2003 X Games Street Finals
X Games Street
Barfly checks in from the X Games battle front with some rare street coverage on Concrete Disciples
august 10th was an unusually hot and muggy sunday afternoon. not necessarily the most comfortable conditions for a street contest. the venue, like the weather, was also pretty hot. the staples center usually prohibits skating of any kind and enforces their policy with a load of security goons, but on sunday they let us all in.
the course consisted of a mix elements; wedge ramps, a picnic table, a plywood, makeshift wedge to wedge, a jersey barrier, a 9 stair with temporary rails so the originals wouldn’t get worked over and some concrete ledges. this layout was completely different from the ramp street course that you typically see at the x games and most found it a refreshing change.
| Video Clips | Related Links |
| Dayne Brummet | 2003 X Games Vert |
| Eric Koston | 2004 X Games Day 1 |
| Eric Koston | 2004 X Games Day 3 |
| Chad Fernandez | 2004 X Games Day 4 |
| Chad Muska | |
| Mike Vallely | |
| Mixed Bag | 2005 Womens Street |
| Rodil de Araujo, Jr. | 2005 Men’s Vert |
| Paul Rodriguez | 2005 Men’s Street |
like the course the line-up of skaters were diverse. veteran pros like mike v., muska, senn and koston were skating with young guns like paul rodriguez, kyle berard and wagner ramos. brazilian charger, rodil de araujo jr., dayne brummet and chad fernandez rounded out the group of ten competitors.
the contest consisted of a 3 run street session and best trick contest. at the beginning of the street contest paul rodriguez stood out as the handrail master. i believe that he literally bailed only one rail trick. unfortunately as the contest drew on it appeared as though he didn’t have much more up his sleeve. it could have been that he was simply outshined by the always energetic chad muska. muska, who took the place of rick mccrank, hasn’t competed in nearly 10 years and it didn’t show one bit. his skating, like his bling, is still polished. fat ass kickflips from the wedge over the picnic table, tailslide fakies on the barrier and a barrage of other tricks quickly set him apart.
chris senn was a little haggard after driving to sacramento from seattle and then flying down to l.a. that morning. the good thing about senn is that haggard or not his skating destroys. chris used every obstacle on the course but the most memorable was his frontside hurricane on the little used concrete ledge. mike v. also skated in his standard, hard-hitting form. airwalks, boneless variations, big ollies and kickflip slobs were a just a few of his powerful runs.
the brazilians, wagner ramos and rodil are both very technical skaters who aren’t afraid to fall. on numerous occasions rodil slammed on his already ailing right shoulder. i mostly remember his solid lipslide fakies and plain white t-shirt…translated into “still no board sponsor”. ramos was full of energy and never seemed to let up. he holds a shitload of flip variations that i can’t even begin to comprehend as well as solid, basic street skills. i expect once he fine tunes his skills he will be a real threat.
when it came to aggressive skating fernandez stood out. his skating looked almost forced but he landed nice and smooth. his bails were even powerfully controlled. it took him a while to get in the flow but once he did he laid down the shit. nosegrinds, all variations of board and lipslides, big ollies and a couple attempts to ollie from the 6 foot wedge over the fence were in his bag of tricks.
this was the first time i had seen both dayne brummet and kyle berard skate. both guys were hella fluid with the usual bag of flips, lips, backs and rails. unfortunately i didn’t soak up too many details on their runs. i’ll work harder next time.
last but not least was koston. i know, koston gets more press than monica lewinski, but he deserves it. he showed up 10 minutes late, having flown down from his friends wedding. so with no practice or warm up he hit the course. to be perfectly honest he bailed quite a bit and in my opinion probably should have placed lower in the standings. the other side of that coin is that his skating is so effortless and fluid that it doesn’t even look like he is trying, add that to a massive list of tech rail and flip tricks and you get what many consider to be a winning run.
when all the skating was over the street results boiled down to the following:
1. Eric Koston
2. Rodil de Araujo, Jr.
3. Paul Rodriguez
4. Chad Fernandez
5. Chad Muska
6. Dayne Brummet
7. Chris Senn
8. Wagner Ramos
9. Mike Vallely
10. Kyle Berard
best trick broke out like this:
1. Chad Muska
2. Rodil de Araujo, Jr.
3. Wagner Ramos
4. Chad Fernandez
5. Dayne Brummet
6. Chris Senn
7. Mike Vallely
8. Paul Rodriguez
9. Eric Koston
10. Kyle Berard
so this is my fumbled attempt at trying to focus on the details of a skateboard event. i had a kill time watching all the skating but i really hated writing this article. i think i will go back to my ultra vague recollections and alcohol references, they are way more entertaining.
late bitches-