Extreme athletes take flight in O.C.
Tens of thousands of extreme sports fans converged on Ocean City, Md., June 20-23 for the Pantech Beach Championships, the first stop on the high-flying professional skateboarding and BMX Dew Tour. Many of the athletes who competed will travel to Munich, Germany, for this weekend's X Games event.
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Maryland native Bucky Lasek rose to the occasion, laying down near-perfect runs in both the Vert and Skate Bowl competitions to go home with first- and second-place trophies, respectively.
"It feels awesome to be back on top,” said Lasek after his vert win. Lasek finished second in the vert category at last year's event. “It is pretty special, especially with all the love and support I get from all my fans, my friends and local businesses. It is great for Dew Tour to come here and support such a great beach community.”
Bucky, 40, is a veteran in a sport that keeps getting younger and younger. Taking fourth in the skate bowl competition was 13-year-old Tom Schaar, who just a year ago won the Mega 2.0 event at the Dew Tour. He's well known as the first person to land a 1080 (three full revolutions) in a competition.
Rounding out the top three in the vert competition were last year's winner Canadian Pierre-Luc Gagnon and Brazilian veteran Sandro Dias. Successfully defending his Skate Bowl championship for the a third consecutive year was Brazilian Pedro Barros, while Hawaii native Kalani David took third place.
In the BMX events, it was the veterans who rose to the top. Jamie Bestwick, 41, recorded his ninth straight Dew Tour win in the vert competition, posting a 94 in his last run of the finals. Vince Byron finished second in the event, while Steve McCann earned third.
Ryan Nyquist, 34, another BMX legend, took home top honors in the BMX Park event. Canadian Drew Bezanson and Scotty Cranmer rounded out the top three.
For complete results, go to dewtour.com.
Nick Roth is the news editor. He has been with the Cape Gazette since 2012, previously covering town beats in Milton and Lewes. In addition to serving on the editorial board and handling page layout, Nick is responsible for the weekly Delaware History in Photographs feature and enjoys writing stories about the Cape Region’s history. Prior to the Cape Gazette, Nick worked for the Delmarva Media Group, including the Delaware Wave, Delaware Coast Press and Salisbury Daily Times. He also contributed to The News Journal. Originally from Boyertown, Pa., Nick attended Shippensburg University in central Pennsylvania, graduating in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He’s won several MDDC awards during his career for both writing and photography. In his free time, he enjoys golfing, going to the beach with his family and cheering for Philadelphia sports teams.
