Recap

© Jared Souney

Action Sports USA Championships Wrap Up

Sep 30 2006 / San Diego, CA
A weekend full of firsts, old favorites and comebacks finishes with gold medals for Andy Macdonald, Takeshi Yakusoto and Kevin Robinson. All the residents of San Diego got was the lousy recap article.

It’s almost the end of the competition season for BMX, Skateboarding and Inline Skating, but the athletes showed no signs of slowing down this weekend at the Action Sports USA Championships in San Diego. Some old favorites and some new faces made it an exciting weekend for the crowd at the Ipayone Center.

In skateboarding, the contest saw the return of Pierre Luc Gagnon, who has been out all season due to a broken patella. PLG had only been skating for a few days prior to the event, and wasn’t able to walk only a month earlier, but he still managed to throw down a run that was good enough for 6th. 

Andy Macdonals Action Sports World 300x200 

 Action Sports US Championships: Photos

 
  •  
The BMX Vert Finals in San Diego. View Gallery>
 
The Skate Finals in San Diego. View Gallery> 

“My goal was to make the finals, and I did that,” PLG said. “Today my goal was to step it up and I think I did that. I can’t complain. I didn’t expect to do any better.”

For Gagnon, it was just nice to there. “It feels great to be back skating. I’m really happy to be out there with my friends, skating and having fun,” he said. 

That was the comeback, and the firsts were in the Inline and Skate competitions. Both saw athletes in their first ever pro competition. Alex Perelson should feel great about his 7th place finish in skate, and Brandon Davis took 9th in inline in his first pro competition.

As for old favorites, Andy Macdonald took his first win of the year in skate, Kevin Robinson took the BMX title and Takeshi Yakusoto won yet another inline event. In all three sports, Pennsylvania had the monopoly on silver. Marc Englehart in inline, Buster Halterman in skate and Tom Stober in BMX, all native Pennsylvanians with silver medals around their necks.

The weekend wasn’t just about the competition though. Several people went home with new GT Mountain bikes or LG Chocolate phones for answering simple trivia questions. There were RC car demos and live performances from Reel Big Fish, Seether and Trapt. But if action sports-related activities weren’t your thing, the Swap Meet next door to the arena was going off all weekend as well.

-Brooke Geery