Great crowd in OKC

“Due to it being graduation weekend and Mothers Day, we had a few less competitors then we usually get in OKC, but the talent level was high and we had a nice crowd.” said tour organizer Bill Geiger. “There were definitely some fast lines and big boosts in the massive bowl which is always exciting to watch. And the street guys all killed it.”

The action kicked off around 2:30pm with the bowl qualifying. Fifteen riders were split in to 3 heats where they each got two 1-minute solo runs followed by a five-minute jam session. The top 2 from each heat would advance to a six-man final where everyone would get paid. Pat Donivan and Eduardo Ochoa, both RAT Tour regulars advanced from heat #1. In the second heat, Team Entropy rider Husayn Smart from Scotland moved on along with Kremlin Skateboards Steven Baker. Dalton Parks and William Cortez filled the final two spots.

Eduardo Ochoa

In the finals, each rider would get another one-minute solo run followed by a final five-minute jam session. When the final whistle blew, it was Oklahoma local Dalton Parks who impressed the judges with his smooth style and huge aerial maneuvers, he would take the top podium spot. Highlights of Parks run included indy shove transfer and bean plant over the center box.  Second place went to Pat Donivan who always charges hard and the high flying, long hair flowing style of  Entropy rider Eduardo Ochoa helped him secure a 3^rd place podium spot. Highlights of their runs included Donivans long nose manual across the center and then back into the bowl  and Ochoa’s alley oop indy frontside 3 over the hip. William Cortez, Husayn Smart and Steven Baker rounded out the top six in the bowl comp.

Bowl Podium

After the bowl comp awards were handed out, everyone made there way to the street course. The primary focus was on the 8-stair set that had a handrail down the middle and hubba ledges on both sides. Riders also worked the corner hip. Twenty-eight riders were split into five 5-minute heats and the top two would advance to the semi finals. In heat #1, Alex Dorio and Dakota Camp prevailed. Daniel Yeager and Bryce Trevino moved on from the second round, Pogo Conspiracy, Shawn Kelly and Pat Donivan from heat #3, James Young and Dillon Bryan from heat #4 and the final two to make it to the next round were Rocky Shaefer and country superstar…Allen Jackson.

Street course

In the semi-final round the riders were split into two heats and the top 3 in each heat would advance to the money round. The finals would feature Dillon Bryan, Rocky Shaefer and Daniel Yeager from semi #1 and they would face Dakota Camp, Pat Donivan and Jimmy Young from semi #2.

There was still a great crowd on-hand when the street finals kicked off around 5:30pm. The main focus continued to be the stair set, handrail and ledges and none of the riders were holding back. After an action packed final jam session, it was the dark horse…local Oklahomie Daniel Yeager who was sitting on top. Yeager threw down with a nice bag of tricks including a clean backside flip down the set and a poked out backside 180 grab to flat off the pyramid to lock up his first RAT Tour win. Always a threat, Entropy rider Dakota Camp bettered his 3^rd place finish in Conroe with a 2^nd in OKC. Camp charged hard all day and highlights of his run included back big to front board on the handrail, blunt down the hubba, and a smooth back tail to fakie on the hubba. The third podium spot went to Dillon Bryan who spent the first half of the day stylishly carving up the bowl comp and then came back to slay it on the street course. Rocky Shaefer, Pat Donivan (who also competed in the bowl comp) and Jimmy Young rounded out the top six. All of the top 6 received cash and prizes for their efforts.

Street Podium

Stop #3 of the series was made possible with support from Scion and local dealer Hudiburg Scion, The US Marines, Skateboarder Magazine, Skullcandy, GoPro, Sector 9, Neff, Entropy Skateboards, Already Been Chewed, GFive Threads, Theeve Trucks, Sk8te Skins,  and Grits Apparel. Additional support provided by local skate shops including Flipd Skate Shop. Core Extreme Sports, Industrial Skate Park and Extreme Athletic Wear.

