Determined to prove hes as serious about his skateboarding career as hes been about snowboarding, Shaun White showed up in Portland ready to continue the AST Dew Tour streak he started in Baltimore back in June and carried through to Cleveland in July.

Fresh off of yet another win in Los Angeles at X Games 13 earlier this month, White dominated Skate Vert Prelims at the Vans Invitational for the third stop on the 2007 Dew Tour, heading into his second run with the win already sealed and then improving his first place score of 85.25 by boosting it all the way up to a 90.00.

Commentators like Dave Duncan cant help saying things like Shaun White is on fire, and not just because of his famous red hair or his current winning streak. The most accurate word to describe Whites allure is Amplitude. From the first hit to the last, every time he drops in, whether in practice or in competition, White is skating harder, pushing higher, spinning faster, and pulling more technical flip tricks than anyone else. More importantly and more noticeably White is having a tremendous amount of fun, and the roars inside the Rose Quarter during his runs are evidence that his fun is infectious.

Whites winning Prelims run included huge, floating airs off the extension, a heelflip indy to fakie, a half cab heelflip, a frontside lipslide, an enormous frontside gay twist, and a big backside 360. A victory lap to say the least.

Pierre-Luc Gagnon, and Andy Macdonald rounded out the top three, and a total of ten skaters are heading into Saturdays Vert Finals, with Bob Burnquist, Bucky Lasek, Rob Lorifice, Danny Mayer, Jean Postec, Alex Perelson, and
Rune Glifberg also in the mix.

Glifberg is another skater on fire this year. He won the Golden Otter and the Crown Royale, as well as this years Vans Pro-Tec Pool Party, putting him in second place in the overall 2007 Pro Bowl rankings for World Cup Skateboarding-sanctioned events. He finished in 10th place in Prelims and is currently in 6th in the overall Dew Tour standings.

Stay tuned: The pros on the Dew Tour have all become big fans of Shaun White themselves, but theyd also like to see somebody step up to his ring of fire.