 |
 Ryan Guettler |
|
 Pierre Luc Gagnon |
|
 TJ Ellis |
2009 World Tour Minneapolis
Official Press Release
Gagnon and Guettler Capture the First 2009 ASA Action Sports World Tour
Titles
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (April 25, 2009) — The second stop of the ASA Action Sports World Tour
(ASA
ASWT) had as many thrills and spills and unexpected twists and turns as a NASCAR race when the first
Skateboard Vert and Big Air BMX Triples contests of the season took place tonight at Target Center
in Minneapolis. Twenty-two athletes took to the ramps - 10 skateboarders and 12 bikers - to start
paving their way toward this year's Action Sports World Championships. For two men the trip has
begun;
Pierre-Luc Gagnon (Montreal, Canada) and
Ryan Guettler (Queensland, Australia) captured first
place titles in Skateboard Vert and Big Air BMX Triples, respectively, and amazed the audience with
the skill and big tricks they had come to see.
The 'usual suspects' took a while to find their groove in Skateboard Vert. Gagnon and
Danny Mayer(Omaha, Nebraska) each failed to put together a successful 10-wall run for the first two rounds of
the four allotted in the contest. Going into the third round
Marcelo Bastos (Sao Paulo, Brazil),
Rob Lorifice (Encinitas, Calif.) and
Adam Taylor (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) were in podium position with
Buster Halterman (Wellsville, Penn.) and
Alex Perelson (San Diego, Calif.) hot on their heels.
Round three, however, saw Gagnon and Mayer lay down the boards and pass the competition, sliding
into their comfort zones of first and second place. When the contest ended PLG had captured his 6th
consecutive ASA Action Sports World Tour Skateboard Vert title and Mayer held onto second, with
Bastos rolling into third.
After claiming virtually all the major titles in 2008, including the LG World Championships and X
Games Gold, and winning the early contests in 2009, Gagnon seems to be unstoppable. What does it
take to beat PLG?
"I don't know," Gagnon answered when posed with the question. "Danny's [Mayer] been killing it
lately. He's always there. I'm just going to keep training - hard."
Mayer makes no secret that he wants take a title from his friend. "I'm still happy with second, but
I want to beat PLG. Tonight I got a slow start. But, if I had hit all of my tricks, I think I
could have had a good chance. Pierre's looking so good through. He's hard to beat."
In Big Air BMX Triples the competition was intense right from the start. The degree of difficulty
displayed in the early rounds of the head to head format challenged the men to push themselves
harder than expected, resulting in more risk and yet, also more rewards. The contest began minus
one competitor, hometown rider Tom Haugen, who took a nasty spill during the warm-up practice
session, resulting in his opponent's,
Daniel Dhers ' (Caracas, Brazil), automatic advancement to the
semi-finals. Dhers was seeded second and expected to be a finalist, but in the semi-finals Dhers'
too suffered a contest-ending mishap, allowing his match-up, Guettler, to advance. In the finals,
TJ Ellis (Moreno Valley, Calif.),
Ryan Guettler and
Rob Darden (Greenville, NC) had two runs each
to prove their worthiness.
Ellis captured the crowd's vote with the double back flip, triple tailwhip combination he executed
in his first run, but Guettler's 1080 to double tailwhip received the judge's nod and the gold
medal. Guettler had recently lost to Ellis when each had previously performed the same run of
tricks, but tonight Guettler's execution prevailed.
"I thought I had lost," said Guettler in shock after his win. "I thought he had beaten me again
after hearing the crowd's reaction. I knew I was going to have to step it up in my last run. But,
I choked and had to rely on my first run, and tonight it was enough. "
Ellis finished in second and Darden landed in third.
Two athletes made the Minneapolis ASA ASWT stop their debut in pro competition. Zach Miller (Del
Mar, Calif.) faced the Skateboard Vert ramp and Colton Satterfield (Salt Lake City, Utah) took on
the Big Air BMX Triples course for the first time.
The ASA Action Sports World Tour enjoys programming on a variety of domestic networks including, CBS
Sports, VERSUS, FUEL TV, and Fox Sports Net, as well as distribution internationally via 32 network
partners. Stay tuned to ActionSportsTour.com for the TV schedule for the 2009 season.
Next week the ASA Action Sports World Tour visits Chicago, Illinois' Sears Centre Arena for the
third stop of the season on Friday, May 1st. Tickets are available at
Ticketmaster.com.
For photos or more information about the Minneapolis ASA Action Sports World Tour event or future
ASA ASWT stops, please Denise M. Abbott, ASA Director of
Media Relations & Marketing at 310 410 3020 ext. 309 or via email at
abbott@asaent.com, or visit
actionsportstour.com.
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About ASA Entertainment:
Founded in 1994, ASA Entertainment, LLC is an action sports event, television and
content production agency focused on creating and executing customized, turn-key marketing
programs that range in scale from grassroots to global. ASA's events, featuring
skateboarding, freestyle BMX, inline skating, free-skiing, freestyle motocross,
snowboarding and music, are broadcast domestically on CBS, Spike, VERSUS, FUEL TV and Fox
Sports Net, and distributed during 937 hours of programming to more than 1 billion HH
globally via our 32 international broadcast partners. ASA's productions span the spectrum
from large, international competitions such as the LG Action Sports World Championships to
amateur contests, lifestyle and branded entertainment events, demonstrations, exhibitions
and mobile tours. As one of the most established organizations in action sports, ASA
Entertainment strives to develop premium content around the fastest growing sector of
American sports. ASA Entertainment is a member of the Omnicom Group. For more
information, visit
asaentertainment.com or
actionsportstour.com.
Media Contacts:
Denise M. Abbott
ASA Entertainment
310 410 3020 ext.309
abbott@
asaent.com
