Orange Crush/Joe Lopes Memorial BBQ

This is where the hips were swinging more then a porn star. Wicked transfers were thrown down by Neil Heddings, Brian Patch, Chad Vogt, and many other revelers. The session for the money was rocking way too hard …

This clip includes the following: Ricky Barnes, Neil Heddings, Brian Patch, John “roofjump” Ponts, Chad Vogt, Carlos DeAndrade, and others.It was a Saturday in Southern California like many others. Sunny and in the 70’s. Except, this Saturday was going to be a fun day for skateboarding. No, we weren’t headed to another XTREME(ly lame) event that come up every weekend throughout the summer, we were headed to a skaters back yard watch a pro contest/jam and to skate his ramp. Another thing we went to do was to bust out some Joe Less Ones in memory and respect of Joe Lopes.

Upon arrival, the tattoos were covering everything and everyone. The BBQ was smokin up the sky as burgers and chips were flying. Beers were being swilled and soda pop too. After passing through the front gate and the afore mentioned the back yard opened up in to a really cool miniramp. It contained two wide mini’s that spined together with a few variations. Then there is another small miniramp at 90 degrees to both the others. This is where the hips were swinging more then a porn star. Wicked transfers were thrown down by Neil Heddings, Brian Patch, Chad Vogt, and many other revelers.
The session for the money was rocking way too hard for many to jump into, so we waited until the money got spent before dropping in.

The prize money was substantial for a small private contest, no doubt due to Mark’s industry connections. The sweet thing about it was a lot of it got to go to Joe Lopes surviving family. Joe Lopes won 1st place! HE was honored by many (not quite enough) snapping boneless to tails all day long. Once the dust settle and the prize money distributed even I got out there and snapped a Joe Less One to honor a skater whose very identity represented something very different than most pro’s of his time. “Enjoy Life”

This event couldn’t have happened without the following:
Mark Waters (duh) (Skatepunk.net) – the host

Element (& Bod Boyle) – for manning the BBQ and food.
Etnies Footwear
Foundation Skateboards
Pig Wheels, and
Split Clothing

Results:
The top 6 finishers:

1. Joe Lopes
2. Neil Heddings
3. Chad Vogt
4. Brian Patch
5. Kyle Yanigomoto
6. Ricky Barnes