A spectator in the stands at Black Diamond Skatepark had a shirt on that read “New Jersey – Only the Strong Survive.” That was a great way to describe today’s Gatorade Free Flow Tour contest in the Garden State. With 101 competitors skating today’s contest, only the strongest skaters advanced to the final rounds of action.
The vert skaters started things off, ripping Black Diamond’s vert ramp. Beaver Flemming has competed in a few GFFT vert contests this summer and has been ultra consistent at all of them, and his consistency and solid style earned him third place today. Park local Jesse McDonald had a refreshingly classic old-school style, and he shredded his way second place with a sick variety of airs and disasters on the coping. Rye Airfield local Max Jenson took the win the good amplitude and great consistency as he skated for the full 45 seconds in all of his runs, landing a smooth 540. The old school vert dogs in the crowd were all hooting and hollering as the youngsters proved that vert is indeed still alive!
Vert Results
1. Max Jenson, 12, Rye, NH
2. Jesse McDonald, 18, West Orange, NJ
3. Beaver Flemming, 16, Loudon, TN
We had a great turnout of youngsters with 40 Junior Jammers competing today. After six rounds of action, there were six left standing for the final. Joe Daunton, Dante Tonella and Cam Bretton finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Local park rat Ethan Todt placed third after landing a kickflip on the five set, a foot plant on the pillar of the quarter and smooth front boardslides on a few different features. Elijah Ackerly, a young ripper we have seen a lot of this summer, took second with his smooth style. Elijah put down a smith grind on the down rail, pop shuved the five set, and 5-0ed the down rail.
Eamon Samojla
Rye Airfield local Eamon Samojla took the Junior Jam win with a sick alley oop air off the quarter into the bank, then later 540’ed the same obstacle. He also cabbed the stairs and put down a cab 3 off the stairs just after the buzzer sounded for some personal satisfaction.
Junior Jam Results
1. Eamon Samojla, 13, Camden, ME
2. Elijah Ackerly, 13, Lewiston, ME
3. Ethan Todt, 11, Moorestown, NJ
The finals in the Open Division was full off bangers, and the judges had to seriously discuss everything that went down to determine the winner. Anyone of the top five finishers could have taken it. Fifth place went to Matt Goodwine who nollie feebled the down rail. Fourth place went to young Chris Anderson who landed a kickflip boardslide on the down rail, a gap to tailslide on the pyramid box and a gap to lip on the same obstacle. Big ups to Chris who slayed it all day. Kevin Liedtke has placed very well in the East Coast stops this summer and earned third place at Black Diamond. Liam McCabe took second, landing most of his tricks on a borrowed board after he snapped his tail 30 seconds into the final. Liam landed both frontside and backside big spins and a tre flip on the five set, a kickflip front board on the down rail and too many other tricks to mention.
Twenty one-year-old Chris Dziema took the win on the strength on three heavy bangers mixed into his run. These include a big flip back disaster on the quarterpipe, a gap to noseblunt on the pyramid hubba, 270 to boardslide on the smaller down rail and a sick gap to boardslide off of the Gatorade feature that he had set up to make the trick possible.
“I used to compete in Free Flow contests all the time when I was younger and I always used to get second and third place. This year when the age was raised to 21, I was psyched. I figured I would give it another try because the contests are always a good time. Really psyched to finally go to the finals!” – Chris Dziema
Skate Park Open Results
1. Chris Dziema, 21, Parsippany, NJ
2. Liam McCabe, 16, Rumson, NJ
3. Kevin Liedtke, 16, Douglassville, PA
4. Chris Anderson, 15, Red Bank, NJ
5. Matt Goodwine, 17, Salisbury Mills, NY
