The Sunshine State Sheckler Show

Oct 13 2006 / Orlando, FL If anybody is preparing a serious challenge to Ryan Sheckler’s reign of terror in the Dew Tour Skate Park contest tomorrow, they must be doing so in secret.

After winning three of the four Final events on the tour this year (he placed fourth at the Right Guard Open in Denver), Sheckler rolled into today’s Prelims ready to defend his territory: His winning run featured a picture-perfect kickflip to frontside boardslide, a frontside smith grind, a kickflip to wallride on a cool new bank feature in the Park, and a run-closing hurricane grind at the buzzer.

His score of 90.00 blew away today’s competition: Jereme Rogers – Sheckler’s next closest competitor in the overall standings – barely qualified, finishing in 11th place.

Sheckler was clearly the crowd favorite, especially among the young ladies, but he got a run for his money from newcomer David Loy, a 14 year-old amateur skater who earned his spot in today’s contest by winning the Free Flow Tour at the amateur contest Finals in Portland. Loy surprised everybody by finishing in 4th place, which qualifies him for tomorrow’s Finals.

Other highlights of the Prelim contest included a solid run by Rodney Jones for 2nd place, and a smooth, fast run by Kyle Berard that made great use of every element in the Park design (greatly improved over previous stops on the Dew Tour).

Wagner Ramos, Chad Bartie, Greg Lutzka, Paul Rodriguez, Rodolfo Ramos, Ricardo Oliveira, and Billy Marks also made the cut.

Skate Park Prelims Check out photos of Ryan Sheckler at the 2006 Orlando Dew Tour.  View Gallery> Photos from the Skate Park Prelims in Orlando View Gallery>

All told, there were six Brazilians in today’s contest – the Ramos brothers and Oliveira, plus Tulio de Oliviera, Michell Simonetto, and Nilton Neves.

Sheckler is a shoe-in for the Dew Cup this year for the second year in a row, but if he wants to go for a three-peat next summer, then he’d better schedule some field trips down South and brush up on his Portuguese: there must be something in the water down there.