Tony Hawk brings things back to some familiar terrain with the tease of his newest video game Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD. We’ve always loved that old warehouse with the vert ramp, the quarters around the edges, so it’s good to see it back in a more updated form. Yes, we’re looking forward to this. We bought our first Playstation for Tony Hawk Pro Skater, this new version may be reason enough to update.
Kieren Perrow had a lot riding on the 2011 Billabong Pipe Masters In Memory of Andy Irons. Even though the 34-year-old surfer finished second last year at Pipeline, he had never won a world tour event. Not only that, he was in danger of dropping off the ASP World Tour. But he fought through pounding Pipeline surf to prevail over Joel Parkinson.
Perrow was stunned. “It’s amazing,” he said in his post heat interview. “I just can’t believe I made the final and didn’t get second. It took me up until now to get over it. I made a mistake and gave Jeremy the final last year. I kicked myself all season. It felt so good to get back here. I felt real comfortable. I didn’t feel nervous. It’s just amazing.”
Joel Parkinson was philosophical about his loss. “”It’s a hard one to lose because you’ve only got one guy to beat and you’ve beaten so many, but it’s the hardest one to win,” Parkinson said. “I couldn’t think of anyone more deserving than Kieren (Perrow). He’s a true Pipe Master and one of the best guys out there and I’m so glad he won.”
Perrow won, but the obvious dominator of the entire event (except for four minutes against the 11 time world champion) was 19-year-old John John Florence.
n winning the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing he has finally grown into (and owned) the potential that everyone has talked about for years. “There are some incredible names on this trophy,” Florence said while holding the trophy. “I’m so stoked to be here and to have won this. I’ve been surfing these waves my entire life and watching everyone over the years. To have my name with the great surfers who has won the Triple Crown, it’s incredible. I just want to say thanks to my mum and Pancho Sullivan and John Pyzel and all my sponsors. Thanks to everyone.”
Earlier in the day Kelly Slater, after sneaking by Florence in the quarter finals gave John John one of the best compliments possible. “I’m not taking him out,” Slater said. “I’m just holding him back for a few more minutes. He’s going to own this place for the next 20 years. I just want to get a couple before I’m done..”
Follow the jump for the complete results and official word from the ASP. [click to continue…]
Luke Mitrani kicked off his season with what looks to be the best snowboard run he’s ever put down in run one of the US Snowboarding Grand Prix at Copper Mountain on Saturday, December 10, 2011. Greg Bretz was in second and Louie Vito came up third after their first runs.
The second run didn’t change much for anyone. Mitrani sat, Bretz didn’t better his score, and Vito threw down another great run, but it wasn’t enough to get past Mitrani and he ended up in second.
On the women’s side the top three qualifiers all fell on their first runs. Gretchen Blieler sat on her third wall, while Kelly Clark and Queralt Castellet for fell on their first. That left Maddy Schaffrick in the lead after one run. Not much changed on the second run for most of the field. Gretchen Bleiler sat for a second time, but Kelly Clark pulled it together and stomped her run putting here in the lead. Castellet, who had the highest qualifying score went last and completed her run, but it was only enough to sneak into third place.
LA Skate gathering of the week: Ambush At Berrics Westchester Skateboard. Starts at 1 PM today (December 10, 2011). Click here for a map. From the looks of it you don’t go, you’ll be the only one who didn’t. Follow the jump for all the details [click to continue…]
We’ll just say it here: John John Florence and Kelly Slater (pictured above) will meet tomorrow (Saturday, December 10, 2011) in the quarter finals of the Billabong Pipeline Masters In Memory of Andy Ironsin what promises to be the heat of the decade.
