Vans Park Series Huntington Beach Men's Finals
Still hanging tough in Huntington Beach—Friday and Saturday saw the men and boys compete in the Vans Park Series. Those who nailed it during Friday’s prelims advanced to Saturday's semis and finals, competing for points and cash. Making it into Friday's finals is no guarantee of heading to the championships in Shanghai. You do get a pretty nice check either way, though. —Joe Hammeke
Welcome to Huntington Beach, now behave yourself
Low skill but high chill, guarding a sandcastle on the beach is easy livin'
Ryan from Grinderz Burgers was holding down the Boards for Bros tent. Drop off your used skate gear for some Grinderz bucks and help some struggling kids learn to skate
Ronnie Sandoval and his pops
The course, of course
Diving board situation, no diving allowed
Heimana Reynolds, looking like he’s got a cold shoulder
But that won’t stop him from busting a huge Madonna
Cory Juneau, high speed back lip through the corner
What’s this?
With a world-class skatepark a few blocks from his house, you know Huntington Beach local Dave Duncan’s down every day. Puttin' that Guest Model to good use!
Speaking of HB locs, Ed Templeton would occasionally drop by on his daily HB pier missions
Fourteen-year-old Keegan Palmer, aka the fidget spinner, made it all the way from Australia and he can’t even drive yet. Wait, you can't drive here from Australia anyway…
Patrick Ryan, huge fs air to disaster that resulted in a hang-up
Okay, if you can’t follow my finger I’ll have to bring out the breathalyzer
The young ones were on fire all week. CJ Collins with Roman Pabich in tow
Willy Lara spins a shirtless five over the hip
Ronnie Sandoval twists up a beauty of a frontside invert
Nora and her disposable camera join the media frenzy
Ronnie Sandoval, back with a finger flip lien to tail
CJ Collins, dive-bomb Indy air. Kid’s got style
Tom Schaar, huge alley-oop backside ollie to the bank
Ben Hatchel, tailgrab to fakie, dodging traffic
Chris Russell was out due to a broken ankle, but still on deck to check out the action
Christian Hosoi and his son Classic keep it chill and watch the live webcast in the comfort of the VIP tent
Cedric Pabich, coming up on some grub. So many choices
Back in the bowl, Alex Sorgente nosegrind off the E
Oh no, what’s CJ up to now?
Fellow miscreant Keegan Palmer was definitely intrigued
Shortly after this, the ball was bouncing through the bowl
VPS tour challenger Josh Borden pushes a no-comply slide on a bank that saw more than enough bonelesses and noseblunts throughout the weekend
Oski is always one of the toughest guys to get a photo of. His runs are freestyled: no routine and never the same tricks; he's completely unpredictable, which is probably why he’s such a favorite with the judges. Backside nosegrind
Fellow Laplander Karl Berglind, huge extended Madonna
Rialto's Tristen Rennie isn't bothered by the extreme heat, back Smith off the extension over the hip
Murilo Peres 5-0 to fakie while Josh Borden follow films with some new fangled stabilized go-pro contraption
Thrasher web lord Schmitty, hyped how Dan Stolling’s edit is coming together
Karl Berglind stoked on his fresh Vans patch provided by TM Matt Bennett
Willy Lara, no shirt, no problem. Still going to China
Ivan Federico had some insane combos going throughout practice and the qualifiers. This judo air was followed by a kickflip melon, but some untimely falls kept him out of the final round
Jagger Eaton, noseblunt on the bank wall
Ishod Wair skated nonstop all week, all the way up to the finals. Indy air in the deep
Zion Wright busts a huge 540. Whoa, who’s that working the live camera?
It’s Lee Dupont! Lee’s been on KOTR with Circa, filmed Dying to Live and let’s not forget the Chief’s part in Chomp on This
CJ Collins was up next and nailed all his tricks, finishing with this blindside kickflip to fakie over the hip
Then he rolled out somewhat confused as to why everyone was charging at him
Happy 14th Birthday, CJ!
Coming in hot
I doubt CJ even got a look at the cake before it was smashed all over his face
"This is the second year in a row I got smashed with my birthday cake!"
What’s it taste like?
Not bad, not bad
Sorry, Barbie
Jack Fardell, boneless on the bank wall
You can't judge me! Oh wait, you guys can: James Craig, Kyle Berard and Jason Rothmeyer
Snacking in the shade, Vans and Nike TMs, Matt Bennett and Mike Sinclair, Toy Machine Good and Evil
Greyson Fletcher, absent from practice all week, showed up just before his run. He don't need no stinkin' practice
Greyson, always a crowd favorite, high speed smith grind
Product toss to the bleachers
Johnny Layton handing out the goods
Stoked lil' kiddo
In the heat of the finals last run last trick, Corey Juneau took the frontside flip to the deep corner and made it
Malba approved
CJ signs some autographs
Huge stalefish for a little guy
Volcom TM Remy Stratton and CJ, mucho relaxo
Hatchell skated the finals with an all-or-nothing approach and brought tricks he never tried in practice, like taking this front feeble to revert
Already in solid first place Tom didn’t need his last run so he went for the heelflip McTwist on the first wall
Using the first wall rebate he decided to give it another go
Here’s your Men’s finalists: 3rd place CJ Collins, 2nd Ben Hatchell and in first Tom Schaar!
To the victor go the spoils
Be back next year. Good luck in China, guys. Peach out!
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