Mervyn’s Beach Bash – 2001
Mervyn’s Beach Bash
Omar Hassan must have bionics in him. He skated and placed in every event the whole weekend and was still pushing it to the end in the best trick…
Ricky Stiles scoping the scene from up high.
It was an overcast Friday at Hermosa Beach to kick off the skateboarding in the bowl. It was the Masters Division warm-ups and qualifier that were going to take place. I was really excited to see who was going to show up and skate in this thing as each year there are a couple great surprises. Last years surprise was Craig Johnson and Ben Schroeder. This year we had Eric ‘The Crusher’ Nash, Mike Smith who invented the Smith Grind, Eric Grisham who invented the Varial Air, and Mike Folmer. These guys were all top rip dogs back in the day, but today was a fun spirited competition between many old friends and idols. The top 7 from today were allowed into the finals where some pre-qualified riders awaited.
The next day the crowd had swelled to capacity and watched the old school jammers perform the classics. There were some other names you might recognize in the mix also. Lance Mountain, who has won the last two years, Sean Goff, from England, Ricky Stiles from almost every backyard pool in America, Aaron Astorga, Jake Piasecki, Steve Caballero, and Paul Henderson to round out the top 10. Steve Caballero was way ahead of the pack! He brought home the money for 1st with a couple of sick runs. The rest of the crew deserve tons of respect and props for showing up and skating they truly inspire!
Lance Mountain had a good time as usual.
After the Masters Bowl event was over a few guys got to ride the OVER EXTREME course and competed for Best Trick on 3 obstacles. The Fun Box, The Vert Wall, and the Super Handrail. The crowd was expecting someone to try the loop and they were bummed because it was impossible. It about 10 feet to tall. Omar Hasson had the best combined on all three obstacles so he grabbed some cash for his efforts.
Rune Glifberg has been tearing up vert contests this year and he continued his dominance this weekend taking home first place and $5,000.00. His run was a masterful display of vertical skateboarding, sticking huge airs and technical trickery on the lip in a flawless run. Jake Brown from Australia made it clear he is after it too. He was busting huge airs and frontside 540’s and riding the bowl relentlessly. Omar Hassan must have bionics in him. He skated and placed in every event the whole weekend and was still pushing it to the end in the best trick with a run of about 4 tricks that were in the best trick contest. ‘Yea Omar!’ Chris Gentry was busted but still busted. Slamming hard on his wrist in his second run he went for it with one good hand and made an exceptional 3rd run grabbing fourth. It also looks like he’ll be a daddy soon and he’ll be needing the extra cash. Brian Patch was solid, to get fifth place was gnarly! It couldn’t have been easy picking out the rankings and I’m glad it wasn’t my job.
I’d have to say the most enjoyable part of the weekend was the Best trick jam contest right after the Young Guns final was over. The first 10 minutes was all fluff but you could start seeing what the tricks were gonna be. Jake Brown was trying to blast a f.s. 540 Rodeo in the pocket, Neil Hendrix attempting a nollie heel flip varial, Adil Dyani going for a b.s. tailslide shove it out. Remy Stratton firing out of the pocket up the extension to a lipslide to f.s. grind off the other end of the box, Mizael Simao was off in the corner trying a switch kickflip to f.s. noseslide up the extension to fakie. No-one was getting very close until Hendrix made his trick. Next wall for Dyani was nailing his trick, Jake B. nailed his huge 540, Remy then made his, all right in a row. Still the most difficult had to be Mizael’s if he could make it. It just wouldn’t drop. Then Brian Patched stepped up his game and fired off a few 720 attempts. Then, with time running out both Patch and Mizael pulled off their tricks much to the roaring crowds delight! Mizael got 1st, Brian Patch got 2nd, and Jake Brown got 3rd.