Thrasher Magazine

The men’s division at the fourth stop of the Vans Park Series was hectic to say the least. Friday’s qualifiers found over 100 skaters, from Andy Macdonald to Zion Wright, duking it out in the bowl during one of the hottest weeks this summer in Orange County. There were nine open spots in Saturday’s finals and the battle was on!  

Even the practice sessions filled the bleachers

Chris Russell is one of the Select Pros, so he’s already pre-qualified to skate Saturday’s finals. That didn’t stop him from skating as much as possible during practice. Huge FSA

Right away, carnage

"Fuck you. I'm from Texas." —Auby Taylor

Zion Wright is 17 and to quote Tim O’Connor is in the “zygote stage of his skate career.”  With that said, expect to see more of Zion in the parks and the streets because this zygote is an ATV

With over 100 skaters practicing Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, there were heats set up with 30-40 skaters each. It was still a traffic jam, though, just like LA freeways

Even the media had to duke it out

Biggest treat of the weekend? Ishod Wair. He skated the entire practice session. That’s how we treat the SOTYs

Talk about a couple of Real teammates keeping it real. When Zion cracked his board, Ishod began peeling off a conflicting sponsors sticker and offered his nearly identical complete to Zion.  “It’s cool. She got me this far; I think I can ride her out.”  Was Zion’s response  

I easily have over 100 photos of all the Smith grinds, nosegrinds, lein to tails and frontside boneless ones from this contest, but these next few guys approach things a bit more unconventionally. Zion Michael O’Friel, no-comply to blunt fakie...

...followed up with a finger flip Madonna

Nick Rivera, no-handed frontside fastplant

Malakai Montes, nollie Barley grind through the corner

Jamie Mateu from Mallorca, Spain, has a rugged approach and a total go for it attitude, backside 50-50 to frontside 270 boneless in

Sky Siljeg hardly skated in practice but totally blew everyone’s minds in his runs hanging on with unique lines and even more unique tricks. Here’s a boardslide transfer from the volcano to the spine

These next two go together: frontside disaster up top...

…slide down the side to disaster below

Sky qualified first and got a bonus $100 from the announcers for best tricks in his runs

Laid back victory lap

More hectic practice sessions

Last years' first-place qualifier, Willy Lara, final jam Madonna

Having a bearing blow out seconds before your heat starts will cause most people to lose their mind.  Jaime Mateu may have already lost his mind but still managed to get his bearings switched out just before it was time to drop in

Meanwhile, Sam Beckett, Patrick Ryan, and Zach Miller relax in the shade

Colin Graham skated hard all through practice and pulled some amazing showstoppers in his runs. He was one of the nine that made the cut to skate on Saturday with the PS Park Series Select Pros

Pedro Barros was unable to make it due to visa complications but his dad Andre was there, cheering for the Brazilians and helping out when needed. Here Andre helps Hericles Fagundes out of the bowl while the medics clean up any remaining blood

There were all kinds of camera operators running these crazy droid-looking things. Grant Taylor fulfills the request to launch. Who else would you trust to clear a $20,000 GoPro sphere?

The PS Park Series Select Pros earned their spots in a much mellower practice heat at the end of each day. Here Chris Russell and Raven Tershy start making some laps

Grant Taylor, high-speed tailslide over the peninsula

Chris Russell muscles a huge boneless with the sun going down

Minutes after this nosegrind by Curren Caples, they shut down the practice session. Then on his way out he was mobbed by a dozen girls, a "problem" the majority of us will never have

Saturday was exceptionally hot. Brian Upapong donned an Animal-Chin-esque hat to beat the heat

Total protection from the sun

Ronnie Sandoval utilized an oversized Raven Tershy head to shade himself

Jaws, fresh off a drive from Phoenix, straight into a kickflip lien disaster

Patrick Ryan was the first alternate and since Colin Provost was a no show. Channel hop backside boneless

Tristen Rennie drove in from Rialto, nosegrind through the corner

Tom Schaar was floating huge backside ollies in every run

Jaws figured he wasn’t going to make it to the finals so he hucked his board into the stands

Murilo Peres started his run off with an ollie from the large quarterpipe into the deep end…

…and after working his way back upstream, blasted a huge stalefish over the hip

What’s going on here?

Oh, that’s what’s up!

Jack Fardell probably used more of the course than anyone. High-speed grind off the large quarterpipe into the deep.

Josh Borden, Miller flip over the spine.

Zion Wright, huge alley oop over the hip

Curren Caples taking advantage of that first-wall rebate with a risky frontside flip

Waiting for the ISS results

Grant Taylor Indy—in the deep

These two go way back: Gale Webb and Danny Way

Straight outta Texas, Colin Graham came here to handle biz—and he did! Huge method air and a spot in the finals!

The Everything We do Epic squad backin' Raven Tershy

Ronnie Sandoval, high-speed finger flip lien to tail

Oskar Rozenberg Hallberg had the lines and the spontaneous lip tricks to put it together for a solid third-place finish. Frontside air to disaster

Ben Hatchell, scorching front feeble through the corner and straight into second place

Manhattan Beach was in the house rooting for Chris Russell and Erick Winkowski

Chris Russell had the lines and the strength to put it all together and is now in first place and on the way to Malmö

“…and your winners are…" Oskar Rozenberg Hallberg took third, Ben Hatchel placed second and Chris Russell took home first and $20,000. Not bad for a day at the beach!

Then it was on to the best trick(s) contest where cash was being thrown out for tricks over the peninsula

Sky Siljeg was charging with speedy nosegrab tailslides
 
Marlon Silva got hella tech with a switch Smith....

…and a balanced switch nosegrind

Pedro Delfino landed the first trick of the best trick session with a frontside invert then came back for this Miller flip. Yes—a Miller flip

And just as time was being called, Tristen Rennie shut it down with a front blunt. Congratulations to all the skaters who rode in the contest throughout the weekend and thanks to Vans for putting up the concrete and the cash to make it all happen!