Well, since I didn’t get a media pass this year, I was able to watch this year’s pool party from the bleachers with my wife. I think that a lot of people thought that this year’s contest couldn’t top last year’s pool party, but it just keeps getting better. The contest was insane! Highlights included, Chris Miller (again), Grosso, from 2-5 people skating in the bowl at once, Caballero, DP, Josh Borden, Steve Steadham, Lester Kasai, Will Powers jumping in from the bleachers (above pic) and the head-on collision of Lance and Cab which took Lance’s shoe right off his foot.
This is my favorite part of the year at Vans. Getting to skate with legends such as Grosso, Mountain, Kasai, Steadham, Mike Smith, Mike McGill and Miller has been awesome.
Rune and Omar were skating a lot in the weeks before the contest and it was cool riding with them. And it’s always fun to see the women from SD come up and ride the combi.
Words can’t really describe a Pool Party. Even video doesn’t do it justice. The energy at the park was off the charts and no photos or video could give you the feeling of being there in person.
The photos I shot were more of a photojournalistic style than anything else. Don’t mind all the heads in front of me or the fact that the lighting from the stands is tough to nail. If you were there, maybe some will bring back memories. If you weren’t there, pray that FSN does it some justice and doesn’t make it just a highlight show.
Friday, July 14th 2006
Pro-Tec Pool Party airs on Fox Sports Net
3:00pm PST
check local listings for your area
Pro Women:
1 Cara-Beth Burnside
2 Mimi Knoop
3 Holly Lyons
4 Nicole Zuck
5 Jen O’Brien
6 Mandy Esch
7 Julie Kindstrand
8 Heidi Fitzgerald
9 Kim Peterson
Best Trick Girls:
Mimi Knoop - ollie nose grind
Masters:
1 Chris Miller
2 Jeff Grosso
3 Steve Caballero
4 Lance Mountain
5 Tony Magnusson
6 Mike Smith
7 Steve Alba
8 Duane Peters
9 Pat Ngoho
10 Lester Kasai
11 Eddie Reategui
12 Mike Barnes
13 Dave Reul
14 Dave Duncan
15 Chris “Cooksie” Cook
16 Ben Schroeder
17 Eric Nash
18 Lonny Hiramoto
19 Mike Rogers
20 Jim Gray
21 Steve Steadham
22 Dave Hackett
23 John Fudala
Pro:
1 Omar Hassan
2 Rune Glifberg
3 Brian Patch
4 Benji Galloway
5 Andy Macdonald
6 Bob Burnquist
7 Bucky Lasek
8 Joshua Borden
9 Bruno Passos
10.Jimmy “The Greek” Marcus
11 Tim Johnson
12 Lincoln Ueda
13 Ben Butler
14 Darin “Cookiehead” Jenkins
15 Bennett Harada
16 Sergie Ventura
17 Matt Moffett
18 Will Powers
19 Al Partanen
20 Steve Reeves
21 Cristiano Mateus
22 Rion Linderman
23 Johnny Turgeson
Media Contest Winner:
Scott Taylor
Rockstar Energy Award:
Josh “The Future” Borden - $500 & a year supply of Rockstar
Best Trick:
Will Powers doing a Bomb Drop from the bleachers into the round of the combi. - $500