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How The East Was Won!
Inline Vert Finals Recap
By Mike Opalek
Sunday, the day of the inline vert finals, was yet another sweltering day. I asked if we could hold the event in the air-conditioned building the staff calls its office. This way, I explained, we would all be nice and cool and we could watch the World Cup (After the USA drew to Italy in a match filled with 3 red cards, I was looking forward to the Brazil vs. Australia game). The ASA staff just laughed at me however, and the competition went on as scheduled on that oversized skillet they call a vert ramp.
The event kicked off with Arlo making fun of Jaren Grob on the mic. Jaren skated like he went to bed at 8am (which isn’t surprising since that’s exactly when he went to sleep). When he launched off the ramp on his second run, it looked like he was heading straight toward the beer truck. The other riders who actually came out to compete did an excellent job. Ayumi Kawasaki landed a 1080 (she is the only female who can pull this off). She stayed ahead of Fabiola, who wasn’t as solid as she usually is, even after throwing a flat spin 540 and a fakie 900.
Shane Yost was his usual self, spinning like a mad man and even trying a double flat spin, but ultimately going down and ruining the rest of his run. Marc Englehart did just about every grabbed 540 variation you can think of and nailed a solid first run with a 1080 and a forward 900 back to back. He dedicated his second run to his father who was sitting rampside. He went for the double flat spin but like virtually every one else who tried it, he didn’t land it. Marc ended with a 3rd place finish.
OK, so this is where we talk about Eito and Takeshi Yasutoko. It was weird, as both of their first runs weren’t good at all. Eito was sketchy on most of his airs and Takeshi fell on his double Viking flip. Luckily they got a second try and both used it well. Eito started out with a few solid 10ft airs (like usual) then decided to switch things up a bit. He threw his new trick (which he calls a “Twister” and Arlo has been calling a “Twister Toyko Drift”) and landed it! I think Eito was more shocked than everyone else, as he sketched out on his next few airs but regained his composure to throw in a double backflip for good measure. So the pressure was on the little one. As he has done countless times in his career, Takeshi stepped up to the plate and just destroyed it! With a line that included a perfect Viking flip to double Flat Spin to alley-oop Viking flip and a barrage of his most technical and stylish lip tricks, Takeshi pulled a Championship caliber run and won another title.
