2008 Vans Downtown Showdown Results

PRESS RELEASE

Blind Takes 4th Annual Vans Downtown Showdown Team Title Zero’s Jamie Tancowny Named Top Am and Blind’s Jani Laitiala Top Pro of Day.

Hollywood, CA (Saturday, October 11, 2008) – The 4th Vans Downtown Showdown was held on the Paramount Studios back lot Saturday with the world’s top street skaters attacking custom-built obstacles set against a New York City backdrop. The Blind board crew claimed team honors and $30,000 while Zero’s Jamie Tancowny won $5,000 as top am and Blind’s Jani Laitiala was named top pro and placed in three of four obstacles, pocketing $14,000 total.

The Vans Downtown Showdown featured many skaters who rarely take part in contests from Foundation, Toy Machine, Girl, Zero, Element, Habitat, Creature, Black Label and Blind.

Each skateboard team submitted designs for a custom obstacle with the top four chosen and built to that team’s specifications. Skateboard teams then chose three riders, consisting of at least one pro and one am, to jam on each of the four features.

Here’s a break down of the best performances of the day:

Girl’s 3 Pump Dump Jani Laitiala (Blind) - $2,500 Billy Marks (Toy Machine) - $1,500 Rick McCrank (Girl) - $1,000

Creature’s Five Points of Pure Evil AKA The Darkest Helmet Jake Duncombe (Blind) - $2,500 Rick McCrank (Girl) - $1,500 Al Partanen (Creature) - $1,000

Black Label’s Dive Bar Jamie Tancowny (Zero) - $2,500 Sean Malto (Girl) - $1,500 David Gravette (Creature)- $1,000

Foundation’s Lunar Eclipsey Hubba Billy Marks (Toy Machine) - $2,500 Jani Laitiala (Blind) - $1,500 Ethan Fitzpatrick (Black Label) - $1,000

Top Am Performance – Jamie Tancowny (Zero) - $5,000

Top Pro Performance – Jani Laitiala (Blind) - $10,000

Overall Team Winner – Blind ($30,000) [Girl 2nd ($15,000), Toy Machine 3rd ($5,000)]

A big thanks to each of the teams that represented:

Habitat: Stefan Janoski, Austyn Gillette, Marius Syvanen and Raymond Molinar.

Creature: David Gravette, DarrenNavarrette, Al Partanen, Neil Heddings, Sam Hitz, Taylor Bingaman, Marky Clements, Devin Appelo, Truman Hooker, Mike Guerrero, Raven Tershay, John Ponts, Alex Horn and Steve Reeves.

Girl: Eric Koston, Rick McCrank, Alex Olson, Sean Malto, Mike Mo Capaldi, Brian Anderson, Chico Brenes, Daniel Castillo, Chris Roberts, Devine Calloway, Guy Mariano Jeron Wilson, Justin Eldridge, Kenny Anderson, Marc Johnson, Mike Carroll, Rick Howard, Vince Alvarez, and Andrew Langi.

Blind: Ronnie Creager, Danny Cerezini, Jani Laitiala, Rob Lorifice, Jake Brown, Morgan Smith, Grant Patterson, Jake Duncombe, James Craig, Filipe Ortiz, Dominik Dietrich and Bill Weiss.

Foundation: Corey Duffel, Gareth Stehr, Sierra Fellers, Don Nguyen, Angel Ramirez, Alex Gourdouros, Abdias Rivera and David Reyes.

Toy Machine: Johnny Layton, Billy Marks, Josh Harmony, Nick Trapasso, Jordan Taylor, Matt Bennett and Ed Templeton.

Element: Mike Vallely, Chris Senn, Collin Provost, Tony Tave, Tony Karr, Nick Garcia, Brian Price and Aaron Brown.

Black Label: Adam Alfaro, Shuriken Shannon, Chris Troy, Peter Raffin, Omar Hassan, Tyler Mumma, Ethan Fitzpatrick and Andrew Elliot.

Zero: Chris Cole, John Rattray, Garrett Hill, Tommy Sandoval, James Brockman, Tony Cervantes, Keegan Sauder and Jamie Tancowny.

For photos, video streaming and downloads and more commentary on the Vans Downtown Showdown, check out www.vans.com.

The Vans Downtown Showdown will air on January 19, 2009 at 8:00pm EST/PST on FUEL TV.

The Vans Downtown Showdown was made possible by the support of Rockstar Energy Drink, Scion, Epiphone and Skateboard.com.

Check out VANS for more info.

Check back for photos from the event.