1st Sheckler, Ryan
2nd Rodriguez, Paul
3rd Lutzka, Greg
4th Ortiz, Chaz
5th Colamonico, Kurtis
6th Seaholm, Austen

7th Mendes, Chris
8th do Rosario, Danilo
9th Santos, Fabrizio
10th Fuenzalida, Danny
11th Oliveira, Tulio
12th Brummet, Dayne

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August 22, 2008

Ryan Sheckler Dew Hoo

Filed under Pro Skaters

Boo Hoo at Dew

Word is Sheckler did not land shit and was seen teary eyed after a horrible practice yesterday. Crying! There is no crying in skateboarding! Could he be on tilt? Or could it be the new course? Koston, P Rod, Chaz, busted arm, stage mom, parent's divorce MTV, girl friend, no girl friend,new house, found God, were did I loose him?, Dew Cup “Dynasty”, the face of skateboarding, these are the woes that trouble a skate board super star. I would cry too.

We will see if he can get it together today at the Finals.

They will air on USA at midnight tonight.

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August 21, 2008

AST Skate Park Prelim Results: The Koston Effect?

Filed under Live from AST Tour

I'm a big Koston fan. Who's not? I mean even if your not a fan you can't hate Koston. He is so relaxed and chill. I have seen him compete at the year's Tampa Pro and the Maloof Money Cup. At both he did not seem to concerned with winning, just having a good time. With the best talent in the industry assembled at both contest dude looked asleep compared to all the younger guys who were on fire. He is Eric Koston and has nothing to prove. So when Koston gets 14th 17th it's fine. But the AST is different compared to those contests. As TWS states,"considering the mediocre roster of street skaters traditional involved"

Mediocre or not Koston placed 22nd. I think we all expected more. Ok AST what other skate legend can you get for Salt Lake City?

Here are the Results from yesterday's Prelims:

1st - Fuenzalida, Danny - 83.00
2nd - Santos, Fabrizio - 82.00
3rd - Lutzka, Greg - 81.75
4th - Seaholm, Austen - 81.75
5th - do Rosario, Danilo - 79.25
6th - Brummet, Dayne - 78.75
7th - Mendes, Chris - 78.75
8th - Colamonico, Kurtis - 78.25
9th - Oliveira, Tulio - 78.00
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10th - De Andrade, Carlos - 77.50
11th - Rogers, Jereme - 76.75
12th - Ramos, Rodolfo - 76.00
13th - Bartie, Chad - 75.75
14th - Therres, Mathieu - 74.00
15th - Fernandez, Chad - 73.50
16th - Hyppolito, Fabio Sleiman - 72.00
17th - Jones, Rodney - 72.00
18th - Peterson, Mike - 71.75
20th - Sereika, Christian - 68.25
21st - Barr, Jason - 67.75
22nd - Koston, Eric - 60.25
23rd - Parent, Thomas - 59.25
24th - Ramos, Wagner - 50.25
25th - Cudlipp, Chris - 36.25

The finals will air Friday night on USA starting at midnight.

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Back to the Banks 2008

Filed under Spot Check

With unconstrained crowds and nightlife like energy, Back to the Banks was not something to miss. Following the recent abundance of mainstream contests (Dew Tour, Maloof, X-games), the banks truly brought us back to the roots of skateboarding. Back to a time before Shawn White, ESPN and MTV even acknowledged skateboarding. While there were representatives of companies throwing around there stickers and selling products, it was a true street contest. An event run by skateboarders, for skateboarders, in one of the most historic spots in skateboard history. Even with Banks History aside, the raw chaos and true gritty street environment make it one of the most organic skate events run today.
The Banks were Jam packed by 2:00, with people from NY and all around the states coming to the event. Camera crews were battling to get good angles and with every new obstacle there was a rush of kids to get a good view. Kids were even hanging from poles and climbing obstacles to get that one special camera shot. Various pros were in sight, casually among the crowd, watching the mayhem; Steve Berra, Josh Kalis, Tim O’Connor and Heath Kirchart just to name a few. Others decided to join in the event with everyone else. Long time pro, Chad Fernandez was seen shredding almost every obstacle, against locals and other ams and pros alike. Alex Olson was seen skateboarding around, taking runs on the spine. Figgy from the Emerica camp was seen getting tricks, taking 1st on the Bank Ledge with back tailslide, and a backside hurricane. A big surprise was Dylan James, a Westchester local who came in 1st on the spine. He beat out household names such as Chad Fernandez, Jimmy McDonald and Justin Figueroa. Dylan entered the section with a broad arsenal of tricks, from clean Frontside 360 airs to bluntslide to lipslide combinations. The fact that anyone could participate on any of the obstacles made the contest special, giving a chance for unknowns to make there mark. The Jam session style contest definitely seemed to take off contest jitters and made it feel more like a competitive skate session with friends and strangers.
At then end of the day, amidst hundreds of people gathered around the handrail, it was time to go home and get much needed rest. Although never fully landing it, I could still hear the crowd as I left, erupting in “ohhs” for Timmy Knuth’s kick flip front nose grinds. With Manny Mania back to back to the event, it was one hell of a weekend for skateboarding in NYC.

