Friday, June 14

2002 Fly Bowl

By George Crosland
EXPN.com

The Levi's Fly Bowl Contest (aka the "Soul Bowl" Contest) went down in Hermosa Beach, California this past weekend. The bowl was the center attraction of the Mervyns Beach Bash, an event that kicks off summer in SoCal. Skateboarding, BMX and Inline action all took place in that there bowl and top names entertained the masses sitting arena style with their latest stunts. Out of bowl activities included Surfing, Volleyball, people watching (drooling at chicks), cruising the booths or simply sitting in a bar.

This is a fascinating photo of the bowl and stadium style seating infrastructure.

To avoid LA style riots no alcohol was served on the event grounds. If you really had a bad case of the shakes, you could sneak in beer, so it was really no big deal. Even though the action was competitive and big money was at stake, the events had a mellow atmosphere - just some fun in the sun with some friends. The Bowl was changed this year from a capsule to a boomerang and the new hip and extra corner added plenty of new possibilities. The bowl looked fun but being constructed of wood with only one layer it was a little slow, although no one seemed to care.

BMX

Top level riders came to compete. It was cool to see the guys adapt to the corners of the bowl. One of the walls was slightly under-vert and that caused some riders to hang up. But in most cases the hang-ups just caused sketchy landings, with just a few falls as the result. The Big Air contest saw Jamie Bestwick take out his competition by a solid foot.

"You've got to have everything planned out but it rides nice" Bestwick said of the ramp.

BMX winner Jamie Bestwick, killing it in the freestyle comp.

The Freestyle comp was friendly but the riding fierce. Look for the likes of Koji Kraft in big events of the future - he's got plenty of good style and goes damn big. Not to mention he double locked on the coping and made it out without dying, to take 4th. John Parker did an alley-oop 5 into a huge inverted 5 and rode well throughout the day taking 3rd. Fifteen-year veteran Jay Miron was the only one riding to air the hip as he worked over the bowl with big air and hard tricks like 540's and Superman Tail Whips to take 2nd. Miron, if he decides to show, will certainly be a threat at the X Games.

The 1st place finisher Jamie Bestwick was a marvel to watch. He went high and killed his hard tricks like Corkscrew 5's, no handed Superman's and more. So many tricks in fact, that when asked what tricks he felt helped him win Jamie replied, "I can't remember". All his moves were landed clean with a good mix of carving, hip tricks and solid lip tricks. Everyone ripped but Bestwick was on another level today.

Skateboarding

It was all about the round wall. A variety of skaters: vert jocks, cement rippers, all around riders and legends were out representing their skills. In fact so many styles being present made judging hard. Original lines in the bowl, combined with tricks and consistency, were the important factors for the day. The men had three different categories. The Young Guns are your modern pros. The Masters riders were all over thirty and had to do a 4' air or a 540 to qualify. The Legends had to have a pro-model at some time in their lives and be over 36 years old.

You get a bowl overview while Jake Brown gets his view from way up, grabbing the tail.

The Young Guns went first. Jake Brown and Chris Gentry were going huge and doing new tricks in their runs. Both spun 5's, with Jake going a little bit higher. Gentry even did a f/s 5 rodeo, damn. Had it been a vert ramp these two would have taken the top spots but had to settle for 4th and 3rd respectively.

"Its fun to carve and it's a fun contest being on the beach and all, but not a ramp you would hold the X Games on" said Gentry of the ramp and contest.

Omar Hassan did a couple of fine looking Madonnas, many airs and lip tricks but it was his all-around ability to work the bowl that placed him in 2nd. Brian Patch flew threw the bowl like a freight train in his first place run. Brian worked all the corners, lip and extension throwing in a mass of speedy airs to net him the 1st place check.

In the best trick contest Chad Vogt did four hard tricks combined into one difficult mess to win. It took a nollie-to-heelflip-to-f/s lipslide-to-revert to win, jeez. Jake Brown pulled a 7 and a double flip mute grab for 2nd.

The Masters contained some names that you may not have heard of if you're under 25. Tony Mag and Kevin Staab were blasting airs and working the whole bowl. Mag owns Osiris Shoes and was known as a vert jock in the 80's. During his run he did a couple of 540's, bringing you right back to the day. Jake Piasseci brought in his cement tools, laid out a plan and went to work - 3rd. McGill was skating well and got 2nd. Cab, 1st. What else would you expect?

Frontside inverts on the extension and other tricks helped Cab win the Masters Division. Despite that, all you get is a butt shot.

The Legends shaped two generations of skateboarding. The Geritol crew skated fiercely as some old rivalries were rekindled. The huge snake session made for great spectating. Dave Duncan and Dave Hackett teamed up for doubles runs. Eric Grisham made everyone look twice with 360 footplants, sick inverts and attempted varial airs. Steve Alba missed practice but still got 3rd. Eddie Elguera skated flawlessly, pulling old and newer tricks without falling. El Gato pulled 360 inverts, 5-0's to fakie through the corners, f/s rocks on the extension, blunts and so much more, but he only got 2nd. Highway robbery in my opinion. 1st place finisher Duane Peters is still the Master of Disaster, my god. Anarchy can only explain his skating. Invert reverts, big Indy airs, and host of other sketchy stuff he pulled that I can't even begin to explain. Like a trainwreck you were scared, but had to watch. Duane had more heart than anyone and when his victory was announced he said "Are you kidding?"

BMX Big Air
1. Jamie Bestwick 12'
2. Kevin Robinson 11'
3. Jay Eggleston 10.75'
4. Koji Kraft 10' Tie
4. John Parker 10' Tie
5. Jim Burgess 9'2"
6. Jay Miron 9'
7. Mike Mancuso 8.5'

BMX Freestyle
1. Jamie Bestwick
2. Jay Miron
3. John Parker
4. Jimmy Walker
5. Koji Kraft
6. Jay Eggleston
7. Jim Burgess

Young Guns of Skateboarding
1. Brian Patch
2. Omar Hassan
3. Chris Gentry
4. Jake Brown
5. Adil Dyani
6. Matt Moffett
7. Fabio Frugis
8. Chad Vogt
9. Tas Pappas

Skateboarding Best Trick
1. Chad Vogt
2. Jake Brown
3. Chris Gentry

Masters Skateboarding
1. Steve Caballero
2. Mike McGill
3. Jake Piasecci
4. Tony Magnussen
5. Aaron Astorga
6. Steve Salisian
7. Kevin Staab
8. Darren Jenkins
9. Eric Nash

Legends Skateboarding
1. Duane Peters
2. Eddie Elguera
3. Steve Alba
4. Mike Smith
5. Eric Grisholm
6. Cameron Tabbytite
7. Dave Duncan Tie
7. Dave Hackett Tie
8. Brad Bowman

Girls Skate Jam
1. Jen Obrien
2. Lindsay Adams
3. Holly Lyons
4. Kimberly Peterson

Related Photos:
2002 Fly Bowl Photos