11:08 PM Sat, Jul 19, 2008 | Permalink
Thom Cahir  Email
|
CLEVELAND -- Olympic gold medalist Shaun White won the skateboard vert event, and Paul Rodriguez won the skateboard park event Saturday at the Dew Tour's Right Guard Open.
Jamie Bestwick won the BMX vert event.
White took the lead in his second run, showing finesse and amplitude with a combination of 540's and 720's. Many of White's competitors fell during their runs while attempting to unseat him.
White earned a score of 92.00, Bucky Lasek finished second with 88.25, and Bob Burnquist was third with 87.25.
"I missed the first stop in Baltimore because of an injury," White said. "I just wanted to come out and put something down and it happened. I haven't been skating my best lately but everything clicked for me today."
Rodriguez earned an average score of 90.75, and 14-year-old Chaz Ortiz was second with 90.70. Rodolfo Ramos was third with 88.50.
"The jam for me is usually where I'm a little better because I don't have to have the pressure of landing everything first," Rodriguez said. "I can do more difficult tricks and have a couple tries to do it."
The athletes focused on executing tricks on the rails during the second part of the finals, a 7-minute jam session. Rodriguez landed a technical kickflip backside tailslide down the rail. Chaz delivered an impressive kickflip frontside salad grind on the rail.
As the last two athletes to ride in the finals, Bestwick and Chad Kagy were tied for the lead in the BMX Vert event with 94.50. Bestwick executed a flawless run, which included a downside tailwhip X up.
Kagy fell while attempting a double whip flair and placed second. Steven McCann finished third with 93.33.
"I was just keeping the height and didn't stop tricking," Bestwick said. "I tried to capitalize on their mistakes."
The four-day competition is the second of five stops of the AST Dew Tour that features skateboarding, BMX and freestyle motocross.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New comments
New photos
Authors
New posts
Projo blogs
Archives
Leave a comment