Filed under Spot Check | Authored by ianmichna | Comments (0)
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August 19, 2008

Congratulations Gary Smith

Filed under Fun and Games

My friend and Interstate contributer Gary Smith got 12th place and $500 in this past weekend's Manny Mania. To most it's not the most notable part of the contest and some might say who cares. I think even Gary doesn't care. What does matter is after feeling the vibe of Back to the Banks Gary asked to skate in the contest. The last contest he entered was the AST in Baltimore. Gary's got great manny skills and AST is not the best place to showcase them. During the warm up practice he doubted if he belonged there. The talent surrounding him was amazing. Gary is a good skater but humble. You are more likely to hear him talk about how awesome other skaters are than talk about himself. So it was just fitting that a guy who did not plan to enter just went out there to have a good time with his friends and got unexepected recognition.

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August 18, 2008

Manny Mania Results

Filed under Fun and Games

1. Joey Brezinski
2. Brandon Biebel
3. Chico Brenes
4. Eli Reed
5. Malcom Watson
6. Kelly Hart
7. Stevie Williams
8. Sad
9. Danny Falla
10. Jason Dill
11. Daniel Lebron
12. Gary Smith
13. Jereme Rogers
14. Kenny Anderson
15. Dennis Busenitz
16. Jack Curtin
17. Tim O’Connor
18. Rodrigo Peterson
19. Rob Welsh
20. Jon Newport
21. Brian Wenning
22. Lenny Rivas
23. Bobby Worrest
24. Stefan Janoski
25. Richard Angelides

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Back to the Banks Retrospective

Filed under Fun and Games

Brooklyn back to the Banks 2008 was an epic event that reminded me of the old school jam style contest of times past, but like everything in this world, what goes around comes around. The walls underneath of the Brooklyn Bridge were lined with old friends and new, hailing from all corners of our great country of skaters. I saw skaters not seen in years and skaters seen the week before. There was not a heavy turn out of professionals but more so ams down to make a name for themselves. One pro that did choose to shine was Chad Fernandez who earned every bit of the prize money that he won and then turned around and gave it away to little kids who needed it more that him. To me that is what made this contest rad. There was no deodorant sponsor and probably not much deodorant even used that day (I know I wasn’t wearing any). There was however, a natural wallride, a sick bank with a ledge on top of it and some insane quarter pipe with a huge marble slab on top of it, and most importantly a handrail that had been there for the lifetime of street skating.

Ever since the Maloof Money Cup my eyebrow has been raised to the newly revamped World Industries team and let me tell you people these Ams on World mean business, Timmy Knuth was out there ripping with front feebles and amazing attempts at kickflip front nose grinds. Dustin Blauvelt was ripping with relentless attempts at full cabs over the rail.
Chad Fernandez screamed hurricanes down the rail with precision. Most importantly Matt Beach was there showing us all how to frontside flip.

This contest was a great time and as good of and excuse for me and my friends could’ve ever had to load up the car and get in a good road trip to NYC. We ate at Papaya Dogs almost every day and soaked up the rays of the sun while enjoying beautiful scenery and wonderful weather as well as some great skateboarding.

Damian Callihan

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Manny Mania Insania

Filed under Fun and Games

Sunday August 17, 2008

The Red Bull Manny Mania underneath the Manhattan Bridge in New York City was clearly one of the best contests I have been to in years. I have never seen so many of my favorite skaters in one place ever. Some were pro some were friends, some were old some were young; everyone was there for one thing, skateboarding. OK, there was some other cool stuff; tons of Red Bull and talent oozing from the blood, sweat and tears of the skaters and fans alike. The legend count was off the Richter scale with the likes of Stevie Williams, Malcolm Watson, Jackson Curtin, Kenny Anderson, Chico Brenes, Danny Supa, Jason Dill, Gary Smith, Brandon

The man of the hour was Joey Brezinski, this contest was part of a dream he had and it must have been a good dream because he designed one of the sickest many courses and it showed. It showed in the form of a ten thousand dollar check that he won proving that he is truly a manny maniac. The music was amazing blending hip hop, rock and some good old heavy metal to keep the crowd and the skaters hyped up and the vibe around the contest upbeat and happy. The weather was a perfect New York City summers day and a good setting for reunions of skaters from across the country. In the end everybody was a winner of a truly good time. The podium consisted of Joey Brezinski, Brandon Beibel, and long time great Chico Brenes.

