CORONA, Calif., (Aug. 20, 2007) – It was darn near a clean sweep of
all the gold medals for Monster Energy-backed athletes at the third
round (Vans Invitational) of the 2007 Mt. Dew Action Sports Tour, aka
“The Dew Tour,” as Monster Energy BMX, FMX and Skate athletes swept
all but two of the available podium wins in four of the six events.
And, in the other two events – Skate Vert and BMX Dirt – a Monster
Energy athlete podiumed in one of those events (Skate Vert) as well,
and would have podiumed in the other had it not been for a sketch on
a huge trick (double back flip).
“When we sat down and signed or re-signed these athletes to start the
2007 competition season, you always look at the best case scenario
with them,” said John Lee, Director of Sports Marketing for Monster
Energy. “Well, the Portland Dew Tour round was about as close as we
could get to what, on paper, was the best possible outcome for our
athletes at a major action sports event.”
On the heels of some unheard of publicity following the Summer X
Games (Jake Brown & Scott Murray), Monster Energy athletes stepped up
big at the third round of the wildly popular Dew Tour – the Vans
Invitational - raking in a total of seven medals, four of which were
gold.
Skate Park
It was only a matter of time before the Dew Tour Skate Park judges
figured out that Greg Lutzka is the hottest skater on the tour. Core
to the bone and down with street skaters globally on account of his
clean style and innovative arsenal of tricks, Lutzka knocked off the
golden child, previously undefeated Ryan Scheckler, to claim his
first Dew Tour gold of the season.
“I’d been skating pretty well at the first two rounds and knew it was
just a matter of time before I was able to pull off a win,” said
Lutzka, who defended his ’06 Portland Dew Tour Skate Park title.
“Definitely want to carry this momentum over to the next Dew Tour
round, hopefully be there to challenge for the overall at the finals.
And thanks again to Monster for having my back this summer. Means a
lot.”
As it stands Lutzka trails Scheckler 275-218 for the overall title
with two rounds remaining.
BMX Park
Monster Energy-backed tour sophomore Mike Spinner managed to put
together the run that eluded him in the Louisville (Ky.) Dew Tour
opener, breaking out (again) the 1080 – three clean 360-degree spins
in one jump – and this time stomping the landing. Even with several
other great riders to go in the BMX Park finals you know the trophy
engravers were already pulling out the dies to stamp “S” “P” “I” “N”
“N” “E” “R” into the GOLD Portland Dew Tour BMX Park trophy.
“Man, this is excellent,” said Spinner afterwards of his first Dew
Tour gold. “I hope everybody back at Monster headquarters is as
pumped about this as I am.”
Riding the shoreline break of Spinner’s 1080 all the way onto the
podium himself was Monster-backed veteran Dave Mirra. The all-time
most decorated BMX athlete, Mirra was consistent as ever and pulled
one of the highest prelim scores of the day (93.5). He kept pouring
it on in the finals and was rewarded with the silver medal.
BMX Vert
Absolutely unstoppable would be the best way to describe Monster
Energy’s Jamie Bestwick’s performance in the halfpipe at the Portland
Dew Tour. Bestwick flat-out ripped, overcoming a first run crash and,
with his back against the wall, the Brit then smoked everybody on
this second run - highlighted by massive alley-oop Superman seat
grabs and new downside whip to X-up.
“I think the fact that I slid out in my first run just added to the
adrenaline of the second run,” said Bestwick. “That and a Monster
Original before hand (laughter)! I knew Portland could be a turning
point for several of the other competitors, so it was highly
important that I put together an excellent run and was fortunate to
win. And my plan is to continue the same here in the next two rounds.”
FMX
Again, as they did in the X Games, Monster Energy’s Adam Jones and
Nate Adams proved their they’re at the top of their games in
Freestyle Motocross right now, again going 1-2 in a major FMX
competition - the Portland Dew Tour FMX comp.
Jones, who also won the FMX Best Trick silver medal at the X games
(to Monster’s Kyle Loza’s gold), was flawless at Portland, winning
the prelims and staying consistent through the finals. Jones pulled
the Stripper flip (a trick he invented), then wowed everybody with a
Shaolin flip over the 75-foot gap. Adams, still nursing a badly
injured hand, cracked the throttle next and threw some impressive no-
hand flip variations, along with a 360 nac-nac flip. The end result
was just a bit short of Jones’ score, 90.83 to 91.17.
Skate Vert & BMX Dirt
Monster’s Pierre Luc “PLG” Gagnon continued to amaze following the re-
building of his knee last year, this past weekend wicking ‘er up and
blazing to a silver medal finish in the Skate Vert event. Gagnon, who
also mined silver in the X Games halfpipe, was in command both on and
above the cope. His fakie shove-it to frontside lipslide had people
spitting out their gum in disbelief, while his fakie 720 was one of
the weekend’s premier tricks above the lip. Also running Monster
colors and burning holes in the Skatelite® were rookie Alex Perelson
(5th) and Jean Postec (7th) – giving Monster three guys in the top
seven overall – the popular energy drink company’s best overall
finish of the year.
And finally, on the gnarly BMX Dirt jumps, Monster Energy’s Ryan
Guettler pulled a double back flip on the final hit – which was maybe
the trick-of-the-night according to fans. A sketch on another double
back would unfortunately keep him out of the medals.
Next up for the Monster athletes on the Dew Tour is the Sept. 20-23
Toyota Challenge in Salt Lake City.
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