World Cup Skateboarding: Bucky Lasek and Chris Miller take top honors at the 2009 ProTec Pool Party!

Bucky Lasek and Chris Miller take top honors at the 2009 ProTec Pool Party!

It is hard to believe, but The Vans Combi Pool at the Block was built over 10 years ago and has lots of history behind it, including the challenging design of the original combi pool at the Pipeline skatepark back in the 1980s. Well more skateboarding goes into the history books this year as Bucky Lasek takes his first win at the 5th annual ProTec Pool Party! Also congratulations goes out to Julie Kindstrand for her first win in the ladies division at the Combi! Carabeth had won the first 3 years and Mimi Knoop was last years winner, but with both of those girls hurt and not able to compete, it was all Julie charging hard with a few new tricks and the local advantage of the lines to take the win. The biggest early crowd ever showed up to cheer on all of the ladies and create the electric vibe that got even crazier throughout the day. Lyn-z-Adams Hawkins took 2nd back in 2007 and 3rd behind Julie in 2008, so she was stoked to skate hard enough to get back to the #2 spot again this year. Megan Brown of the Gridlock team missed the Combi comp last year, but she has been charging hard at the girls comps lately. She finished 2nd behind Julie at the last 3 bowl comps of the 2008 WCS Series, so it was no surprise to see her on the podium at her first ProTec Pool party with a 3rd place finish.

Next the Masters division sessions got heated up with the top 12 skaters from the 2008 comp meeting up with 12 skaters in from the Thursday qualifier. Those 24 were broken into 3 heats of 8 and the top 3 skaters from each heat advanced to the final with Josh Nelson getting the 4th place wildcard spot, to round out the field of 10. Josh also earned a quick $1,000 for grinding 9 blocks in the longest backside 5-0 'Blocks for Bucks' contest. Jimmy the Greek was a close 2nd for the at 8 1/2 blocks backside. Bondi local Nathan Beck from Australia was so stoked to be in his first ProTec Pool Party, that he grinded 10 blocks on a long frontside 5-0, and he also got a grand. Eddie Reategui almost had the longest Rock n Roll boardslide at 14 blocks, until Steve Caballero barely edged him out at 14 1/2 blocks to take the $1,000 Bucks away from him!
Every year the World Cup crew honors our #1 ranked skaters from the Overall points series with an award presentation in front of the hardcore concrete fans during the Combi pool comp. So we called up the 2008 winners; Pat Ngoho for the Masters, Benji Galloway for the pro division and Julie Kindstrand for the ladies! A big congratulations goes out to all of the 2008 WCS Overall Bowl Series winners! 2008 was another year of fun at all of the great concrete comps worldwide!
In the first 1/2 of the Masters Finals, it was great to see Christian Hosoi matching Chris Miller run for run with big airs, unique lines and stylish tricks. Feeling the heat, Chris Miller, who ruled the original Upland Combi Pool back in the day, proved that he is still so smooth and powerful, and he really turned it on in the jams, inspiring the other skaters to step it up, making the Masters jams so much more fun to watch! For the 5th straight year it was no surprise that he took the win and continued his domination, proving once again that he is still unbeatable in the combi. The crowd was super stoked to see that Hosoi is back and skating better than ever since his knee surgery a few years ago! In the end Hosoi finished a well deserved 2nd place in his first time competing in the Combi Pool since the '80s! Once again Nicky Guererro flew in from Copenhagen to put together smooth lines and stylish moves including a knee-on invert to get the 3rd place spot for the 2nd year in a row. For the last 3 years Steve Caballero has always been on the podium, but now with Hosoi back and in the #2 spot it bumped Cab down to 4th. Steve Alba was another local at original combi, and it definitely showed as he skated strong and solid with smooth flowing lines, throwing up a big variety of airs and lip tricks to finish 5th. Everyone was stoked to see Salba ripping again this year, because last year he got launched to flat, just days before the comp and blew out his ankle pretty bad and could not compete. Just a reminder to everyone that the Combi Pool is so big and gnarly that it can take anyone out at any moment. On a positive note, I remember back in 1978, watching a 15 year old Steve Alba win the very 1st ever pool comp at my home park in Spring Valley at the first stop of the Hester Series. That was over 30 years ago!

The Pros also had the qualifier on Thursday to cut it to a field of 24 for Saturday. Alot of young new riders competed for the first time in the Combi making the cut on Thursday, and leading the pack was the 14 year old Pedro Barros from Brazil. As a matter of fact, 3 of the riders in the final 10 cut were competing in the Combi for the first time. When the finals finished it was Pedro who was the highest place rookie, just missing the podium in 4th place. He had long solid and consistent runs with good lines, high airs, flip tricks and many 540 variations in different spots of the pool. Finishing just below Pedro, was Bob Burnquist whose risky style of spontaneous and progressive riding is always a crowd pleaser. He just flew in a few days earlier from the Beijing China comp, so with minimal practice time he had to settle for a 5th place finish. The top 3 skaters have been the same for the last 3 years, just mixing up their placings. Coming into the comp Rune had won 3 out of the last 4, but a bad slam at the Combi just 1 week before the comp, had him on crutches and questionable if he would even compete, he had to settle for 3rd.
Omar won back in 2006 and has been on the podium with Rune every year, living about 15 minutes away, (much closer than Rune or Bucky) making him the most dominant local. Omar's long runs had solid 540s, airs, flip tricks, and a variety of slides and fakie moves to land him in the #2 spot.
Bucky came into this year with a lot of confidence, winning the first big pool comp down in Oz, in Bondi at the Bowl-a-Rama in February. He finished 2nd at the Combi back in 2007 and 3rd in 2008, it just seemed like he really wanted the win at Combi this year and was putting in some time there working on new lines. (Bucky was ruling the sessions during the week, until the day before the comp when he slammed on his hip super hard in the Combi, also making his physical condition a bit questionable leading into the comp). Don't get me wrong, Rune and Omar are always a threat at any pool comp, and that is what makes it such a battle at the Combi, it is the biggest pool comp to win, with a hefty check of $25,000 for the winner. Just as every year it was an exciting final mixing in the new hungry teenagers with the veteran rippers and the crowd going wild the whole time! In the end Bucky deserved to win, pulling his trick combos and crazy lines, even pulling his signature McEgg 540 on the facewall of the round in the final seconds of the jam! (He planned on doing it in the square like last year, but it was too hectic and crowded in there during final moments in the jam). Finally Bucky can put this event win on his long list of decades of wins all over the world. He still wins battles on the vert with PLG and Shaun White, but proves his love and passion for concrete and the pool scene by also skating tough and having fun in the pool sessions. He is currently just finishing building a massive custom designed 13' pool in his backyard. What a year for Bucky and it is really just getting heated up, with summer tours just around the corner.

A big thanks goes out to Steve Van Doren and his daughter Kristy for keeping this event fun every year making it my favorite comp. Also thanks to the whole Vans staff, the park crew, ProTec, WCS crew and everyone involved. Thanks to Rockstar Energy drinks for sponsoring the event and throwing some big money to the pool skaters. Check FuelTV August 10th 8pm EST/PST for the 1 hour TV show by windowseat productions and FuelTV.com for more coverage. Keep checking back here for more stories, photos, results and updates on future WCS comps across the globe. Next stop for the WCS tour is Rome, Italy June 19-21, with a bowl comp, and a vert and street comp for the men and the ladies. See ya there! Have fun skatin', D.D.