Jason Dill danced around the course with textbook style and grace. Dennis Busenitz blazed his usual fire trail with screeching grinds and powerful flip tricks. Malcolm Watson locked in to perfect manuals with no touch on almost every trick. One of my favorite skaters Gary Smith pulled off showing up and getting invited to skate as well as securing twelfth place with consistent manuals that kept the judged remembering him when the points were tallied. Speaking of the judges, there was no corner cut when they were chosen, Eric Koston, Steve Berra, Rodney Torres, and Dan Pensyl were the ones to impress and were excellent choices for judges in my book because they are some of the best street skaters in the world.

It was an honor and a pleasure to be part of this great event. It was awesome to see the talents of a lot of street skaters I have grown to respect over the years and I hope that there are more contests like this in the future. I just hope that they are all on beautiful Sundays in Manhattan.

Demian Callihan

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August 17, 2008

Live from NY! It's Back to the Banks 2008

Filed under Skate News

Only Back to the Banks would have a results list that includes names listed as "Dude in Brown T-Shirt" or "Guy with Mohawk"... either way, the weather was good, and the energy was off the charts as all of New York's rippers showed up for yesterday's Back to the Banks.

Check out interstate all week for a complete photo libraray and video feeds of the action from this weekend's Banks and Manni Mania contests (going on today).

Check out a great recap at Skateboardermag.com [link]

B2B Results from Sat, Aug 16

Spine/ barrier
1. Dillon James
2. Chad Fernandez
3. jimmy McDonald
4. dude in a brown tee
5. Justin Figueroa

Bank to wall
1. Jimmy McDonald
2. Dustin Something
3. Robert Lopez Mont
4. Willy Aikers
5. Dude with the Mohawk and Osiris banana shoes

Bank Ledge
1. Figgy
2. Collin Provost
3. Aaaron Suski
4. Willy Aikers
5. Miles

Rail/ Stairs
1. Davis Torgensen
2. Doogie
3. Dillon James
4. Timmy Knuth
5. Mike Franklin

Filed under Skate News | Authored by Spiro | Comments (0)
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August 15, 2008

Back to the Banks History

Filed under Spot Check

A little history from BackToTheBanks.com - As skateboarders we have a different perspective of the landscape set before us. To the average person, a marble bench is a mere place to sit, but for us, it's paradise. Such is the story of the Brooklyn Banks.

To the everyday citizens and city planners, the brick banks under the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge were little more than a nuisance. A haven for vagrancy, vandalism and maybe a good place to house the city's Jersey barriers, but that was all. They had no concept of how many out-of-towners had pushed through Brooklyn just to roll down those slippery, red bricks, no idea how many videos had been filmed at that locale, so naturally designed for skateboarding.

No understanding how what the banks meant to so many New York skateboarders who grew up learning how to get the right amount of speed to be able to hit every inch of the banks with the right amount of force. With no idea of the Banks' significance and with that area becoming more of a “problem," the Banks almost went extinct. It took one of New York skateboarding's own to show the public that what they viewed as a problem was actually a prize.

Continue reading "Back to the Banks History"

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Shaun White is starting to bug me

Filed under Pro Skaters

Is it just me, or does Shaun White piss you off too. In this video clip, he talks about how he skates part-time and wins contests while the guys who skate full-time are forced to up their game in order to beat him. At first I thought he was f*&ck'n around, but I think he's serious.

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August 14, 2008

AST Steps it Up with Concrete

Filed under Live from AST Tour

On the heels of The Maloof Money Cup with its $150k street course made of concrete, and the X Game’s plaza style course, AST will debuted its own version in Portland. The course shown here is a major change for the tour. Gone are the big trannies and quarters that popped out oddly after some railings.

AST states, “The street-focused course in Portland will feature stairs, rails, jersey barriers, and cement ledges along with elements that will give the course a real-life feel – including a picnic table, fire hydrant, brick stamped Skatelite, and shrubbery.” Shrubbery you don’t get more real than shrubbery!

For a while now, both skaters and spectators have wanted the change. Skaters have long questioned the course designs and have disliked the BMX aspects. Only a few transition elements remain. Contest course that don’t resemble the terrain that an average skater would encounter are no longer en vogue.

The event will still be called Skate Park, but Skate Street would be more appropriate. AST is stepping it up in an attempt to revitalize the tour for skateboarding. Well it’s about F-in time!

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