Skate Street Champ Ryan Decenzo Delivers Under Pressure

October 15, 2011 By Dew Tour

Skateboard Street Final Highlights

Ryan Decenzo came into the Dew Tour Championships ranked first overall and a win in Vegas guaranteed him a Dew Cup. The same was true for switch master Paul Rodriguez.

Then the skate street finals delivered a surprise ending when the top six skaters advanced to the final jam. Missing from that jam was P-Rod, who came to the event ranked second overall. He started off the finals with solid switch moves and tech tricks on the rails, but wasn’t able to advance to the jam.

But there were two Gatorade Free Flow Tour winners who made it into the mix. Seventeen-year-old Brendon Villanueva earned his way through the GFFT ranks with an overall win this season, and he was granted a spot to compete against the pros on the Dew Tour. With a kickflip to flat down the steps right at the buzzer of his intro run, he was skating solid right from the start.

“What I was told by a bunch of pros is that ams are more hungry that pros because they want to make it to that point as well,” Brendon said.

He’s following in the footsteps of last year’s Gatorade Free Flow Tour winner Alec Majerus, who also advanced to the final jam. With a frontside feeble on the rail, frontside noseblunt slide and smooth style, it earned him his first Dew Tour podium with a score of 85.13 and a second-place-finish. The 16-year-old from Minnesota has made it into every final this season.

Also in Dew Cup contention here in Vegas was Greg Lutzka, who advanced to the final jam along with Ryan, Ryan’s brother Scott and Brazilian Danilo do Rosario.

Lutzka was skating well with a 270 to switch front blunt and a frontside flip to flat, and he finished third with 84.25 on the course built inside The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

That left the door open for Ryan, who showed cool calm from his intro run straight through to the final jam. His nollie backside heelflip down the stairs was just one in a list of solid tricks that earned him the win and the Dew Cup. He finished with a score of 90.28.

“The first time I ever competed on the Dew Tour it was obviously a dream and a goal to make it to this point, and I did, so I’m super proud of myself,” Ryan said.

Check out footage of Ryan during the finals

Ryan Decenzo – 1st Place