Bucky Lasek at the San Jose stop of the Dew Tour Greg Weatherall © Lat34

Bucky Leads Into Finals

PHOTO GALLERY   Photos from the Skate Vert Prelims in San Jose View Gallery>

Lasek and Burnquist came out on top, but Dias actually looks like the man to watch for in tomorrow’s contest. A fall in an otherwise incredible round one run today knocked him down a notch, but he is indisputably skating faster and harder than anyone else out there. Lasek and Burnquist are also both skating on injuries: Lasek is nursing a broken wing, and Burnquist limped into the HP Pavillion this morning with a cane and a broken toe. If Dias is on tomorrow, he’ll be awfully hard to beat. 

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Shaun White was a no-show and today’s event and is reportedly out for the rest of the season to focus on snowboarding. Previously expected to skate throughout the Dew Tour, the winner of the Right Guard Open event in Denver is currently in 5th place in the overall standings, but will be out of contention after tomorrow’s results are posted.

Expect a few more surprises tomorrow as everyone jockeys for position: Andy Macdonald was working on a new backflip into the channel during practice this morning and Sandro Dias has a few 900 variations up his sleeve. 

Buster Halterman, Tas Pappas, Lincoln Ueda, Anthony Furlong, Mathias Ringstrom, Chris Gentry, Rune Glifberg, and Rob Lorifice also made the cut.

Jean Postec just missed the cut in 13th place. Lat34’s up-and-comer pick for the season is currently in 6th place and had high hopes for finishing in the top 5 for the overall competition. 

As he said in an exclusive Lat34 interview before today’s contest, “You have the run of your life one day, and then completely miss your run the day after. That’s what makes the Dew Tour interesting.”