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Adrenaline Session in Birmingham
Mat Hoffman and Tony Hawk Hit the Ramp for Day 2
(July 30, 2006)
By Jimmy Coleman
Stop # 2 of the LG Action Sports World Tour was an amazing weekend. I watched a good friend of mine, Shane Yost, shake the inline skating world by being the first person to win a vert competition over the Yasutoko brothers since 2002. I watched last year’s reigning LG BMX vert champ, Jamie Bestwick, put together incredible runs. I watched another good friend, Anthony Furlong, win skateboard vert, and I witnessed Ryan Nyquist pull off the unthinkable with a 720 barspin. Despite all of these magical moments, the most memorable moment of the weekend – and quite possibly my entire announcing career – was the final demo featuring Mat Hoffman and Tony Hawk.
It’s not every event that we get to put on a demo with the two biggest icons in the world of action sports. Mat and Tony did several shows throughout the weekend, but the last one on Sunday definitely raised the bar. The demo took place immediately following the skateboard vert competition. Several of the skaters from that event kept their pads on and decided to join Mat and Tony on the ramp. Veteran BMX rider Zach Shaw also joined in on the fun.
Mat and Tony wasted no time throwing down big tricks. In Tony’s first run, he landed a clean mctwist with no warmup. Mat followed suit by doing a 540 – flair – tailwhip combo in a row, also with no warm up. The bleachers inside the NEC arena were packed with fans, and the louder they got, the more intense Mat and Tony got. It was run after run of amazing tricks. Mat and Tony added a couple of doubles runs to the demo, and they capped off their last doubles run by exiting the ramp doing side by side frontflips onto the deck.
After the doubles runs, Mat was feeling a little sore from a previous slam, and decided to kick back, and watch the rest of the demo. Tony kept the crowd going with plenty of new school and 80s tricks, many of which he himself invented throughout his career. Some of the other skaters on the deck added to the frenzy. France’s Terence Bougdour had already landed his 2nd ever 720 in a contest run, earlier in the skateboard vert event. During the demo, he started trying a varial frontside 540. It took him about 8 or 9 tries, but he finally made it, much to the approval of the huge crowd.
Mathias Ringstrom had skated well all throughout the vert competition, but during the demo he dazzled the fans by landing a kickflip backside 360 to fakie.
Danny Mayer wrapped up the demo with a bang. At the beginning, he started trying kickflip mctwists. He was getting closer and closer each time until he finally landed one, but washed out on the flatbottom. I asked the crowd if they wanted Danny to try it one more time and they roared with applause. As Danny climbed back up the ladder, Tas Pappas ran over to grab the mic, and enlist the help of the crowd. He got everyone inside the NEC arena to start chanting “Danny, Danny, Danny, Danny”. Danny stood at the top of the vert ramp, took a deep breath, and dropped in one last time. The crowd kept chanting as Danny did two setup airs, then successfully landed the kickflip mctwist. The crowd exploded with cheers and applause, as Jake Brown and Tas Pappas ran onto the flatbottom and tackled Danny.
Words don’t event describe how spectacular this demo was. I’ve been a skateboarder for 20 years, and Tony was one of my idols while growing up, and one of my earliest influences. I’ve been announcing demos and contests now for over 12 years, and this was by far the most fun I have EVER had announcing.
