Mathias Ringstrom
© ASA
Hometown Heroes: The Action Sports World Tour Comes to the US
Sep 22 2006 / Los Angeles, CA
Everybody loves a hometown hero success story. It doesn’t matter what sport, or what hometown, there’s always something exciting about the locals excelling. Of course, the Action Sports World Tour is a worldwide, professional event, so one wouldn’t expect it to be an event that heralds the locals over the pros, but a few of the previous stops have been about the kid down the street (or rue, as the case may be).
In Berlin for example, German BMX rider Tobias Wicke and Skateboarder Juergen Horrwarth were generating as much excitement as anyone else. Horrwarth took the win in front of his hometown crowd, while Wicke came a little short, but still put on an impressive show.
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Action Sports World Tour Photos
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The 2006 LG Action Sports World Tour- Paris. View Gallery>
The 2006 LG Action Sports World Tour- Berlin. View Gallery>
2006 LG Action Sports World Tour- Birmingham. View Gallery>
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In Paris, France it was much the same story in skateboard vert. One of the most well-known Frenchmen,
Jean Postec, made his local fans proud with his third place finish. Don’t think the French stopped there though, Terence Bougdour took second, and if it weren’t for Swede
Mathias Ringstrom, maybe a Frenchman would have won. But Sweden is relatively near France anyway.
With an impressive showing from the Europeans, what does that mean for the first U.S. stop on the tour, this weekend in San Diego? It seems entirely possible that the hometown hero trend could continue in skate, since approximately 90 percent of the world’s vert skaters call Southern California home. This includes Americans like
Andy Mac (originally from Boston) and
Buster Halterman (Pennsylvania) and foreigners like Tas Pappas and Jake Brown (Australia). But without jetlag, and with fans screaming cheers they can understand, the real local skaters like Rob Lorifice may just get the extra push they need to top the podium.
And in BMX,
Simon Tabron has ridden away with most of the competitions. But on American soil, the Brit will face stiff competition from the likes of
Kevin Robinson, who would like nothing more than to bring the gold home to the states.
In Inline, Brazilian Fabiola da Silva and Frenchman Taig Khris will continue to do battle with Japan’s Takeshi Yasutoko, but don’t think that’s because Americans don’t rollerblade anymore. Don’t let the foreign sounding names of Marc Englehart and David Schexnayder fool you. They are just some of the able Americans looking to make good for the hometown crowd in San Diego.
The action kicks off September 23 at the ipayOne Center in San Diego. Be sure to check Lat34 for complete coverage.
-Brooke Geery
