After a heated Skate Vert Final here in Orlando for the PlayStation Pro, Bucky Lasek edged out Pierre-Luc Gagnon and this year's Dew Cup champ Shaun White, finally chalking up his first big win in 2007 - perfectly timed to help celebrate the birth of his third child earlier this month.

Lasek won back-to-back Dew Cups championships in the 2005 and 2006 AST Dew Tour seasons but had yet to win an event in 2007 before arriving in Orlando for the PlayStation Pro. He went in for knee surgery in June, the day after skating the Panasonic Open in his hometown of Baltimore, then miraculously bounced back for second place finishes in Cleveland at the Right Guard Open and in Salt Lake City for the Toyota Challenge.

His PlayStation Pro win bumps him to second place ahead of Gagnon in the race for the Dew Cup. After winning the first three events on the 2007 Dew Tour, Shaun White had already secured the Dew Cup championship before his third place finish in Orlando.

Lasek's win didn't come easy: 18-year-old Adam Taylor started things off right, skating in his first-ever Dew Tour Finals, holding an early lead before the big battle between Lasek, White, and Gagnon got underway.

Gagnon made his statement first, nailing his first run with huge moves like a switch heelflip 360, a 720, and a nollie heelflip backside 360, for a score of 92.25. Lasek went in next, sticking a frontside rodeo 540, a backside tailslide revert over the bridge gap, and a switch frontside rodeo 540, good for 89.75. White went last, after winning the privilege in the PlayStation Pro Prelims, and posted a 91.00 with a signature run full of huge spins like a 720, and hugely technical moves.

A hard slam during warm-up in between runs put White out of the next to rounds, leaving it to Lasek and Gagnon to duke it out for number one.

First, it's worth mentioning that the level of skating in this contest was above and beyond anything we've seen this year, from 10th place finisher Danny Mayer's massive kickflip McTwist to 4th place finisher Andy Macdonald's varial 540... but with guys like Lasek and Gagnon in the mix, even that isn't enough.

Gagnon couldn't ask for more: He completed two 45-second runs in the contest, hitting all his best tricks and a few new ones, including a 360 kickflip and switch heelflip. Still, he couldn't top Lasek's second-run score of 95.50 - one of the highest Skate Vert scores of all time.

White ended up missing the Dew Cup awards ceremony later in the day due to trauma to the neck and head from his fall between runs during Finals, but is reportedly recovering well. He made a huge mark on the 2007 AST Dew Tour and will certainly be back for more in 2008, when he also hopes to dominate in the new winter Dew Tour events.