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Skateboarding
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World War III – Skateboarding Competition (Huntington Beach)
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Gonzalo "habilidad" Seminario is a famous "ex-skater" from Lima, Peru. His claim to fame was trading his skateboard for two passes to the "Piano" club in Lima a few years
ago. That was the end of his skateboarding career. Now he is an architect and lives and works in L.A. He brings us this special report from the skateboarding capitol of the world: California.
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Panoramic of the street course in Huntington Beach - Click to enlarge
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After years of being sponsored (only) by Bluetorch, this year the Philips/Norelco Fusion Huntington Event, had as co-sponsors Norelco, Philips (shaving kiosk for
those who dared) and World Industries (skate only).
This event included the Surfing US Open (longboard, bodyboard, surfboard),the Norelco Contour Park (Rollerblades/Bmx- including a loop), The Inline "Soulbowl", and the WW III
streetscape, among other tracks.
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The Skateboarding Street competition also changed its name to "World WarIII", honoring its main sponsor, which of course was World Industries (remember Steve Rocco, the guy
that said complete 360 ollies were imposible?), putting together a total purse of 50,000 bucks!
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The novelty on the competition was the change in format: Instead of the classic one-minute run per rider set up, five 15-minute "expression sessions" battles were adopted, were the
skaters were scored for there moves (difficulty/innovation/combinations), instead of being penalized for their missed attempts.
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Omar Hasan "metiendole el queso" on the feeble grind.
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A specially designed (for the event) street course, that included a collection of handrails, ledges, flat bars, ramps, gaps and hips, were only "THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS"
could perform, and the inclusion of "la gentita" of pro-skateboarding: people like Carlos de Andrade, Chet Thomas, Eric Koston, Omar Hassan, Geoff Rowley, Ed Templeton, Frank Hirata, and 11 year old Ryan
Sheckler, running for the grand prize (20,000 dollars-biggest prize ever!), made the event really worthwhile.
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Big ollie-to-flip over handrail (unknown).
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Fabrizio Santos long nose grind on hand-rail.
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At the end of the day the 20 grand first prize was awarded to the smooth, relaxed yet radical style of Geoff Rowley, pulling some of the most consistant and radical tricks like heelflips
varials off the banks, large backside disasters on rails, backside 360 ollies to varials among others.
World War III Finals Results were:
1. Geoff Rowley $20,000
2. Chris Lambert $10,000
3. Chad Fernandez $6,000
4. Mark Appleyard $4,000
5. Chris Cole $2,000
6. Dayne Brummett
7. Chris Senn
8. Brian London
9. Chris Haslam
10. Frank Hirata
11. Tyrone Olson
12. Jeff Williams
13. Casey Rigney
14. Caine Gayle
15. Kurtis Colimanico
16. Gailea Momolu
17. Carlos De Andrade
18. Ryan Sheckler
19. Fabrizio Santos
20. Anthony Mosely
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