Dew Action Sports Tour Playstaion Pro
- October 14, 2006
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- By Story/Photos By - David Stevens
Dew Action Sports Tour – Day 2
The action got into full swing today the crowds started to grow, as did the competition between the athletes. By the end of the day we would see who brought their “A” game as well as who had more work to do.
The day started off with the skate park prelims. Youngster, Ryan Sheckler was the favorite in the event, trying to make it his third victory in a row on the tour. Sheckler looked smooth and fluid from start to finish, only having difficulty with a kick flip over the hip on both of his runs. Meanwhile, Rodney Jones was boosting, working lines with huge transfers. For his effort he placed second. While, Kyle Berard was third with 14 year old up comer, David Loy taking fourth. The action really heats up for Saturday’s skate park final as well as the much anticipated vert final.
The remainder of the day featured an outstanding bmx vert final, as well as the bmx dirt final under the lights. Jamie Bestwick dominated the bmx vert final today with a huge 540 and a double tailwhip 540. Bestwick picked up some additional hardware for his mantle as he captured his second Dew Cup in a row as well as clinching Athlete of the Years honors with the win.
The night was capped off with a performance from Ludacris, whose album Release Therapy was just debuted at #1 on the billboard. Bobby Valentino and Shareefa opened for Luda. By the time Luda took the stage the crowd had been worked into a lather from Shareefa and her hit, Need a Boss. Luda was energized and charismatic often flashing that grin he is famous for. Luda performed all his old hits like Area Codes as well as his new jam Moneymaker. The crowd was massive and vocal helping him on tracks like Stand Up and What’s Your Fantasy.
If Day 2 is any indication we are in store for quite a bit of fun and competition for Day 3.
Dew Action Sports Tour – Day 3 & 4
Well the action picked up Saturday afternoon right where it left off on Friday at the Dew Action Sports Tour, hosted by Mountain Dew as well as NBC. The gates opened at noon and the fans returned in force. Saturday was by far the busiest of the 4 day event which ran from October 12 – 15, 2006 at the TD Waterhouse Center in downtown Orlando. The crowds were treated to a huge interactive festival village, with exhibits from PlayStation, Vans, Ogio, as well as the Fuel TV booth which featured autograph sessions as well as interviews with the athletes. Not only were the crowds exceptionally large on Saturday but were very good looking too which is always appreciated here at SurfGuru.
The focus of the day was on the skate vert final inside the TD Waterhouse Center as well as the skate park final which would be in prime time under the lights outside later on that night. The vert final was dominated by the old school riders. Bucky Lasek, skating for Billabong, Ogio and Vans took home first on the vert ramp. Lasek needed his second run to win. After the win, Lasek told SurfGuru “I felt no pressure on that last run and I was able to perform”. Lasek also went on the say “5 months of hard work paid off” he also gave props to Mountain Dew and NBC for putting the event on. Lasek also stressed the need to have a strategy and execute it on this tour. Tas Pappas finished in 2nd after being in the lead after the first session. PLC, Pierre-Luc Gagnon rounded out the top 3.
The action then moved outside under the lights for the skate park final. In contrast to the vert final, the park final was dominated by young and rising stars. The final was comprised of two runs, with the best six skaters to move on to the jam format. The final six would then have two jam sessions where everyone would skate in the same half of the park for 5 minutes straight trying to throw down as many tricks as possible. The heavy favorite to win his third Dew Tour event in a row was 16 year old, Ryan Sheckler. Sheckler, who was first after the prelim. continued to wow the crowd in the first run by stomping a never before seen backflip from the quarterpipe onto the deck. As the jam sessions got under way Sheckler started missing tricks allowing Jereme Rogers to grab first place in the park final. Rogers was on during the final two jam sessions with a technical array of flip tricks stomping almost all of them cleanly. After his victory, Rogers celebrated by firing a few signed t-shirts into the crowd to some lucky fans. SurfGuru caught up with Sheckler and Rogers after the competition. Sheckler gave props to Rogers for winning, but the disappointment in Sheckler’s voice was obvious. As for Rogers, he will be resting, doing Disney and skating with his buds. Brazilian, Paul Rodriguez rounded out the top three with a strong showing as well.
Day 4, the final day of the PlayStation Pro as well as the final day for the 2006 season got under way with the final of the FMX. Mike Mason took home first with an aerial assault of inverted maneuvers. Mason seemed to throw down more inverted tricks than anyone else and the judges responded. Mason told SurfGuru that he was extremely nervous going into that last run. Mason also enjoyed coming to Orlando since “Orlando has the best looking girls on tour.” Lusk and Adams rounded out the top three respectively.
The day rapped up with the bmx park final which was won by Daniel Dhers, followed by the House of Dew awards ceremony which give out Dew Cups, and piles of cash to the overall tour event winners.
Check back regularly as SurfGuru will have coverage of more upcoming special events that you are sure not to want to miss.