“I see John John as the guy to beat,” said Slater. “He’s had (two) tens in his heats and he’s probably the best guy all around out here now. I lost to him earlier (today) – it was kind of a non-elimination thing – but if I were to lose to him tomorrow, it’s definitely no shame. I think he’s better than everyone else in this contest. Jamie (O’Brien) might give him a run on his day, but right and left, big and small, John John’s pretty much the man out here now. If you’re going to win a contest, you want to win against the best guys and unfortunately I got him in the quarters instead of the final, but I’m going to have to surf this one like a final.”
But that’s not all. Seems the quarters are stacked with all the right surfers in the right places. Jamie O’Brien vs. Joel Parkinson. Kieren Perrow vs. Gabriel Medina, and yeah even the Michel Bourez vs. Evan Valiere match up should be good. After what seems like years of less than epic finals this year is shaping up to be just that.
For the details of how it went from Round 3 to the quarters follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Milosport worked with Jared Strain and photographer Andrew Miller to create a limited edition Milosport Crowbar goggle.
A goggle inspired by Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons in Utah. Two canyons that receive an absurd amount of the greatest snow on earth, and have molded and shaped the snowboard culture of SLC and beyond. . . Check it out at all Milosport locations TODAY!!
Looks like this things are going to be popular in SLC for sure.
The Sprint US Snowboarding Grand Prix finals from Copper Mountain, Colorado will be live online tomorrow (Saturday, December 10, 2011) from 11 AM to 12:30 PM on Fuel TV. Apparently, they’ve squeezed a little snowboarding in there between the mixed martial arts fighting and the rally car racing. We’ll take it.
New Era, the king of collab hats, has announced that they’re joining other corporate retailers on LA famous Melrose Avenue. The store is on a block that hasn’t had the best track record. Just east of DC Shoe’s recently closed LA “flagship store,” New Era will be located in the space where Bathing Ape failed in its LA retail mission.
Located in West Hollywood shopping district at 8001 Melrose Avenue, New Era will bring its renowned headwear, apparel and accessories to the diverse culture of Los Angeles. Currently U.S. locations include New York, Chicago and Atlanta – this is the brand’s first west coast retail space.
Guess good luck wishes are in order. Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
Seems like only yesterday (Spring 2008) that kids were lining up along LA’s Melrose Avenue to get their chance to meet the DC skateboarding team at the grand opening of DC Shoe’s LA Flagship store.
Apparently, those heady days of Melrose ego retailing are over for Quiksilver’s footwear brand. The phone has been disconnected, the store is no longer listed on the DC store locator, and according to a DC retail employee the flag has been down “about a month.” We must have missed that press release.
Day one (Thursday, December 8, 20111) of the Billabong Pipeline Masters In Memory of Andy Irons was a reminiscent of the good old days of Pipeline contests when the waves were bombing, the surfers charging, and everyone was happy just to have survived their heat. As Kai Barger said following is first heat, “I was scared to death out there.”
While we enjoyed watching Kolohe Andino learn to survive on the fly in 13-foot Pipeline barrels the highlight of the day had to be John John Florence’s perfect 10 score in round two.
“I got that barrel right off of the takeoff and it pinched and I couldn’t see anything,” Florence said. “It was really sketchy and then I pulled in to that other barrel. It was fun. The waves were firing. It’s the best Pipe has been in so long. There are so many waves that people don’t really see. There are ones going underneath and wide ones, they’re just everywhere.”
The rest of the heats were mostly studies in how low surfers could score and yet still advance. The winner in the lowest scoring heat was Aamion Goodwin. In his Round 1 heat against Taylor Knox Goodwin advanced with a 2.20 to Knox’s 2.13. Round 2 Travis Logie advanced over Bruce Irons 3.57 to 2.70. More than anything the low scores showed just how mad it was in the Pipeline lineup.
Round 3 starts today with all the ASP hitters back in the mix. Joel Parkinson and Aamion Goodwin will kick off the day at 8 AM HST (10 AM PST). Kelly Slater gets in the water against Marcus Hickman in Heat 6. Follow the jump for the official word from the ASP plus video. [click to continue…]
