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The 1st Annual Pat Wachter Pro Bowl Contest |
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Masters |
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| For the masters, there were two heats and the final. The format in both cases was that each skater would be announced and come out for a run alone. After all skaters were announced, then it was a 10 minute jam free-for-all. Local legend and now DC resident, Tommy Little, broke his wrist during practice and had to drop out of competition. Atlanta ripper, Shawn Coffman, had injured his knee the week prior while skating the bowl and working on contest lines, so he was out too. Also, the legendary Atlanta Ramp Ranch Ranchero, Load, banged up his knee in practice and had tons of fluid building up, so he was out of the contest as well....well, at least from competing. (*grin* read on...haha) Due to time constraints, skaters that would normally skate in the Open division to qualify for either the pro or masters were simply absorbed into their respective division. That meant that in many cases, there would be local skaters mixed in with the pros. In the Masters group, this made for some exciting skating to see our own local favorites up against the pros. The Masters division had probably the funniest moments and favorite skaters of the contest. First and foremost, because Dave Duncan was in the first heat, he turned the microphone over to none other than the legendary Atlanta Ramp Ranch Ranchero, Load. Even Load said "Are you guys sure about this?" Load was a blast on the mic, and all of us in the crowd agreed that they should start bringing him along on the tour! Words can not describe it...you had to be there.(haha) I'll just say that one of his play-by-play calls went something like "Well hush my mouth and call me sweet potato pie....that there was a sweeper, kids....probably one of my most favoritest tricks." (haha) Second, the announcers kept calling Atlanta ripper David Smith as "mel-lotch-chee" or "mel-lock-key" when most everyone in the South knows him as "Malachai" (mowl-oak-eye). It was too funny listening to them butcher his nickname over and over. Anyways, I will let the pictures tell the story. The breakdown was as follows: | ||||||||||||||||
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The crowd for the Masters event
Sergie watches the action
Lance plots his lines (photo by Feebleminded)
Dave Duncan blasting around the wall(photo by Brian Francis)
Ray Fennessey floats a sweet ollie as Steadham and Sergie look on
Artsy photo of Jimmy O'Brien smith grinding (photo by Brian Francis)
David Ector 50-50s at speed (photo by Brian Francis)
The Kona crew had the best seats in the house
Lance kicks things off in heat 2
Big backside air by Lance Mountain (photo by Brian Francis)
Nice smith grind by Lance Mountain (photo by Brian Francis)
Steadham backside boneless (photo by Feebleminded)
Lance pops a frontside over the hip into the deep (photo by Brian Francis)
David "Malachai" Smith with a textbook Texas Plant
Backside air by Lance Mountain (photo by Feebleminded)
local Mark Eddings layback-to-tailblock on the deck! (photo by Brian Francis)
Mike Williford out of Jasper,GA (photo by Brian Francis)
Lance relaxed and ready to go for the finals (photo by Feebleminded)
Lance inverted (photo by Brian Francis)
Pulling this one out for thr finals, HUGE method air by Steve Steadham (photo by Brian Francis)
David Ector 5-0's (photo by Feebleminded)
Lance backside ollies the hip (photo by Brian Francis)
Malachai locking a frontside smith grind (photo by Brian Francis)
Steadham sliding a long rock and roll (photo by Feebleminded)
Lance grinding up and over the hip (photo by Feebleminded)
Atlanta Ranchero Jimmy O'Brien 50-50 with style (photo by Brian Francis)
Ray Finnessey gets upside down (photo by Brian Francis)
Lance moments before smacking a Body Jar (photo by Brian Francis)
Classic Steadham bside Boneless
Malachai bomb drops to start off his last run
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