Paul Rodriguez prevails in Skate Street at Portland Invitational – 2011 Dew Tour
Paul Rodriguez walked away with top honours from the Skate Street contest at the second stop of 2011 Dew Tour, Dew Tour Portland Invitational, which went down in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, August 13.
Ryan Decenzo remained the second most impressive skater of the night, while Manny Santiago finished in third place to round out the Top 3.
Ever since taking up the sport, Rodriguez always gave preference to skating in the street rather than the park. The years of experience paid off quite well as he took on some of the best talent from all around America on the new concrete street course at
Portland Invitational.
After earning his way into the 12-man final, Rodriguez continued to deliver high performance runs, relying more on switch tricks on the rail, to confidently make his way into the Super-Finals. The last stage of the contest comprised of the top six riders
battling each other for the top honour.
Reaching such a crucial point, Rodriguez decided to really step up his game and dig deep into his bag of tricks. The level of intensity in the Super-Final was really high, compelling the rider to shun all hesitation and go for the more risky tricks in his
arsenal.
The new resolve allowed him to throw down runs that included switch back lips down the rail, switch kick-flip backside 50-50s on the hubba, a switch crooked grind and a switch front feeble. It all eventually came together to get him a decisive total of 88.18
points.
Talking to a reporter after the results were announced, Rodriguez said, “I had to try some things that I was avoiding in practice on the big rail that made me nervous but I knew if I wanted to at least have a chance of winning I had to step it up and try
certain tricks down the bigger rail and just go for a couple more tech tricks that I added in there that I didn’t do before.”
Decenzo remained pretty impressive through the Super-Final, throwing down tricks such as a switch 270 front board and nollie heel over the tabletop, to score 85.20 points and secure a second-place finish.
Making his debut at the Dew Tour, Santiago had a really memorable weekend as he made his way through the qualifiers into the finals and later into the Super-Finals, eventually managing to find a place on the podium with a best-run score of 82.73. The Dew
Tour rookie was delighted with the outcome of the contest, saying that he had not even expected to make the cut before stepping on the course.
Kelvin Hoefler finished fourth after scoring 81.10 points, while Danilo Do Rosario took fifth with a best-run score of 77.65. Adam Dyet rounded out the bottom position after finishing with a best-run score of 73.25.
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