Last weekend was the turn of Adrenaline Alley in Corby to host their leg of the UK Independent Vert Series 2012. It’s the biggest ramp on the tour so you can bet there’s going to be some gnarly stuff going down. Unfortunately a dates clash meant some of the heads were out at an event in Milan but there was still a solid turnout and plenty of sick skating.

In the B-group victory went to young Mats Harlem who’d come all the way from Scandinavia for a session! Hem skated in his usual wild man style and finished off the jam with a roll in indy nose blunt which was just too stupid to comprehend!

A-group was a really mixed affair as you’d expect with the range of skaters present. Sean Goff had to settle for 5th due to a few too many falls (unlucky champ!) and Matty was edged down into 4th after not quite managing to ride out of a 720, though back to back 540′s are no joke! Matty is getting better and more powerful every time I see him skate, I dread to think what he’ll be capable of once he gets a bit of weight on him! Jimmy as usual skated his guts out and put in a load of solid runs and lovely frontside nose grinds.

It was Andy Scott’s birthday and he was definitely in the mood for having a laugh. He could have won this (and most other comps) with ease really but obviously that’s not something that bothers him. Lipslides whilst chucking thumbs up to the camera, benihana nosegrind and ‘The Cannonball Run’ put a smile on everyone’s face. Andy Scott, you’re the best!

Victory went to Oakley Liddell who really knows how to ride a skateboard properly. Good solid style, excellent trick choice and loads of power. Oakley always reminds me of guys like Grosso at their best – no gimmicks, just skateboarding done properly. Congratulations on your first A-group win, it was well deserved!

We handed out the trophies and sung “Happy Birthday” to Andy before heading our separate ways to meet again at Blockless Combat.

Massive thanks to all the sponsors:  Monster, Skullcandy, Vans, Protec, Bondi Beer, Tech Deck, Indy, Flip and OJ wheels.

To keep up to date with the series please join the FB group here:  http://www.facebook.com/groups/326017514835/

A-Group
1: Oakley Liddell
2: Andy Scott
3: Jimmy Langran
4: Matty Carlisle
5: Sean Goff

B-Group
1: Mats Hatlem
2: Hem
3: James Haney

Click below to get linked up…

The Works,Leeds:

As I expected The Works turned out to be the busiest stop of the series, all the local faces were in attendance plus a few guys from further afield like James Coyle down from Newcaastle.  The Works has nurtured it’s fair share of pro/sponsored skaters over the years including the like of Tom Harrison, Manhead and of course Mike Wright so you know the standard of the locals is high!  In the under 16′s local big mouth John Sykes dominated with his ankle swinging trousers and good mix of tricks, both old and new, including plenty of boneless’s and a slick noseblunt slide on the 1/4.  Manchester young gun Jake Potts took second and travelling scouser Charlie Birch took 3rd.

The over 16′s was also of a high standard and a total battle of the locals, a bunch of friends skating against each other.  Cainan was ripping with loads of shove it out variations on the small rail and Mike Arnold impressed everyone with a smooth style.  In the end Dale “The Starkster” Starkie and his beautiful fringe took the win with the ever successful combination of speed, power and just pretty much staying on everything!

As predicted the sponsored comp was hectic, it was popular belief that this would be a tough call between Manhead and Mike and that’s exactly how it played out.  Props to Tom Harrison for keeping it fun and entertaining the crowd, judges and MC Marc Churchill with fake stressing, nollie heel flip indy attempts over the driveway and, of course, a benihana.  Jirka Bulin, Grove and Nev all made it through to the final repping Manchester and skating hard, Jirka got tech, Nev stayed on and Grove pleased the crowd by pretty much trying to kill himself as usual.  Like I said before the top two were almost pre-determined – the current UK champ Manhead is on full flow these days, the guy just doesn’t have a bad day, consistent, casual and stylish:  then you have Mike Wright, the guy that skates The Works most days and knows every little lump and bump in the place, he has it dialled.  Manhead was cruising, he was claiming it was his day off!  Nethertheless he pulled stuff that most of us will never do included a perfectly floaty backside 360 over the driveway.  Mike entered late from the Cafe with a face full of Mars bar and preceded to attack every obstacle with vigour.  There could be only one winner and it was Mike.

Under 16′s:
1: John Sykes
2: Jake Potts
3: Charlie Birch
4: Rooney
5: Matthew Kelly

16 and over:
1: Dale Starkie
2: Mike Arnold
3: Cainan McEwan
4: Rowan Murray
5: Harry Squires
6: Sandom

Pro/Sponsored:
1: Mike Wright
2: Josh Young
3: Ben Grove
4: Nev
5: Jirka

Best Trick – Mike Wright and Mike Arnold

Adrenaline Alley, Corby:

Sunday was a little quieter but there was still a healthy turn out, especially for the pro-sponsored category.  In the under 16′s Jacob Church surprised us all with a man sized bag of tricks and in the over 16′s man bag toting forum lurker Jerome took top spot narrowly above John Howlett who smashes it and himself every time I see him skate.  The slams he took nearly landing a feeble grind to backlip along and down the big rail were truly cringe worthy and i’m sure he won’t be able to sit down properly for a week!

The pro/sponsored qualifiers were so close we had to put 7 guys into the final as the judges just couldn’t agree on the top 6.  This is a fairly unusual scenario!  However the finals played out in almost the order in which they qualified with the exception of Chris Oliver who just kept getting robbed on landings, he later cruised to victory with ease in the best trick comp though.  Manny Lopez and Kyron Davies are both relatively new faces on the scene but as the saying goes “You’ll be seeing more of this kid” – both have well polished styles and tricks beyond their years.  Alex Barton skates with the consistency and huge trick bag of someone who spends a huge amount of time down at the Pioneer (much like the great Rodney Clarke before him) and is a real force when it comes to skating a comp.  Like I said before though, there’s not many people in the UK who can touch Josh ‘Manhead’ Young for skateboarding skills at the moment and he took a well deserved win racking up £850 for a weekends winnings and even treating me to dinner on the way home, what a guy!

Under 16:
1: Jacob Church
2: James Wilkinson
3: James Winstanley
4: Mike Coe

16 and over:
1: Jerome Caple
2: John Howlett
3: Ben Rafferty
4: Luke Jarvis
5: Ant Smith

Pro/Sponsored:
1: Josh Young
2: Alex Barton
3: Manny Lopez
4: Kyron Davies
5: Ewen Bower
6: Radman
7: Chris Oliver

Best Trick: Chris Oliver

Witness the Adrenaline Alley pitness underneath, then keep an eye out for the majority of this lot at the UK Champs later in the year…

Kicking off at midday and running until 6pm, this comp is solely for unsponsored skaters aged both under 16 and 16 and over, so if you fit that description and fancy getting involved, make sure to get yourself along and join in! Entry will set you back £10 if you’re a park member (£12.50 if not) and, as ever, there are prizes up for grabs from a wide variety of companies with the winner from each category earning themselves a “wild card” entry into this years UK Champs.

See the poster below for more info, and hit up the Adrenaline Alley site for directions to the park.

See below to witness what went on for yourself, filmed by Andy King…

Motive Skateboards : Corby Skatepark from Motive Skateboards on Vimeo.

All the highlights from the weekends vert event at the UKSA National Championships are now awaiting your eyes underneath – with Sam Beckett, Andy Scott, Jussi Korhonnen, Jake Anderson, Alex Halford, Pete King, Sean Goff, Oakley Lidell, Mike Edwards, Joe Atkins, Jim Langram, Zak Kutz, James Threlfall and Colin Adam.

Girls comp and bowl jam to follow…

Vert footage on it’s way…