Custom board racks

In addition to some first class skating, spectators enjoyed great music from Skullcandy DJ Toya Bee from OKC and watched local artists doing work designing blank decks in the Sector 9 “Inspiration Station”. Everyone also had numerous opportunities to win free swag from series sponsors or take the USMC Chin-Up Challenge for a chance to win a new Sector 9 longboard. It’s always a great time in OKC and last Saturday was no exception. Friendly people, great riding and a fun vibe ruled the day. More information, video edit and pictures are available now at www.SkateTheRat.com

Hudiburg RAT Grand Prize Winner

Tony G – Entropy Skateboards

DJ Toya B

The Scion RAT Tour is a six stop regional amateur competition series that features some of the top young amateur skaters in the south central region. In addition to Oklahoma City, the 2012 series hosts events in Baton Rouge, LA, Conroe, TX, San Antonio, TX, Austin, TX and Dallas, TX. The series is produced by Dallas based Geiger Media LLC who have been organizing action sports and lifestyle events since 2004. Please send all media inquiries to geigermedia@sbcglobal.net

Killer setting in Conroe

“Our first trip to Conroe was great”’ said tour organizer Bill Geiger. “We had great weather and some legit skaters showed up from across the region to compete. Everyone really loved the park and the skating was definitely on-point. ”

street plaza

Despite rain all day on Friday, the weather could not have been better for the event on Saturday. Cool temperatures and blue sky’s combined with the most tree filled, natural park-like setting of the series made it a great day. Congrats to the guys at SPA Skateparks in Austin for building a first class facility in Conroe.

Steven Baker

The action started around 2:30pm in the big pool at Kasmiersky. Twenty-one skaters were split into four heats. Everybody got a one-minute solo run in the big pool followed by a five-minute jam session. Then we switched to the smaller flow bowl were everyone got another one-minute solo run. The top two from each heat would advance to the finals. In heat #1, Ben Johnson and Dalton Parks advanced, heat #2 sent Will Cortez and Dustin Mallory on. Brandon Smith and Scott Parenti took heat #3 and Zach Castillo and Jeremy Smith came out of the final heat along with wildcard Jesse Mondragon.

Jesse Mondragon boosting

The finals would all take place in the bigger pool bowl where all nine skaters would get another one-minute solo run followed by a final jam session. Ben “Captain Gnar Gnar” Johnson, representing for Houston based Embassey Skateboards, used every inch of the pool as he carved, grinded and boosted his way to his first top podium spot on the RAT Tour. It was a well-deserved win for the always hard-charging Johnson. The second podium spot went to Jeremy Smith, a tour newcomer who definitely had the big bowl wired. His fast-paced snake jam session with his brother Brandon offered up some of the most exciting “doubles” riding of the day and in his solo runs he was consistent and smooth. Zach Castillo took the 3^rd place spot with some tech grinds and a buttery smooth style.  Scott Parenti, Dustin Mallory and Will Cortez rounded out the top six. All of the top six received cash and prizes from series sponsors.

After the bowl winners were crowned, the focus shifted to the plaza style street course at Kasmiersky. Forty skaters were split into seven qualifying heats where they would compete in a five-minute jam session. The top two from each heat would advance along with a couple of wild cards at the judge’s discretion. Everyone skated well, but only seventeen riders would advance to the semi-finals and have another opportunity to impress the judges and get a spot in the money round. They were split into three heats and again, the top two would advance to a six-man final where everyone would get paid. Reese Garcia and the youngster, Garrett Simich advanced from heat #1. Dakota Camp joined Riley Deal from the 2^nd heat and Gavin Adair and Dominique Goings rounded out the top six from heat #3.

Dustin Mallory took an 18 hour bus ride from El Paso to compete…that's dedication!

The finals took place on the 7-stair set-up at the far end of the street course. In addition to the stair gap, riders had a couple of hubba ledges on the outside, a rounded hand-rail and a square hand-rail to work with, and work is exactly what they did. It was an energized final featuring the top skaters of the day dropping back-to-back hammers and keeping the crowd cheering wildly. The final five-minute jam ended up going to 8 or 10 minutes because nobody wanted to stop…crowd or competitors! When it did finally wrap, it was clear that Houston’s Dominique Goings was the class of the field. He was super consistent landing some of the biggest tricks in the finals including  a nollie kickflip down the stairs, hardflip down the stairs 360 kickflip down the stairs crook down the round handrail

street finals

Second place in the street comp went to Gavin Adair whose highlights include a sick nosegrind down the hubba and a back big down the stairs. Riley Deal took the 3^rd place spot skating well throughout the day and continuing in the finals including a big backside 180 over the handrail to flat. Reese Garcia, Dakota Camp (big props for Dakota, he killed it) and Garrett Simich rounded out the top six.

Taking the Scion iQ Test

Stop #2 of the 2012 RAT Tour Series was made possible with support from Scion and local dealer Gullo Scion, Skateboarder Magazine, Skullcandy, GoPro, Sector 9, Neff, Entropy Skateboards, Already Been Chewed, GFive Threads, Theeve Trucks, Sk8te Skins, vitaminwater and Grits Apparel. Additional support provided by local skate shops including Kingpinz, Cades Boards and M2 Sports.

