The HUB
Yeah, last week it was announced that Bill Bryan had won the 2010 United Skim Tour…and well he capped that off with winning the last event at the United Skim Tour being Oktoberfest. Congrats to Bill and the UST on knocking out another great season.
Check out Aaron Peluso’s great Oktoberfest write up over on Skim Online.
Results
UST Standings
MFG Standings
From the UST:
After yet another win in Santa Cruz, Bill Bryan has won the 2010 UST Tour. Now in his late 30′s Bill continues to prove that he is the man to beat. This year’s victory is a continuation of competitive dominance that began in the late 1980′s, before many of his current competitors were born. It is legacy that matches if not exceeds that of any other professional athlete, anywhere. And after this year’s performance winning all but two of the events he entered, who could argue that Bill is still the best? Congratulations to Bill on yet another stellar performance!
And boy is that true. Bill Bryan can add to his count of being World Champion to now 14 times . That includes 11 Victoria World Championships (before UST) and three UST titles.
Update:
For those confused about how Bill Bryan won before the season ended…here is the explantion from UST President Aaron Peluso:
Tabulation is best 6 of 8. Right now Bill is dropping a high placing event, 800+ points…If he doesn’t show up to Oktoberfest, his point tally will go up by that 800+ points.
The seventh stop of the UST, at 26th Ave in Santa Cruz, will take place next weekend. The UST standings right now see Bill Bryan in first with 3859 points and Brad Domke in second with 3569 points. Each placing is roughly 100 points above or below the next, meaning first place will be around 1000 points, second around 900, and so on. So, let’s say hypothetically Bill Bryan misses the event, Brad Domke needs to earn around 300 points to sort of tie Bill Bryan or be in first by a few points. 300 points would be like placing somewhere between 15th and 10th generally. Not much to ask for from Mr. Domke.
However, I highly doubt Bill Bryan is going to miss the event and knowing him he can very well end up in the final/winning the event. What can you say? He’s Beaker. So Brad Domke has to get about 3 places better than whatever Bill places. THEN, he has to hold that lead or up it even more in the last event, Oktoberfest, to take the tour. BAM! Was that interesting? I think it was!
Sam Stinnett is still in the race but about 400 points behind Domke, and given my crude attempt at mathematics you should realize by now that means 3 places below Domke and 6 places below Bryan. That’s a lot to make up for with 2 events left on the tour. Sam had a great showing at both events last year, however, and is expected to do well where he excels: long slides and long rides.
Morgan Just is in 4th and Austin Keen is in 5th on the tour as of now. Austin has climbed the ranks from the very bottom and is one of the first UST contestants to really make that climb from placing in the 30s or 40s just last year and being in fifth place now. Morgan Just can never be counted out of the race considering he also does well in the West Coast contests. But keep in mind for them to win the tour they would have to do something like win both events and not have those above them place well.
Without further nonsensical babbling, here are my predictions: Taking the entire event will be Sam Stinnett because he will have a new source of motivation that will propel him to the top, in second place will be Bill Bryan who just ousts Brad Domke in third place, and rounding out the final in fourth will be Brandon Sears. Sam is an outstanding skimboarder who is gaining a serious presence in contests as of late and will excel in these last West Coast events. Bill Bryan always puts out a stunning performance and will just edge out the technical variety and lovely board control of Brad Domke. Brandon Sears will have solid heats all day and make it to the finals but not be able to outskim the top 3.
photo via exileskimboards.com
The site has been a little slow this week and that’s because we’ve been helping out SkimVids with a new content layout to better organize the videos (almost at 300 videos). And we’re also in the process of uploading all of our videos to Youtube via the SkimVids account.
But so far we moved all of our UST Coverage over, which includes:
And we also have the 2010 Florida Pro/AM.
Bill Bryan is still leading the standings but Brad Domke is getting closer to passing him. Austin Keen after his first professional win in Vilano at the Florida Pro/Am moved into the Top 5. Keen followed up that win with taking first at the Senseless Skimfest. Exile’s incredibly depth on their team is evident with a whooping 16668 points. See the further break down below…
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Here’s an interesting break down by manufactures in the Top 15. Details depth of pro teams pretty well
The 2010 Florida Pro/Am has come and gone. It seems like forever since last year’s contest, and yet as soon as the contest started, it was done before Vilano beach knew what hit it.
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The big x-factor in Florida contests is the waves, and with it being the end of summer and the beginning of the east coast hurricane season, Contest director Steve Pullara lets the chips fall where they may. The waves this year were nothing like last year but that was expected. Last year’s wave conditions were some of the best you could ask for at a contest. The good thing about the contest this year was that there were waves, and although small, they were there all day long. No one can really complain when there is a rideable wave for eight hours.
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While the conditions were mediocre, the skimming was nothing short of awesome! The top amateur divisions (jr. mens and mens) saw some serious completion. These young riders were pushing themselves technically all weekend, with almost every variation of board spin, twist and hop used, with a good helping of wave-riding and switch tricks. With some more contest experience, several young riders are poised to be a threat when they decide to step up to the professional ranks.
Speaking of the professional division, 38 athletes showed up to compete in the professional division. Some of the big names to travel across the country included Jaime Lovett, Sam Stinnett, Jason Wilson, Brandon Sears and gazillion-time world champ Bill Bryan. Brad Domke, Corbin Dull, Dave Armstrong, Justin Boisclair, and the normal Florida contingent was there, as were locals Jed Currington, Dave Scott, and new transplant Chris Splendore. There was some big upsets, including a first round exit for reigning champ Jaime Lovett. Some young guys also made a good impression, like John Akerman and Max Smetts. The pros were rewriting the book on technical tricks for skimboarding. Standout tricks to this writer that were thrown include Splendore’s inverted 360 double grab re-entry, Tim Fulton’s late shuv-its, Domke’s Kerrupt grab 360, and of course event winner Austin Keen’s double grab rodeo. Keen threw down huge tricks all contest, but the rodeo was easily the crowd favorite during the final, causing applause and cheers from spectators and competitors alike. The final was incredibly fierce though, and in the end it was Keen winning, with Domke, Bryan, and Stinnett rounding out the top four.
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With all the great things that happened this year, some things that weren’t so great cannot go unnoticed. The contest itself was rather poorly run, trying to cram over 100 competitors into two days of competition. The schedule, when posted, was more of an idea and was not firmly held to. The contest directors and staff were also unapproachable for anyone who had a question; they even announced over the PA system not to bother the staff. There really isn’t one person to blame, as there were several factors which caused the poor management. It is up to both the contest directors and the competitors to work together to create a smooth and fluid contest environment. Some changes that could be made would be a strict cutoff date, dividing the contest director’s duties up into a contest organizer and an on-site director, making sure there are predetermined staff and judges and compensate them, and utilizing the full three day period like they have in the past.
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Overall the contest was a good time with great performances by competitors and also highlighted some things that need to change at skimboarding events as big and prestigious as the Florida Pro/Am. Congrats to Austin Keen for his maiden victory. There is not enough space here to write how much Steve Pullara should be thanked for putting this contest on year after year, but thanks should be given anyways. Now everyone has gone home, except for the locals, and the wait starts all over again.
See the current standings and where the manufactures stand from Robs
Skim Invasion’s Daniel Roberts (no relation) headed on down to Vilano last weekend to cover the Florida Pro/AM. Write up and photos coming next week from Tad Mask but we the video has been done…so we thought we drop it a little early for you guys. Give us your thoughts below!
