JACKSONVILLE, FL – The King of the Groms / King of the AMs have sealed another qualifier event at Kona Skate Park in Jacksonville, Florida toward their 2014 Championships slated for June 2014. Like last year, the competition was strong, and especially entertaining in the street skating AM division.
The AM division playing field was stacked with Jacksonville’s Blaine Partridge, Jupiter’s Zion Wright, out-of-stater Christian Fonseco, Pompano Beach’s Titus Massinello, Dunedine’s Nick Wallace, and Sarasota’s Tyler Hunger. This qualifier was more of a Championships finale and it was impossible for most on-lookers to guess who might get cut from this pack of rogue and wild dogs. In the end the judges had their work cut out for them and the rankings fell in the order of 1st Fonseco, 2nd Partridge, 3rd Massinello, 4th Wright, and 5th Wallace. Like we said it was anyone’s take for the gold with consistency probably being the biggest factor on the final standings.
In the Open division it was anyone’s game. With last year’s winner Will Schumatti of Jupiter, FL sidelined, the field was wide open for the next post-grom shredder to take the podium. Palm City’s Kyler Brandt showed strong possibilities and Lil Nick Dellgatti claimed consistency in his second run to qualify for Sunday’s finals. Crowd favorite Ryan Stephens landed some pretty good grinds, and Lachlan Yardborough, sponsored by Fuel Clothing claimed consistency all weekend long. But is was a veteran Naples, FL skater by way of Leo Marino that grabbed gold as his higher level tricks sealed it for the judges who ruled on 4 criteria; the use of the course, style, missed and landed tricks on their scorecards.
In the Expert division of KOTG, local Jax skater, Hal Scarborough of Kona took second place and Sam Ogden, an out of state skater sponsored by Emerica, took gold.
The Intermediate and Beginner fields carried strong skaters who know these courses well. For the first time ever, KOTG staff bumped skaters up they saw as beyond beginner levels like that of Rory Doran from Jupiter, Florida.
For skaters missing their “golden ticket” to the Championships, two qualifiers remain for the chance to skate this summer in Minnesota and they include Simi Valley, California and Mesa, Arizona.
One thing is for sure. The KOTG and KOTA contest has stepped it up a notch or twenty for this year’s competition. It appears they have their shit together finally and Trog and his Army aren’t taking any breaks as they burst into the professional skating scene in the real contests division.
The King of the Groms / King of the AMs have sealed another qualifier event at Kona Skate Park in Jacksonville, Florida toward their 2014 Championships slated for June 2014. Like last year, the competition was strong, and especially entertaining in the street skating AM division.
The AM division playing field was stacked with Jacksonville’s Blaine Partridge, Jupiter’s Zion Wright, out-of-stater Christian Fonseco, Pompano Beach’s Titus Massinello, Dunedine’s Nick Wallace, and Sarasota’s Tyler Hunger. This qualifier was more of a Championships finale and it was impossible for most on-lookers to guess who might get cut from this pack of rogue and wild dogs. In the end the judges had their work cut out for them and the rankings fell in the order of 1st Fonseco, 2nd Partridge, 3rd Massinello, 4th Wright, and 5th Wallace. Like we said it was anyone’s take for the gold with consistency probably being the biggest factor on the final standings.
In the Open division it was anyone’s game. With last year’s winner Will Schumatti of Jupiter, FL sidelined, the field was wide open for the next post-grom shredder to take the podium. Palm City’s Kyler Brandt showed strong possibilities and Lil’ Nick Dellgatti claimed consistency in his second run to qualify for Sunday’s finals. Crowd favorite Ryan Stephens landed some pretty good grinds, and Lachlan Yardborough, sponsored by Fuel Clothing claimed consistency all weekend long. But is was a veteran Naples, FL skater by way of Leo Marino that grabbed gold as his higher level tricks sealed it for the judges who ruled on 4 criteria; the use of the course, style, missed and landed tricks on their scorecards.
In the Expert division of KOTG, local Jax skater, Hal Scarborough of Kona took second place and Sam Ogden, an out of state skater sponsored by Emerica, took gold.
The Intermediate and Beginner fields carried strong skaters who know these courses well. For the first time ever, KOTG staff bumped skaters up they saw as beyond beginner levels like that of Rory Doran from Jupiter, Florida.
For skaters missing their “golden ticket” to the Championships, two qualifiers remain for the chance to skate this summer in Minnesota and they include Simi Valley, California and Mesa, Arizona.
One thing is for sure. The KOTG and KOTA contest has stepped it up a notch or twenty for this year’s competition. It appears they have their shit together finally and Trog and his Army aren’t taking any breaks as they burst into the professional skating scene in the real contests division.