GFive crew

Thanks to our judges who worked hard all day, the artists from Aerosal Warfare who did work in the Sector 9 “Inspiration Station”, announcer Richie McKee for calling the shots, DJ Toya B for the dope soundtrack of the day, filmer WolfPat Ascherl, Susie Geiger for keeping registration running smooth and all of the people who make up the RAT Tour crew.

The Push Hard Boyz drove in from Colorado to shred.

Next stop for the 2012 Scion RAT Skate Tour will be Saturday, May 12^th at the Mat Hoffman Action Sports Park in Oklahoma City, OK. On-line registration is just $15, or $20 on the day of the event.

“This is our first trip to Conroe and everyone is excited to visit this awesome new facility”’ said tour organizer Bill Geiger. “There is definitely some top local talent in the Houston market and the new Kasmiersky Park is going to provide a great setting for our event.”

Stop #2 of the 2012 RAT Tour Series is made possible with support from Scion and local dealer Gullo Scion, Skateboarder Magazine, Skullcandy, GoPro, Sector 9, Neff, Entropy Skateboards, Already Been Chewed, GFive Threads, Theeve Trucks, Sk8te Skins and Grits Apparel. Additional support provided by local skate shops including Kingpinz, Cades Boards and M2 Sports.

The Kasmiersky Skatepark is located at 889 Old Magnolia Road in Conroe and action starts at 2:00pm. If you’re a rider wanting to compete then, register now on-line for $15.00. Spaces are limited so if you are serious…sign up early and reserve your spot. Registration is $20.00 on the day of the event if any spots remain. More information and registration is available now at www.SkateTheRat.com

HOST HOTEL:

 If you are traveling from out of town and need a place to stay that’s affordable and close to Kasmiersky skatepark, our host hotel is:

Baymont Inn & Suites at 1506 Interstate 45 S. in Conroe, TX.

Mention that you are with the RAT Skate Tour and get a room with two (2) double beds or one (1) king bed for the special price of just $65.oo per night. Free wi-fi and free breakfast are included.

BATON ROUGE, LA. – March 25 2012. – The first stop of the 2012 Scion RAT Skate Tour took place on Saturday, March 24^th at the Perkins Road Skatepark in Baton Rouge Louisiana. It was our first trip to Louisiana and it was an epic battle in the bayou. The park was awesome, the crowds were big all day and they were rewarded with some of the best skating we have seen since the series started in 2009. Needless to say, it was a great way to kick-off the 2012 tour!

The action got started at about 2:30pm with the bowl competition. Nineteen skaters were split into three heats for qualifying and each rider got two one-minute runs followed by a 5 minute jam session, the top two in each heat would advance to a six man final were everyone would get paid. The finals included Entropy rider and RAT Tour regular Pogo Conspiracy, and Aaron Blanchard from heat #1, Entropy teammates Eduardo Ochoa and William Cortez advanced from Heat #2 and Steven Baker and Dustin Mallory made it through from Heat#3. Honorable mention goes out to Baton Rouge local Zach Kuehne who killed it, but just missed the cut.

In the finals each rider got another one-minute solo run followed by a five-minute jam session. Everyone in the finals killed it and when the dust settled it was Pogo Conspiracy sitting in 6^th place followed by Aaron Blanchard in 5^th and Dustin Mallory in 4^th. The top three podium spots went to the always high-flying William Cortez who took 3^rd, his Entropy teammate Eduardo Ochoa in 2^nd, and RAT newcomer Steven Baker who absolutely destroyed the bowl in Baton Rouge earned the top spot finishing in 1^st place. Highlights of the bowl included Bakers array of smooth back smiths, feeble to fakie, airs and a nose pic on the over-vert that had the crowd going wild! Eduardo Ochoa had a clean run with a nice backside air, a nose grab frontside air and a nollie in. William Cortez who took third did a nice handplant and some high-flying boneless variations off the coping.

Baker, Ochoa and Cortez

After the bowl comp awards were handed out, the focus shifted to the massive plaza style street course at the BREC Park.  Forty-five riders were split in to 7 qualifying heats where they would get five minutes to show the judges what they had. The top two (or 3 in the case of a tie) in each heat would advance to the semi-final round. The seventeen riders who advanced included Zach Keuhne, Zac Votruba, Austin Van Tassell, Blaine Laubach, Nathan Lee Hammond, Daniel Borousse, Bram Metz, Christian Willis, Kyle Cox, Dakota Camp, Adam Miley, Lance Chapin, Jordan Pierron, William Lambert, Collin Browning, Juan Figueroa and Weston Montgomery.

