“I’m just glad to be in the finals, I stress out so much qualifying” Jared Souney © 2006 Lat34
Bucky Wins Tight Qualifier
Aug 19 2006 / PortlandLasek qualifies first, while the rest of the skaters battle it out.
Bucky Lasek showed why he’s currently ranked number one on the Dew Tour standings with his first run at the Vans Invitational Vert prelims. Seamlessly throwing together tricks including an ollie to tailslide over the channel, into a giant Mctwist, with smooth spins and technical flip tricks. Looking super comfortable, it was clear that Lasek, who was the second to last person to drop in the prelims, would easily advance to the finals. So when he posted the highest score of the day by almost 3 points it was no surprise, to anyone except him.
“I’m just glad to be in the finals, I stress out so much qualifying” Lasek said. “I have qualified for every contest I’ve ever done, so I feel like I’m due to not make it.”
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The defending champ from Denver, Shaun White, qualified in 5th after some serious amplitude in his run and combos like a heelflip frontside air into a Mctwist and a giant stalefish 540 over the channel. But Shaun actually needed his second run to make it through in 5th, scoring a point and a half higher for adding a heelflip fakie and some extra air time.
Defending his title adds some extra incentive said Shaun. “I know I have a chance of winning (the overall) now,” he said. “Going into the second event I didn’t know what I was going to do, I was so bummed about the first event, so it was awesome to win. And now after X Games and everything I really feel like I have a chance to show what I can do.”
Sandro Dias was looking smooth in practice, but had some trouble keeping it together in his runs. The caliber of his tricks though, including huge back to back 360s and a backside 540 enabled him to squeak into the final in 12th. The X Games champ will get another chance to prove himself in the Finals.
The best story of the prelims though was Aussie Jake Brown, who went down hard on his first trick, a 540 tailgrab. Because of the trajectory of the trick, when he bailed, he flew off the side of the vert ramp, slicing a huge gash in his eyebrow. But with blood covering his shirt and a few butterfly bandages holding him together, Jake dropped in for his second run, stomped the trick that took him out, and then put together a run that was good enough to move into the Finals in 7th.
“Jake Brown had the best performance of the night,” Lasek said. “Man’s got heart, and it’s shaped like a skateboard.”
-Brooke Geery
