It was a North County San Diego Vert Final affair at the 15th X-Games on Saturday night. The promoters of the event could have saved themselves the money for the ramp and held the event at the Encinitas YMCA skate park home to the entire skating finalist group.
The epic battle came down to Pierre-Luc Gagnon (PLG) and Bucky Lasek. As the final jam season progressed, each continued to out do the other with rodeos, 540’s, 720’s and other big airs.
PLG eventually held out and took the gold medal home for the second year in a row. Lasek had to settle for a silver medal, his first metal of the games.
The new skating format the X-Games devised gave way to great skating and excitement for the fans.
There were two qualifying heats that consisted of 12-minute jams where the riders took 30-second intervals, one after another. This type of jam led to a lot of free riding and the flow kept all the thrashers thinking as they went.
Another epic battle came down to who would take home the final bronze medal. Both were old-school skaters, both are still skating at the top of their game; Andy MacDonald and Danny Mayer.
They traded trick for trick all contest long and it came down to the final run of Mayer who ultimately fell with seconds left on the clock and handing the bronze medal to MacDonald.
The fifth place finish went to the youngster, Alex Perelson who never really found his groove in the final jam session.
Kimberly Dvorak is a freelance writer in San Diego, who is also an avid skate enthusiast.
photos by: Kimberly Dvorak
