Thrasher Magazine

If you had asked me a few weeks ago whether or not this event would be a reality, I would have had my doubts. We threw a similar event back in May—a fake flyer was posted to our group chat, it got reposted and ended up gaining some traction so we made it a reality and it turned into something way bigger than we ever thought. It was an insane time so we decided to do it again. Halloween was thrown out as a potential date, but nobody really acted upon it. In the meantime, a lot of the homies involved with the first event had left CA and nobody seemed as motivated because there were less people to handle the planning duties. But after talking about it with NHS, we got Bronson, Indy and Mob involved to throw out gear, giving us the green light to put together another flyer—this time advertising a $20K purse. Then Vans got on board to give out shoes and our hype man and MC, Kyle Walsh, agreed to fly out from Philly to host it again. This time he’d be in a wheelchair, though, ‘cause he broke his leg. But he said all he needed was a megaphone and he’d be fine. Happy Hour stepped in at the last minute and gave us a ton of speed shades to throw out, and just like that it was on. Thanks to everyone who came out. This one ended up being way bigger than we anticipated, too. See you at the next Hell Bomb. Wanna help plan it? —Alex Papke

First things first, gotta test out the ramp before taking it to the hill. Tyson Peterson tweaks one out over Gavin Fieri

Quickly followed by a spooky Franky Villani

Now down to the Cherry Hill. Two of the first to show up were generator Ev and Hayley as a vampire

Slowly but surely the crowd showed up

Quick inspection on Rhino’s cruiser

Tyson getting a little bit nervous about how this was gonna pan out. Just follow Evan’s lead

Ev getting first dibs on the hill taking Rhino’s cruiser for a test drive. The verdict is in: speed is crucial!

Gregson getting the friendly ride up the hill from a local

Rhino got his before the crowd arrived

Everyone was anxious to see how this thing was gonna go

Kyle Walsh, our MC for the evening. Kyle broke his leg in Europe over the summer and he’s been posted up back in PA the past few weeks. But best believe he flew out for this!

Rad dad alert. Maybe get him on a board next time, though

Nick Garcia came out swinging, going full speed with this manual down the whole thing

Once everyone at the top got the green light, it was on

First rounders

Less than a minute in and already a stray board

Friends help friends get up the hill

How many skaters can you fit on one van?

Chaos on the horizon once the ramp came into play

Evan wasting no time—equipped with a backpack

Followed up by a flying Kader

Gregson, grasser

Decenzo rolled out from HB to tweak it out. Canadians love their jump ramps!

Things started heating up fast

Ryan Conners wasted no time. Back three with the speed shades. Extra fast!

Cedric Pabich—you bone it, you own it

A few too many close calls going back to back

Josh Borden coming through as Garth. Party on!

The judging circuit was getting fired up

Clive came dressed as your favorite rockstar on Birdhouse. Any guesses?

The fastest-speed challenge got everyone stoked. Don’t drop that camera!

Everyone had to get a piece of this thing!

When in doubt, tweak it out

Thought he wouldn’t? Gregson bringing the heat with the frontside flip

Everyone’s gotta slam at some point

Even Cody Jacobson is gonna have some rough ones

Someone was getting a kick out of it, though

Rule of thumb: if you have earbuds in you’re going down!

The ol’ board swap

It didn’t necessarily work out every time for Gray

Decenzo getting up there, mask on!

Don’t try and move the ramp, Gavin!

Luckily Fieri was good!

John Dilo didn’t come in costume but he did kickflip the launch ramp from flat! I’ll give it to him this time

Ethan Loy as Luigi getting up there

Cowboy/Thrasher/Bandana Dan and Kader. Dan’s a man of many nicknames, just ask Ewan Bowman

Onlookers were more confused than stoked

The turnout ended up being a bit bigger than we expected

Dog Dad, Tim Cis

The walk back up the hill is always the worst

Unless you’re greeted at the top by Dylan Witkin and Mathew Pierre

Xavier Alford gave the thumbs up to use his car as a launch obstacle

But not until after he ollied it from flat with two passengers inside!

Close call straight out the gates for Clint Beswick and E-Smith

Ethan Loy taking the less traditional route

Chris Gregson making it tough for everyone else. Try beating this frontside flip!

It sure as hell fired up Thomas Dristas and Zach Allen

Last but not least, Evan Smith came through with the 540 over the car! That seemed like a good time to shut things down

Victory lap

Hugs all around!

Seriously, a 540 over a car? It doesn’t get much better than that

T-Funk can drink to that!

You know Reese Salken and K-Walks were firing it up!

Gotta get rid of all of this product somehow, though…

By this point everyone wanted to know who won the grand prize—a purse of $20,000

It’s a tough call…

But we had to give it to Evan

Because it’s not everyday you see someone 540 a car, you know?

But who really needs $20,000 anyway?

It never was for the money in the first place

Ev just wanted to go fast!

Shotgunning a cold one is all he needs to celebrate the win

Let’s make that two!

I think you missed a little there, Ev

The highly coveted victory spew

Well, that does it! Thanks to everyone that came out this year. It wouldn’t be the same without all of you. Special shoutout to everyone in Long Beach that helped make it possible and gave us product to throw out. See you next year!