Vans Downtown Showdown

September 12^th, Torino (Italy)

SUPPORTED BY FIAT FREESTYLE

The very first edition of the European Vans Downtown Showdown hit Italy today and exceeded all expectations.

The famous Lingotto Building (formerly the Fiat factory and test track) was a stunning and perfect backdrop for this unique skate jam. Taking over one side of the oval roof looking out at Torino city and the Olympic bridge, the three brightly coloured obstacles created an interesting contrast to the industrial race track. The space was limited to 300 people and those lucky enough to attend were packed around each obstacle, keen to see what the pro teams from Alai, Blueprint, Cliché, Element, Heroin, Trap could do.

Up first in the jam format - dubbed the ‘up ledgy wedgy’ by its creator Paul Shier from Blueprint, it turned out to be the most popular of the three obstacles: “I wanted to create something that was accessible to everyone.” A special mention goes to Jerome Campbell for his frontside fliplip slide to down.

Heroin’s offering dwarfed everyone with a 10ft pink wall ride that was adorned with a rainbow rail, extension to over vert and wallie rail. The Skaters pushed flat out to build up enough speed to get to the top of it, which only a few managed. Chris Ault stunned everyone by dropping in and also received the biggest cheer for finally landing the pole jam off the wallie rail. Alai rider, Alain Saavendra may have just invented a new trick, which Ben Powell from Sidewalk magazine has named the ‘yippie jump’.

Cliché’s ‘mushroom’ took up residence in the middle of the course and was decorated in a red brick pattern which was sessioned as the sun set behind the Torino mountains.

Chris Ault pulled transfer after transfer and Madars Apse’s 360 deserves a special mention as well as Phil Zwijsen’s ollie nose grind to nollie out.

Tony Alva and Ray Barbee were the special US guests alongside the legendary Steve Van Doren who pleased the Vans fans by giving away signed t-shirts to a huge queue of spectators.

The ‘bolla’ accommodated the live web feed and production crew which was hosted by the ever charismatic Marc Churchill who said:”The competition was phenomenal and was the ultimate comp to show versatility between teams and riders. Having three different obstacles designed by the three teams gives the comp a completely different feel to the usual format”

The webcast went out on all local Vans sites, check www.vans.com (Europe) for the up coming podcasts.

Fiat Freestyle Team Best Trick/Best Slam Prize – EUR 1,000 – Danny Brady

Heroin Obstacle 1st EUR 1,500 – Javier Mendizabal

Heroin Obstacle 2nd EUR 1,000 – Chris Ault

Heroin Obstacle 3rd EUR 800 – Alain Saavedra

Cliché Obstacle 1st EUR 1,500 – Chris Ault

Cliché Obstacle 2nd EUR 1,000 – Madars Apse

Cliché Obstacle 3rd EUR 800 – Ingacio Morata

Blueprint Obstacle 1st EUR 1,500 – Jerome Campbell

Blueprint Obstacle 2nd EUR 1,000 – Lucas Puig

Blueprint Obstacle 3rd EUR 800 – Nick Jensen

Best AM EUR 4,000 – Philippe Zwijsen

Best PRO EUR 6,000 – Javier Mendizabal

Team 1st EUR 15,000 – Element

Team 2nd EUR 10,000 – Cliché

Team 3rd EUR 5,000 – Alai

Special thanks to FIAT, Epiphone, IgnoRamps, Red Bull, Fassiosnao, Nastro Azzurro. Steve Van Doren, Kristy Van Doren, Tony Alva and Ray Barbee for joining us across Europe. The judges – Danny Wainwright, Nic Powley, Raul Fernandez, David Couliau, Alexis Jauzion. Alai, Blueprint, Cliché, Element, Heroin and Trap and all the skaters.