Thursday, May 18

2000 X Trials, Stop 1, St. Petersburg FL.

By Zack Podell

The First of two X Trials qualifiers took place this past weekend on the pier in St. Petersburg, Fla. The event was a huge success, even though there was some concern at the beginning of the weekend. Due to airline strikes, and potentially severe weather in the upper East Coast, flights were delayed and/ or cancelled all over the country. Several skaters were stuck in airports for hours on end, hoping and praying that they would make it in to St. Pete, before their competition starts.

Unfortunately, Taig Khris and Fabiola Da Silva were two of the handful that missed the first day of competition. This meant that neither was able to skate in the vert competitions. As a result, Fallon Heffernan was the only girl able to compete in women's vert. Although Taig's absence was unfortunate, many of the other European and Aussie skaters were there, making this the most talent rich vert competition in the U.S. this year. With Matt Salerno, Sven Boekhorst, Shane Yost, the Yasutoko brothers, and a host of other international and American skaters, it was extremely hard to advance past the prelims.

Matt Salerno showing off his dj skills.

Skaters needed two strong, flawless runs in order to qualify for the vert finals, which took place later that same day. Shane skated in the same dominating manner as usual, throwing 900s, 1080s, and flat spins. Matt combined very technical coping tricks, with huge airs, 720s and 900s both directions. Eito and Takeshi Yasutoko skated technical runs, each throwing flat spins both ways, along with six to eight foot airs, and a host of coping tricks. They put together very technical and well rounded runs. In the end, it was older brother Eito who took the top honors. Shane was a close second, and Takeshi third. Matt Salerno was a close fifth, although any one of the top five places was capable of taking the top spot.

My vote for trick of the day was Michael Bennetts 540 gap to kind grind. Michael did a 540 over the channel of the roll in, to kind grind. A close second was Javier Bujandas fishbrain stall to revert on the wood safety railing, on the outside of the vert ramp.

Frankie Morales pulling a huge 720 transfer.

Saturdays street prelims were just as exciting as the vert comp from the day before. In my opinion the warm-ups were more fun than the competition. Frankie Morales, last years amateur street champion, skated phenomenally well for his first ever pro competition. His royale up the double barrel rail, to gap out was huge!! His 720 transfers, 900s, and technical grinds (change ups) took him all the way to a third place finish. Matt Salerno skated great runs in the finals, but in the end they were no match for Sven Boekherst. The Flying Dutchman skated strong from the beginning of the competition. He easily took top honors in the street competition, with a sick line, flawless skating, and a well-balanced run, (an even mix of airs, spins, and grinds).

Matt Salernos second place finish was 6 points from the top spot, but he impressed the judges with new grinds, and changed up on a rail for the first time in competition. The practice session was full of big tricks. Rawlinson Rivera went up the huge vert wall to sweatstance. Tyler Shields gapped from another transition to the same vert wall, and Jon Julio gapped from the pipe, to soul down the rail on the deck, then reverted back out.

Sven, true spin kind grind.

The most amazing trick of the competition, (and possibly the year) was Jason Stinsmens back flip to disaster soul grind. I have never seen anything like it. Everyone anywhere near the street course, stopped what they were doing; and for almost five minutes, Jason had full control of the street course, as the site of this truly awe inspiring feat mesmerized onlookers.

In Womens street, Fabiola put on a show, taking the top spot with ease. Kelly Mathews took second place, and Fallon Heffernan took third. Anneke Winter, Sayaka Yabe, and Michelle Scott, took fourth, fifth and sixth, rounding out the competition. There will be a pro qualifier for women next month in Hermosa Beach, Calif. This is due to lack of attendance by female competitors. The ASA (Aggressive Skaters Assoc.) is having the pro qualifier because there arent many female competitors left. I have yet to see Jenny Curry, Salima Sanga, and a handful of other women, in any of the comps this year.

This was the first competition that I can remember where Aaron Fienberg did not qualify for the final. Aarons experience is a perfect example of how tight the mens street comp actually was. Although he skated ok, he was on the bubble, (12th place) because he didnt have two flawless runs. Less than five points separated 8th place (Mike Budnik, 64.88 pts), and 18th place, (Thierry Lallemand, 60.13 pts). Among those were Jason Stinsmen, (11th ) Jaren Grob, (13th ) Shane Skower, (15th ) and Vinnie Minton, (17th).