PHX AM Weekend 2018 Photos

Cowtown’s 17th annual PHX AM contest presented by Vans was hectic! Each day there was heavy skating by the world's best amateur street skaters and every night something equally exciting was going on. Friday’s practice was followed up by “Full Blast”, 20 years of photography with Thrasher’s very own Michael Burnett. And if that wasn’t enough, they also premiered Spinning Away, Vans’ latest video release featuring Chima Ferguson, Kyle Walker, Tyson Peterson and others. Saturday was the qualifiers followed by the Phx Am after party with A Happy Medium 4 video premiere and live music, including sets by Petyr and Ho99o9. If you survived all of that then hopefully you had enough juice to make it to Sunday's finals to witness Brazil's Ivan Monteiro taking the top spot, the trophy and leaving $7,500 richer. —Joe Hammeke

Phx Am Contest Photo1 750pxArrived just before noon to Friday’s practice and a nearly empty park

Phx Am Contest Photo2 750pxGilbert, AZ, park local Thomas Turner, half Cab to blunt

Phx Am Contest Photo3 750pxWilly Lara is no stranger to the front blunt

Phx Am Contest Photo4 750pxLazer Crawford is a little guy but has a big frontside flip grab

Phx Am Contest Photo5 750pxCruise Mosberg tosses up a frontside invert

Phx Am Contest Photo6 750pxThe only female entered in the comp—Fabiana Delfino, decked front rock on the bank to ledge

Phx Am Contest Photo7 750pxFrom the 'Nati, Justin Henry feebles off the end of the tight quarterpipe

Phx Am Contest Photo8 750pxChima Ferguson was in town for the Van’s Spinning Away premiere and wants to remind you that Phx Am is brought to you by Vans

Phx Am Contest Photo9 750pxMario McCoy, kickflip lipslide every time

Phx Am Contest Photo10 750pxJoseph Campos is a small guy so he’s got it better than most in the tight-tranny department

Phx Am Contest Photo11 750pxVans went full Spicoli and ordered everyone pizza. “Come on up, Rhino, get a good one”

Phx Am Contest Photo12 750pxCorey Glick, pole jam back three

Phx Am Contest Photo13 750pxCowtown’s Danny Barrera, back noseblunt across the car. Maybe you remember his part that was on the site


Phx Am Contest Photo15 750pxAs we were leaving, Dan Rogers had to stop Mike Sinclair from attacking the snacks

Phx Am Contest Photo16 750pxKyle Walker says, “See you tonight at the Vans party”

Phx Am Contest Photo17 750pxVans rented out Legend City Studios in downtown Phoenix for the “Full Blast” 20 years of photography art show by Michael Burnett and to premiere Spinning Away, their latest video release

Phx Am Contest Photo18 750pxTyson Peterson is tall; his girlfriend is small. He’s trying to get on her level

Phx Am Contest Photo19 750pxDorfin' usually works

Phx Am Contest Photo20 750pxVans also brought in a taco truck to keep everyone well fed

Phx Am Contest Photo21 750pxInside, the young guns were gettin turnt

Phx Am Contest Photo22 750pxCorey Millett and Lefty: amateur skateboarders, professional partiers

Phx Am Contest Photo23 750pxCowtown even had a special run of Phx Am Cowtown Blonde Ale brewed up

Phx Am Contest Photo24 750pxHey, look who’s on the wheels of steel—John Cardiel!

Phx Am Contest Photo25 750pxCards always knows what tunes will get the crowd fired up

Phx Am Contest Photo26 750pxStrictly vinyl

Phx Am Contest Photo27 750px"Hey, hurry up. The video is supposed to start soon." Chima rallies the troops

Phx Am Contest Photo28 750pxVans’ Jamie Hart introduces Spinning Away

Phx Am Contest Photo29 750pxDeluxe’s Jim Thiebaud has been to enough video premieres and punk rock shows to know how to get above the crowd

Phx Am Contest Photo30 750pxCold chillin'

Phx Am Contest Photo31 750pxLegend City Studios was packed and the vid did not disappoint. You can see it here on the site on April 2nd

Phx Am Contest Photo32 750pxAfter the video was done it was time to check out “Full Blast”

Phx Am Contest Photo33 750pxYou probably recognize Mike Burnett from King of the Road. Cheers to P-Stone

Phx Am Contest Photo34 750pxDavid Reyes stands next to a portrait of him from KOTR when he smashed his face

Phx Am Contest Photo35 750pxJaws got his own little hallway

Phx Am Contest Photo36 750pxLouie Barletta checks out a collection of portraits

Phx Am Contest Photo37 750pxThis guy was getting a closer look at the Deathwish section

Phx Am Contest Photo38 750pxYeah, that tré flip by Westgate is no joke

Phx Am Contest Photo39 750pxTime to go back to the hotel and Kader is pissed!

