy, as during his first run Jamie Bestwick's pedal broke off as Bestwick dropped in, causing a spectacular fall and basically giving him a 0 score. Had he been allowed to redo the run, he might have been able to break a tiebreaker. Kagy also fell on his first run but finished more of it. chad_kagy_xgames12finals_160x130 Despite the second-place finish, Bestwick wins the BMX Vert Dew Cup, but this does mean that for the first time in the three years of the Dew Tour Bestwick failed to win four out of the five tour stops. Kagy and Bestwick weren't the only ones to have a fall. Veteran rider Dennis McCoy fell hard and was knocked out and was taken to the hospital. He was later released. We have tons of photos here and for a recap check the official release here. You can see some of the shots below. BMX Vert Finals - PlayStation Pro 2007 1st Kagy, Chad - 92.67 2nd Bestwick, Jamie - 92.67 3rd McCann, Steven - 92.33 4th Tabron, Simon - 92.17 5th Robinson, Kevin - 90.33 6th Walker, Jimmy - 88.33 7th Parker, John -87.83 8th Warden, Zack - 87 9th Eggleston, Jay - 86.33 10th McCoy, Dennis - 82.67 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=390698 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=390698 Sat, 20 Oct 2007 07:09:10 EST Prelims at the BMX Dirt competition in Orlando ended with some bad news this afternoon as we got word that TJ Lavin (pictured) suffered a serious break in his leg during one of his jumps. Lavin usually does color commentary for NBC's Dew Tour broadcasts so obviously that's uncertain right now. We'll try to keep you updated with his condition, but as for now we're hoping for the best for Lavin. TJ Lavin With BikeIn terms of the results, Ryan Guettler has finished first in the prelims in what has been one of the most unpredictable events for the whole dew tour. So far Ryan Nyquist (currently 6th in the Prelims, 1st in the Dew Cup standings) has been the only competitor to finish first in the BMX Dirt Finals twice at the Dew Tour while James Foster (3rd in the Dew Cup Standings) has been the only rider to take first in both the Prelims and Finals in the same stop. So the finals, scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, are definitely something you got to keep an eye out for. As for Foster, he missed the finals along with Corey Bohan, so both are officially out of the race. Meanwhile, Ryan Guettler is not in the Dew Cup running but he still pulled out all the stops by landing the first-ever 1080 in a dirt competition, following his landing that trick in the BMX Park finals last month in Slat Lake City. The trick gives Guettler an edge in the over contest but Nyquist still has his eye on the prize. BMX Dirt Prelims Results - PlayStation Pro 1st Guettler, Ryan 95.67 2nd Enarson, Dennis 92.33 3rd White, Cameron 91.5 4th Marks, Joey 90.33 5th Napolitan, Anthony 90 6th Nyquist, Ryan 89.5 7th Doyle, Chris 89 8th Cooke, Allan 88 9th Parslow, Luke 87.83 10th Ellis, TJ 87.5 11th Nastazio, Cory 87.33 12th Canina, Diogo 87.33 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=390697 http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/?iid4ct=390697 Sat, 20 Oct 2007 07:08:39 EST The Skate Park Prelims at the the PlayStation Pro picked up today after a weather conditions (read: rain) only allowed for partial heats Thursday evening. The Prelims finished up with - surprise, surprise - Ryan Sheckler taking the top spot, while Rodolfo Ramos finished behind in second and Fabrizio Santos rounded out the top three. The Skate Park finals will take place Saturday evening, and while Sheckler's already got the Dew Cup won, 2nd place is still up in the air as Rudolfo Ramos (currently 3rd in the Cup standings) looks to be breathing down Greg Lutzka's (2nd in the Cup standings, 8th in the prelims) neck. Stay connected for more coverage from Skate Park at the PlayStation Pro. Skate Park Prel