Return of the Sunburn Classic Part 2

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Return of the Sunburn Classic Part 2
August 24, 1996


Brandon Perry, ready to judge

After the original Return of the Sunburn Classic was postponed due to rain on July 27; a second Return of the Sunburn Classic, sponsored by Town and Country and various other skate companies took place on August 24. Even though we almost got all the way through the last contest, all the scores were tossed out and the contest was started all over again. There was no way this contest was going to be canceled because of weather, because there was not a cloud in the sky. I suppose it could have been canceled because of the intense heat. One of the best things about the contest on July 27 was that it started at 2 p.m., and it was slightly overcast. This contest however, started in the morning and definitely lived up to its name Return of the Sunburn as most of the skaters eventually either retreated to find precious shade or passed out from heatstroke and died. Some of the notables:

The setup was pretty cool. There were three well-placed obstacles: including a tiny ollie ramp/platform, a nice double-sided slant ramp/handrail, and a wooden freeway divider, all built by master craftsman and part-time thug, Brian Takishita (Brian also made sure that none of the banners got stolen).
Former Alva professional team rider, dreadless Jef Hartsell (see Hartsel interview) was there to get the party started with his turntable techniques. He kept it going the whole day, even when the wind would gust and make his records skip. Harts even skated an afternoon session of the freeway divider and grinded up and down the the edges of any street obstacles in his way.

I got $40 credit at T & C for judging the contest. Brandon Perry filled in for Robby Gaskell as judge, which is why Alf did not win the sponsored division (see Sunburn pt. 1).

The skating was pretty good, but the best display was by the little Brandon Kays. He's only about a foot and a half taller than his skateboard, but you've got to see the way he pushes, its so rad. Also, although he didn't make it to the finals in the 14 & under category, we presented him with a hat for being the smallest skater in the contest. When his name was announced before the 14 & under finals, instead of taking the hat, he did a little demo for everyone and skated around the course for a couple of minutes. He actually seemed kind of bummed when he took the hat and had to sit down.