Bucky Lasek Takes First in Vert
By Beau Lambert – The Dew Tour is coming, The Dew Tour is coming, that has been the chant for months from the Garden in Boston to Rye Airfield in New Hampshire. Well, Bucky came too. Four hours ago Bucky Lasek, the oldest finalist in the Skate Open ISF Skateboarding World Championship was trying to figure out what his lines would be on the new Dew Tour ramp. On the opposite end of the spectrum the youngest competitor in the finals, Alex Perelson, would be trying to live up to the hype he created after winning the Maloof Money Cup by landing a 900.
The tone of the finals was set when Renton Millar laid down a flawless first run just shy of 80 pts for an early lead. The 900 was not to be, as Alex–who was having some problems with a hip injury—was having bad luck in his runs. But, while age and experience trumped youth tonight, the future is very bright, with the next generation of guys like Adam Taylor and Rob Lorifice ready to dethrone the old guard anytime.
Bucky dropped into his first run and never looked back other than during his opening lein airs, after a flawless mission for 3 straight runs and nearly identical scores, he is now the ISF World Champion. A full cache of tricks from massive 5’s, to an eggplant, handplant, Smith grinds and floating 3’s over the channel are what set the Baltimore native apart and showed why he is a 2x Dew Tour Champion.
PLG was on a mission when he put in a rock solid first run showing off his techy street skills with tons of flip tricks, huge air and sweet lip slides. When he had second place wrapped up after his 2nd run he put it all on the line during his 3rd run but pushed a little too far and his night was over.
Local hero Andy Macdonald lived up to his title of Mr Consistency with his 3rd place finish to go along with his previous win in China and podium spot at Maloof. With stylish tricks that included linked 5’s and a sweet nosegrind over the rainbow, plus nail biting landing on a frontside varial heelflip that saw him barely get the board under him before his wheels hit the ramp, Andy Mac made Boston proud.
Just missing the podium was Sandro Dias. He just skates so hard and so fast, linking back-to-back 540s, and covering more distance on the ramp than anyone else tonight. The rest of the field was plagued with not landing their runs. Bob Burnquist was skating had switch-heavy, textbook Bob runs, but unfortunately had some hard slams. That he was able to get up and walk away just goes to show his experience and endurance. Adam Taylor was another who was having a tough time landing his runs. But he was still super consisten on his flip tricks, especially his kickflip indy. Overall, it was a night that showed that the fight for the 2009 Dew Cup is going to be a fun one to watch.
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