The qualifying riders were split into two semi-final heats for a second five-minute jam session and this time the top 3 in each would advance to a six man final where everyone would get paid. The judges had their work cut out for them because everyone was absolutely ripping. Once the judges sorted everything out it was time for the finals and the field was made up of some of Louisiana’s best, including Kyle Cox from local shop FIDNA, Zack Kuehne, Nathan Lee Hammond, Lance Chapin, Christian Willis and RUKUS Board Shops Daniel Borousse. It had already been a long day, but there was still a great crowd on-hand when the street finals got underway around 7:00pm.

It was an action packed final heat filled with bangers from every competitor. Highlights of the street competition included Christian Willis doing a front smith UP the hubba then kickflip out.  Willis also ollied over the flat part of the hubba into the down then ollied over the manual box and he Frontside kickflipped over the handrail in all 3 of his heats first try. His impressive runs locked down the 1^st place spot on the podium. Lance Chapin did a lipslide into switch krook on the box (very tech) and ended up in 2^nd place and 3^rd place went to Nathan lee Hammond who nailed a full cab down the big 3 set and also a big fakie kickflip over the bank. Honorable mention tricks included Daniel Borousse 50mph nose blunt down the handrail, Zack Kuehne’s bs tail slide big spin out on the handrail and Kyle Cox super clean half cab to 50 50 on the hand rail.

Hammond, Willis and Chapin topped the street podium

Special thanks go out to Baton Rouge Parks and Rec for hosting the Scion RAT Tour at their impressive new park, All Star Scion for keeping all the riders fed and hydrated in the rider VIP tent, all the local artists who did work in the Sector 9 “Inspiration Station”, DJ Golden Machete who kept the good music flowing all day and of course, to all of the fans who came out to watch and the skaters who came out to compete. Everyone really made us feel welcome and we can’t wait to return to Louisiana in 2013!

It was a great way to start the 2012 series and it was all made possible with support from Scion and local dealer All Star Scion, vitaminwater, Sector 9, Neff Headwear, Skullcandy, Entropy Skateboards, G5 Threads, Theeve Trucks, GoPro, Already Been Chewed, Sk8te Skins, Chief Skateboards, Screw You Hardware and local shops FIDNA, Urban 9, Humidity Skate Shop, RUKUS, Politics and Small Time Skates.

MORE PICTURES AND VIDEO EDIT FROM THE FIRST STOP WILL BE POSTED HERE ASAP.

Next up, the Scion RAT Tour heads to the new Kasmiersky Skate park in Conroe, Texas (just North of Houston) on Saturday, April 21^st. For more information and rider registration go to www.skatetherat.com. For media inquiries, please contact Geiger Media at geigermedia@sbcglobal.net.

BATON ROUGE, LA – February 2012 – The 2012 Scion Regional Amateur Skateboard Tour (The RAT) will kick-off on Saturday, March 24th at the Perkins Road Skate Park in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Admission for spectators is absolutely FREE. Come out and see some of the top skaters in the region competing in street and bowl competitions for over $2500 in cash and prizes. We will have a live DJ in the Skullcandy music tent and local artists doing work in the Sector 9 “Inspiration Station”. Plus, check out photo’s from last years events in the “Reflection Section” presented by Skateboarder Magazine. Grab some swag from series sponsors!

It’s stop #1 of the 2012 Scion RAT SKate Tour and it’s all made possible with support from Scion and local dealer, All Star Scion, Vitaminwater, Skateboarder Magazine, Skullcandy, GoPro, Sector 9, Neff, Entropy Skateboards, Already Been Chewed, GFive Threads, Theeve Trucks, Sk8te Skins, Chief Skateboards, Screw You Hardware and local skate shops including Urban 9, Rukus, Fidna, Small Time Skates, Politics and Humidity.

The Perkins Road Skate Park is located at 7122 Perkins Road in Baton Rouge. ACTION STARTS AT 2:00PM. If your want to compete then register now on-line for $15.00. Spaces are limited so if your serious…sign up today and reserve your spot. Registration is $20.00 on the day of the event if any spots remain.

HOST HOTEL: If you are traveling from out of town and need a place to stay, our official host hotel for stop #1 of the RAT Tour is the Comfort Suites at 3045 Valley Creek Drive, Baton Rouge, LA. 70808. Their phone number is (225) 923-3377. Mention that you are with the RAT Skate Tour and get a reduced rate of $79.00 (normally $90) while they last.