I drove up to Houston last Saturday to check out the 2nd Annual Rock the Cradle for Johnny Romano Contest at the Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark. The park is insane, the weather was perfect and the skating was great. McRad played and about $20,000 was raised for childhood leukemia research, advocacy and awareness all in the name of Johnny Romano and Johnny Kicks Cancer. Being newly transplanted to San Antonio, it was nice to roll around for a bit and see some familiar faces. Shoutouts to Duncan, Sasha, Gray, Patch, Gentry, Nate, Omar, Sergie, Chuck, John, Joe and everybody else I got a chance to speak to, good to see you all.
The ladies continue to step up their game. Both Lyn-Z and Mimi were working on frontside inverts in the deep. The most impressive thing was the trio of young girls that shredded the monster bowl. The future looks bright for these three.
Priscilla Lee, Allysha Bergado and Lizzie Armanto rip.
Photos and results after the jump
Ladies
1. Carabeth Burnside
2. Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins
3. Mimi Knoop
4. Alyssha Bergado
5. Priscilla Lee
6. Lizzy Armanto
The Masters Division was like a who’s who of Texas Skate Royalty with some other 80’s big names thrown in the mix. I was especially stoked to see Lester out there, his Sadlands stuff is still burned in my head from the 80’s.
Lester Kasai
Masters Results
1. Brian Pennington
2. Jason Espescth
3. Lester Kasai
4. Ken Fillion
5. Glen Charnoski
6. Tony Magnusson
7. Josh Nelson
8. Troy Chasen
9. Jim Gray
10. Mike Rogers
11. Jon Jon Bryan
12. Dave Duncan
13. Chris Cook
14. Lou Statman
15. Craig Johnson
Pretty gnarly watching a handful of these guys only skate this thing with only a helmet. I’d have to be suited up like Kevin Staab to get me in a bowl that deep. Alex Perelson is sick, but couldn’t put together any runs when he needed them and Pedro Barros destroyed. Nolan, Tim and Steven all had solid runs as well.
Pro Results
1. Pedro Barros
2. Nolan Monroe
3. Tim Johnson
4. Steven Pineiro
5. Chaz Dineta
6. Kevin Kowalski
7. Josh Borden
8. Sergie Ventura
9. Brian Patch
10. Alex Perelson
11. Sky Siljeg
12. Josh Rodriquez
All in all a good day of skateboarding and fun for a great cause. Well done.
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- Priscilla Lee, Allysha Bergado and Lizzie Armanto rip.
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- Mimi Knoop and Cara-Beth Burnside take in the contest.
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- Lester Kasai
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- Ken Fillion on the mic
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- Glen Charnoski and Tony Magnusson
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- I thought I tele-transported to 1986 after I looked at this shot.
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- Jon Jon Bryan
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- Chuck Treece
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- Omar Hassan was there just cruising in recovery mode. Good luck with the new addition Omar!
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- Alex Perelson high speed backside tailslide
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- Sergie Ventura bailed a few backside airs then just decided to bust the japan 1-foot.
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- Sergie Ventura McTwist
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- Steven Pineiro
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- Holding it Down for Texas.
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- Sergie tied with Pedro for highest air at 8.5 feet
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- Pedro's look at 8.5
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- Brian Patch got money for highest frontside air
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- Pedro twists over Sergie's 5-0
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- Josh Borden nosegrinds off the wall into the bump
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- Dave Duncan is always coming in hot.
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- Masters Podium
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- It's Texas, of course Todd Prince is here.
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- Sergie was stoked to go to Benihana
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- 3rd Place Tim Johnson
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- 1st Place Pedro Barros. No practice, no problem.
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- Pro Podium
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- Lester Kasai
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- Sasha was crunching numbers, but should have been collecting prize money.
Josh, nice seeing you in Houston. It was a great time for sure. Great to see such a wide variety of ages out there destroying the concrete. Hope to see you around soon. Keep up the good work. Jim