Lincoln Pulls it Together
By O Dedo
EXPN.com
Mar. 25, 2002
The first thing that should be known about today's
Vert Finals is the fact that these Brazilian fans are
absolutely unbelieveable. The way they lit up the
stands and spectator areas was like nothing I've ever
seen at a skate contest. The energy of the fans was
filled with an unpretentious and truly authenitc
excitement that only those who are just gaining
exposure to something great can have. I mean their
energy was like something that I could only equate to
some sort of overseas phenomenon that has just arrived
to a new country. Is this how the Russians felt when
the first McDonalds was built in Moscow? Or when
Pokemon first hit the kids on your block? Or when I
got my first Loverboy album, eh? Whatever I write
about there is really no justice done to the feeling
that the competing skateboarders must have felt when
they were doing their thing for this crowd.
But was it too much? Was it too much excitement for
the riders? Over the course of the week had they been
too pumped? The reason I wonder this is that although
everybody was going off and pulling out the big guns
during practice and the night demos, nobody really
seemed to be on during the actual competition.
Lincoln did put a solid run together on his last go,
and that is probably what took him to the high spot on
the podium. Things I do know is that the riders were
sore, tired and the idea of having to wake up first
thing to make a 10am pracitce start probably wasn't
high on their list of "most stokeable items." Oh, and
did I mention it was about 95 degrees with high
humidity and not a cloud in the sky? Well it was and
that's damn hot because no matter how much shade I
tried to find I was still sweating like Boss Hog after
a platter of hot links.
 |
| First place finisher, and X Games VIII qualifier, Licoln Ueda with a big melon grab full of steez on the extension. |
So the best run of the day got going right before the
comp ended. Lincoln had been skating well but kept
falling and something within him must have said "put
this thing together, man" because right before time
was called he came up with a winner. Mctwist 5's, big
as hell airs all over the place, a crazy heelflip indy
which he grabbed once then actually sketched a little
bit and had to grab it again with his other hand
(totally improv) in order to pull it down, body jars,
an eggplant to mix it up and a frontside gaytwist at
the end of his run which was really the clincher. The
crowd was chantig his name like he was Pele in a World
Cup match when he returned to the top of the ramp.
When asked about it felt to have the crowd chanting
his name he responded, "Oh man that's insane, like
everywhere you go it's nothing like this. Every X
Trial, you can go to Japan, Australia, whatever...
But this is insane. Brazil, it's awesome."
When talking to sport organizer Dave Duncan about
Lincoln's run he said, ". Lincoln showed 50 million
people what a world class professional vert skating
run is all about. Some of those guys had trouble but
the run Lincoln did would be a top five run in any
major comp in the world."
Other standout moments from the day would have to be
Sandro going huge and attacking the ramp like a Pit
Bull on wheels. Big kickflip indys, 360 varials on
the extension and huge 12 foot across alley oop 540s.
Sandro's style is really amazing too, he just puts
that little extra tweak into everything he does and
that kind of solid effort on the ramp really makes him
exciting to watch. I guess Brian Schaefer and the
boys down in Tampa think so too since he just won the
Tampa Pro the weekend before this.
 |
| Second place finisher Sandro Dias going 4 pannels wide on this backside alley-oop 540. |
Third place finisher Sergio "Negal"de Fortunato is an
amazing man. How many 39 year olds do you know
skating strong and pulling down rodeo 540s, McTwists,
frontside flips and inverts on the vert ramp? For me
Sergio is the only one. It was cool to see this
legend of Brazilian skating still competing and still
doing well for all his fans. Plus he had a bad ass
airbrushed tiger helmet that was all shiney and cool
looking, for a second it looked like he was carrying
one of those custom bowling balls, until I realized it
was actually his dome protector.
And then of course there's Cristiano Mateus, he did
his last run in his underwear and threw all his
clothes to the crowd. The whole thing was a bet from
his friends and he certainly walked away with a couple
of hundred bucks for this little bit of antics.
Cristiano explained his jackass-edness in a thick
portuguese accent, "Yesterday night, a couple of
friends were like "(put) the shorts in the bag!"
because I have the pads under the shorts, the knee
pads and the elbow pads. So they were like Mateous,
ohhh tommorow day! And I was like "maybe last run,
last run." So I was like OK give me 100 bucks and
then another (friend) gave me 50 and then I just make
too many money to put my clothes off."
Near naked feats of skateboarding athleticism and a
truckoad of Brazilians in Philly this summer... Blame
it on Rio.
Related Photos:
SKT Vert Finals
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