OG Jam @ Vans Recap & Highlights
The 2014 OG Jam Series concluded its 3rd year this weekend @ the world famous Vans Skatepark Combi Pool in Orange CA. We have all traveled many miles and events spanned from May to December. We all got to see some new skaters join us while a few have dropped off. The Combi pool and Vans have hosted us for 3 years running and they are a stellar host providing us the bowl, some staffing help, and of course a free BBQ for all attendees.
Our event started out busy in the bowl and setting up, and the wheels never stopped rolling until the very end, except when Hewitt fell and tweaked his knee in the square. We got through the 30 division pretty fast and Tuli kept the boys in check with some nice 50-50’s and frontside airs. Nick Daiello was not to beat though, he made a lot of big tricks all over the bowl. I hear the question often ‘Why are there so few in the 30’s division?’. I have thought it through to the point when vert went dead in the early nineties. For that matter skating went dead. When it came back to life it was all street skating and skaters. Vert didn’t make it back prominently into skateparks until the early to mid 2000’s so there is a massive generation gap. I digress….
Vans Combi 30-39 Division Results:
1) Nick Daiello
2) Tuli Lam
3) Ben Butler
4) Kevin Hewitt
5) Siky Niky
6) Kevin Davis
The 40-49 division is packed full of my fellow riders who mostly witness vert skateboarding get taken away from them in some form or another. There were lots of us back then but not many places to ride. When all the backyard ramps and corporate ramps suddenly disappeared most of us grabbed a girl and a job and carried on. The past 10-15 years many of our generation have come back to ride again as much as family life and ailing bodies allow us. This combi pool really sucks your energy up and dishes out a lot of punishment which there was no shortage of today. Ice packs were doled out frequently. tired legs and lungs were in order and when the judges wanted a 6 person final the contestants shot that down! Bennett Harada, Garrett Shigenaka, and Dave Davenport rocked the pool as they often do and man the scores were tight, 1 point between the three of them (50, 49.5, and 49 respectively). Davenport had the craziest run hanging on by his toe nails, but it takes 2 runs scores out of 3 to get your final score.
Vans Combi 40-49 Division Results:
1) Bennett Harada
2) Garrett Shigenaka
3) Dave Davenport
4) Richard Sanchez
5) Dan Colburn
6) Micke Alba
7) Armondo Libertidad
8) Garry Schuck
9) Ryan Endo
10) Brian Lynch
11) Jeff Greenwood
12) Greg Beans
13) Darin Sanders
14) Paul Chestnut
15) Matt Spencer
16) Kenny King
17) Earl Okinaka
18) Andrew Ruiz
Eddie Hadvina is rarely taken down. I thought a new guy Tommy might be able to do it in the combi as he was showing a lot of tricks that would rank up there as high point getters. He just didn’t have the consistency so Eddie was able to keep on winning. I think he might have taken them all this year, I’ll have to check. Shoepad gave it his all and kept Eddie on point all year long too. This whole division really inspired me all year long and I hope they showed more than just me that you can keep on ripping.
Vans Combi 50+ Division Results:
1) Eddie Hadvina
2) Tommy Leggett
3) ShoePad
4) Scott Hostert
5) Greg Garrett
6) Ron Grewohl
7) Rick Stine
8) Jesse Swalley
Overall Winners:
30-39:
1) Tie Zack Mayall
1) Tie – Kevin Hewitt
3) Nick Daiello
40-49
1) Dan Colburn
2) David Davenport
2) Brian Lynch
50+
1) Eddie Hadvnia
2) Shoepad
3) Greg Garrett
Also awarded:
Total Overall medal was awarded to Eddie Hadvina for the most total points.
FlyAway helmets awarded a new custom Fly-Away helmet to Darin Sanders for the most improved skater this year.