Sheckler's Still the Man, Defeats Lutzka in Skate Park at Panasonic Open

Jun 28 2007 / Baltimore, MD

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Ryan Sheckler apparently had some back pain but it didn't have much impact on his winning his seventh AST Dew Tour event, taking the title at the 2007 Panasonic Open with a 90.25 best score to Greg Lutzka's 85.83. 

Sheckler hurt his back last week filming a video part for Plan B, apparantly involving dropping out of the second story of a building.  On the course Friday he hit some of his signature tricks, wowing the crowd in the second run by moving to the BMX portion of the park and making a huige no-handed transfer.

"I'm going to go in hard, and I'm going to have a ton of fun," Sheckler said before the finals.  "Me and Jereme are going to be going back and forth this whole year."

PHOTO GALLERY    Get a look at the 2007 Skate Park Finals, including shots of Sheckler, Lutzka, Ramos and more in action... View Gallery> View a Bonus Ryan Sheckler Photo Gallery>

Jereme Rogers battled Sheckler all of last year for the top spot, but found himself well out of the running in 11th place in this contest, thanks to a series of falls in both of his runs.  After such a low finish, his hopes for taking the Dew Cup title from Sheckler are likely dashed.

In other news from the skate park finals, local favorite Mathieu Therres shined with a 77.67 score, good for 5th place.  Therres was already making waves thanks to slipping past Paul Rodriguez in prelims to make the finals. 

“It wasn’t clear that I was going to make the Finals until the very end, so I was really sweating for a while,” Therres said on the AST Dew Tour website. “I’m just out to have fun. I feel so lucky.”

“We have had some great skaters from Baltimore – guys like Bucky Lasek and Rodney Jones – and I’m just trying to make a name for myself and do something good for my city,” he said. “My approach to it is just to go big or go home, pretty much. It’s a chance to pull out all the stops on a really big stage and really go for it. You don’t get a lot of opportunities like this in life, so I’m stoked.”

Also stoked is Sheckler.  Not only does he remain the only person to win in Skate Park in the Panasonic Open's three-year history, but he also takes an early lead in the race for the Dew Cup and the big paycheck that comes with it...

Check all the scores from Skate Park and the final standings:  Full Scores in Skate Park - 2007 Panasonic Open