The second annual Phoenix Am contest was held this past weekend, April 5—6, 2003, at the Desert West Skateboard Plaza. The park is mainly all cement transitions with a pyramid, volcano and ledges, so a step-up fun box and a hubba/rail contraption were added. Over 100 skaters made the trip out and only eleven would make the finals.
"Jereme Rogers is amateur?" — These four words could sum up the weekend. Switch feebles, switch flip 5-0's, switch blunts, no wonder he rides for Girl. Jereme's level of skating soared higher with each run, so it was no surprise that first place came so easy for him. After he'd land something I'd here, "how? how does someone get that good and make it look so easy!"
Everyone else skated well all weekend too, but that didn't matter because Lenny was there, a player on the scene. For those of you who don't know, I'm talking about Lenny Rivas. Young Lenny has style beyond his years, which makes him so much fun to watch. I thought he knocked himself out of the competition on Saturday when he bounced his head off the concrete. His feet slid out sideways and he fell right to his noggin; I think his hair helped cushion the fall though. Good thing, because the contest wouldn't have been the same without him. I can't say enough about the kid, watch with your own eyes and enjoy!
Other highlights included the skating and florescent shoes of Peter Ramondetta, John Choys kickflip shiftys, and listening to Mirko Mangum commentate. I don't know who skated faster, D J Chavez, Graham Bickerstaff or Gareth Stehr, but they were the few who skated the park as a whole. D J, John Newport, and Lenny were my personal favorites, they didn't win the event but they were the most entertaining to watch.
PHOENIX AM FINAL RESULTS
1.Jereme Rogers - Girl
2.Gareth Stehr - Foundation
3.Kurtis Colamonico - Monkey Stix
4.John Newport - Popwar
5.Peter Ramondetta - Real
6.Lenny Rivas - DGK
7.Graham Bickerstaff - Dogtown
8.Ryan Lay - Krooked
9.Josh Hawkins - Germ
10.Justin Eldridge - Chocolate
11.John White - The Firm
12.Josh Harmony - Toy Machine
Best Trick
- Adam Dyet — Kickflip Back Smith & Switch Front Blunt
Honorable mentions
Wes Lott - Backside 180 switch nose grind
Anthony Shetler - Kickflip backside tailslide, Kickflip crooked grind
Justin Eldridge - Pop shove-it nosegrind
