King of the road 2003: team DLX

Thrasher Magazine, Jan, 2004

FINAL POINT STANDINGS

1st: Deluxe--2830

2nd: Tumyeto--2790

3rd: Vulture--2710

4th: eS--1440

MVP: MOST TRICKS

Tumyeto: Johnny Layton (20)

Volcom: (tie) Caswell Berry, Javier Sarmiento (19)

Deluxe: Ernie Torres (18)

eS: Eric Koston (17)

Mystery Guest: Scott Bourne (8)

Team Manager: Remy Stratton (6)

Media--video: (tie) Jeff Morris, Scuba Steve (1)

Media--photos: Scott Pommier (4)

LVP: LEAST TRICKS

Tumyeto: Gareth Stehr (4)

Volcom: Dustin Dollin (1)

Deluxe: JT Aultz (7)

eS: Rick McCrank (3)

Mystery Guest: (tie) Harold Hunter, SAD (0)

Team Manager: Jasin Phares (0)

Media--video: (tie) Dan Vellucci, Trevor Prescott (0)

Media--photog: Gabe Morford (0)

HIGHEST, LONGEST, MOST

BIGGEST RAIL: Ernie Torres, Smith

HIGHEST AIR: Rune Glifberg, f/s over Remy, Skatopia

MOST STAIRS OLLIED: Caswell Berry, 18

BIGGEST CHANNEL: Caswell Berry, Skatopia transfer

BIGGEST B/S LIP: Ernie Torres, 12, Denver, CO

DIRTIEST GEAR: TNT, same duds for two weeks

LONGEST DIRT RIDE: Gareth Stehr, Walnut Creek

DAEWON AWARD--MOST RIGGED SET-UP: Scott Bourne

BEST DOPPLEGANGER: Volcom found a "John Goodman"

HALL OF MEAT: Gareth Stehr, heel smasher

BEST SLAM: Johnny Layton, head bunk

TALLEST SWITCH DROP-IN: Rune Glifberg, Skatopia

BIGGEST SWITCH OLLIE: Darrell Stanton over bike rack

BIGGEST KICKFLIP: Ernie Torres, Widowmaker gap, Boulder, CO

BEST LINE: Dennis Busenitz

BEST HANDRAIL TRICK: Johnny Layton, nollie f/s feeble

MOST GNAR: Adrian Mallory, big crooks, Atlanta, GA

BEST TRICK BLINDFOLDED: Dan Drehobl, pivot to fakie

LONGEST GRIND: TNT, Jamie Thomas rail, Chicago

BEST WACKY BOARD TRICK: Dan Drehobl, f/s air on M16

MISC. CHALLENGES

MAKE OUT W/ PERSON FIVE YEARS OLDER THAN YOU: Ernie Torres, Caswell Berry, and Johnny Layton

FIND SOMEONE W/ PRO'S NAME: eS: James Charles Craig, Colorado

MAKE OUT W/PERSON OVER 30 YEARS OLD: Caswell Berry

SKATE A RAIL IN THE RAIN: Adrian Mallory, St Louis; TNT, Brooklyn; Caswell Berry, Albuquerque

FOCUS A STRANGER'S BOARD: Gabe Morford, Pittsburgh; Caswell Berry, Boston; Johnny Layton, Miami; Eric Koston, SLC

MAKE OUT W/ PERSON OVER 40 YEARS OLD: Diego Bucchieri, 43 years old; JT Aultz, anywhere from 40 to 65

GET A THRASHER TATTOO: Jasin Phares, Sk8goat; Dustin Dollin, SkSgoat; Gareth Stehr, spooky skull

BOMB HILL SWITCH: Tony Evjenth; Gareth Stehr

PIGGY BACK DROP-IN: TNT with Ernie Torres; Tony Evjenth with Alexis Sablone; Scott Bourne with Reno local; Rune Gliiberg with unknown soldier

SKATE NAKED: Darrell Stanton in Minneapolis; Caswell Berry in Cincinnati; Gareth Stehr in Miami

GRIND A HANDRAIL BAREFOOT: Adrian Mallory

WHO GOT THE MOST ...

MANUALS

Tumyeto: Ethan Fowler

eS: Eric Koston

Volcom: Busenitz, Sarmiento

Deluxe: Ernie Torres

LEDGES

Tumyeto: Johnny Layton

eS: Paul Rodriguez

Volcom: Javier Sarmiento

Deluxe: JT Aultz

TRANNY

Tumyeto: Diego Bucchieri

eS: Eric Koston

Volcom: Rune Glifberg

Deluxe: Dan Drehobl

BACKYARD POOL

Tumyeto: Scott Bourne

Volcom: Rune Glifberg

Deluxe: TNT, Drehobl

STAIRS

Tumyeto: Johnny Layton

Deluxe: Darrell Stanton

eS: Paul Rodriguez

Volcom: Caswell Berry

6-10 STAIR RAIL

Volcom: Caswell Bery

eS: Paul Rodriguez

Tumyeto: Johnny Layton

Deluxe: Darrell Stanton

11 STAIR RAIL

Deluxe: Ernie Torres

Tumyeto: Johnny Layton

FLATGROUND

Volcom: Javier Sarmiento

Deluxe: TNT, Darrell

Tumyeto: Ethan Fowler

eS: PJ Ladd

HYDRANT

Volcom: Javier Sarmiento

Deluxe: Ernie Torres

Tumyeto: Ethan Fowler

DITCHES

Volcom: Javier Sarmiento

Deluxe: TNT

Tumyeto: Ethan Fowler

RELATED ARTICLE: Judgement day.

THE JUDGING PORTION of the K.O.T.R. was a debacle--largely due to the fact that we had just two hours to review all the teams' footage before the Bayview Rumble started. Because of Jake's impossibly short attention span, what ended up happening was all the available media (me, Scot, Gabe, Luke, and Jeff) went through each teams' footage, checking off tricks and voting on questionable ones. We then had Jake make the final call on all the Highest, Longest, Mostest categories. It actually felt more democratic because we were able to argue for our teams' tricks and see what all the other guys had done. Some of the eS team's tricks got thrown out because they were done on too small of tranny and a few of Deluxe's tricks were accidentally left out of their final footage edit.

After we reviewed and voted on everything, we added up all the points, then double- and triple-checked each other's stats. As we exited the office we were told that we had missed the rumble--a shame the gravity of which intensified when Luke realized that no one had shot it. Shit, check the website.

Deluxe won. Wahoo! They really got in the spirit of things and went above the beyond the call of duty--especially JT, who pretty much made out with a bag lady to earn his team the big 50. They each got K.O.T.R. trophies, a thousand bucks, and their guy on the cover. We (Tumyeto) came in a close second, losing by a paltry 40 points, followed closely by Volcom and then eS, whose team manager was heard to remark "Wait--I didn't think this was serious!" after hearing what all the other teams had been busting out with.

The Deluxe team are now the defending King of the Road champions. That's right--this is not the end! They'll be going against five new teams next summer, with all new routes and challenges.