funsporting.comNEWSSkateboardingDanny Mayer Wins his First Professional Skateboard Vert Contest 0411

Danny Mayer Wins his First Professional Skateboard Vert Contest!

The finals of the ASA Action Sports World Tour’s (ASA ASWT) Kings Island event delighted park visitors in Cincinnati, Ohio with shows that pushed the limits of everyone’s expectations and crowned champions more than deserving of recognition.

After months of placing second to Pierre-Luc Gagnon (Montreal, Canada), Danny Mayer (Omaha, Nebraska) took top honors this weekend in the Skateboard Vert contest and claimed what was his first-ever professional competition title.

Skateboard Vert contestants turned out a performance that kept fans glued to the sidelines with new tricks, a few crashes and a new winner on the ASA ASWT podium.

From the first run everyone could tell it was going to be more than just a contest. The top five men after the first round – Gagnon, Mayer, Josh Stafford (San Diego, Calif.), Rob Lorifice (Encinitas, Calif.), and Zach Miller (Del Mar, Calif.) – laid down impressively solid 10-wall runs, making it a race between the legends (Gagnon and Mayer) and the young guns Stafford (18), Lorifice (20), and Miller (19). Then, Mayer took the lead in the second round with not only his signature kick flip 540, but also a fakie to fakie 540 and the crowd went wild.

Gagnon, as the top qualifier and therefore the last rider in each round of the finals, started his second run by dropping in with a 360 flip but missed his 720 and was never quite able to put it together again this weekend. In fact, after Mayer took the lead with his second run, the top two positions never changed. Mayer emerged the victor, ending the competition by going three for three with his kick-flip mctwist, even after landing on the ramp flat on his back in the third round. Gagnon continued to struggle after dropping in with a 360 flip and therefore watched his streak of 7 ASA Action Sports World Tour Skateboard Vert titles come to an end.

“While I’m disappointed that I missed my run three times in a row, I am happy for Danny. He’s been working hard and skating great and he definitely deserves it,” said Gagnon after the awards ceremony.

Seemingly unaware of the cuts and scraps on his elbows and his stiffening muscles from the hard landing in round three, Mayer bit his gold medal and enjoyed the excitement of his first professional win.

“I’ve won best trick contests, but I’ve never won a competition like this,” realized Mayer. When asked how it feels, he looked at his forearms and showed everyone his goose bumps and said,“This says it all.”

Lorifice took third place in Skateboard Vert followed by Adam Taylor (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) and Anthony Furlong (Tampa, Fla.)

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