Phx Am Contest Photo40 750pxThe next morning Vans was handing out water bottles so everyone could stay hydrated in the desert

Phx Am Contest Photo41 750pxSaturday morning and the stands are starting to fill up—so is the course

Phx Am Contest Photo42 750pxCowtown’s Rayce Davis, front blunt on the tight QP

Phx Am Contest Photo43 750pxYou saw him in the mag and in the Golden Foytime video—Ish Cepeda, front heel the pizza gap

Phx Am Contest Photo44 750pxNot too sure what’s going on here but I bet ants look pretty sick through a death lens

45.5 Sequence 750pxDomo was bringing the heat and this kickflip overcrook was a prime example

Phx Am Contest Photo45 750pxIn case you were wondering what’s up with Kader, looks like he pole jammed himself onto Vans

Phx Am Contest Photo46 750pxCJ Collins and that buttery frontside flip

Phx Am Contest Photo47 750pxThe raffle is always a big hit. Between heats, the U-Haul door opens and product (donated by all your favorite skate brands) is handed out to holders of the winning tickets

Phx Am Contest Photo52 750pxPedro Delfino still fired up from Golden Foytime—huge frontside boneless

Phx Am Contest Photo53 750pxLefty knows what’s up

Phx Am Contest Photo54 750pxCody Jacobson, 180 to switch crooks on the car bar

055 750pxOld school!

Phx Am Contest Photo57 750pxHenry Gartland was easy to spot with the blue hair—backside noseblunts every time, too

Phx Am Contest Photo60 750pxHeavy lineup in the staging area. Chris "Cookie" Colburn is ready to go

Phx Am Contest Photo61 750pxSwitch tré down the double set by Cookie

Phx Am Contest Photo62 750pxMarcos Montoya, smooth back tail on the car bar

Phx Am Contest Photo63 750pxTyson Peterson got the crowd fired up with this hippy jump through the car window

Phx Am Contest Photo65 750pxKader Sylla knows how to hurricane, just check the new mag

Phx Am Contest Photo66 750px“What up, dog?"

Phx Am Contest Photo67 750pxMuska showed up and was immediately mobbed by fans. He loves it

Phx Am Contest Photo68 750pxHaving a heart to heart with Laura from Cowtown about how important a real skateshop is to the local scene

Phx Am Contest Photo69 750pxSigning a Thrasher t-shirt for a fan

071 750pxA Happy Medium 4 was premiering so Tim Cisilino had to get a photo with Hunter O’Shea. Hunter and his brother Buster are the masterlensmen and editors behind the entire series. You can watch parts from the video starting today on this very site!

072 750pxJohn Motta has a full part—amazing as always

073 750pxShowtime!

074 750pxThree screens so no matter where you looked it was playing

075 750px“John Rob, everyone is trying to find you”

076 750pxRad dad Jeff Stevens got in trouble with his wife when he hired a babysitter off Craigslist for $20 so he could get a trick for his part

077 750pxTook a little break to cool off outside

078 750pxThen back inside it was time for Las Chollas Peligrosas to take the stage

079 750pxJohn Dilorenzo snatched up a DVD

080 750pxNext up it was Drunk Dom and the Roaches—imagine if Johnny Cash sang Skate Rock. Check 'em out!

081 750pxThen it was time for Petyr with Riley Hawk on lead guitar and vocals

083 750pxShredding the guitar as hard as he shreds on the board

084 750pxWhich got the crowd more than warmed up for headlining act, Ho99o9

085 750pxHo99o9 bringin some of that East Coast hardcore energy to the stage

086 750pxThe crowd was definitely feeling it

087 750pxThey shut it down!

088 750pxSunday’s practice lookin' like Saturday night’s mosh pit

089 750pxGustavo Servin front crunts first thing in the morning

092 750pxJohn Dilorenzo, frontside half Cab flip

093 750pxVans and Quasi’s Justin Henry skated solid all weekend, stylish overcrook on the car bar

094 750pxHenry Gartland had consistent runs and a big bag of tricks—kickflip 50-50 in the semi finals

095 750pxWhen your dad films the Birdman there’s probably and extra camera or two floating around. Cruise Mosberg rolling long lens

097 750pxHere’s the top 11 from the semis plus golden ticket winner Vincent Milou about to skate the finals

098 750pxAll of Sunday’s skating was broadcast live for free. Here’s the webcast announcers Chris Pastras and Andrew Cannon

099 750pxJack Olson, 180 nosegrind all the way to a third place finish

100 750pxJake Ilardi was the only skater to spin a McTwist and it landed him in fourth place

101.5 Sequence 750pxMario McCoy stepped it up with a kickflip noseblunt in the finals securing him a solid fifth place finish

101 750pxMaruice Jordan, gap to front feeble the A-frame rail

102 750pxHenry Gartland, backside ollie on the tight quarter into seventh place

103 750pxTyson Bowerbank, are you ready?

104 750pxTyson with an impossible over the car

105 750pxIvan Monteiro rifled off a huge barrage of tricks over the car and this tré flip was done with ease

106 750pxCole Wilson on top of the world. Are you ready for best trick?

107 750pxBest trick, always a shit show. But in the best way possible

108.5 Sequence 750pxAaron Goure battled some heavy traffic and after several nearly fatal attempts he stuck this gap to boardslide

108.7 Sequence 750pxAfter the traffic had cleared a bit Tyson Bowerbank was able to stick this Brockel flip over the car

108 750pxBut it was Dylan Williams who took home the trophy, $2,500 cash and a case of caffeine and taurine with a backside 180 switch front crook to fakie flip out across the car bar

109 750pxWho’s gonna take these home?

110 750pxTop three: Ivan Monteiro, Maurice Jordan and Jack Olson

111 750pxHere comes the champagne

112 750pxIvan Monteiro in first place, Maurice Jordan took second and Jack Olson finished third

113 750pxCongrats to Ivan Monteiro, Cowtown’s Phx Am 2018 winner! Thanks to all the sponsors, especially Cowtown and Vans for footin' the bill. See you next year when Phx Am turns 18!

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