This weekend the Motor Town Classic returns to Detroit and bladers from all over make the pilgrimage to spend shred time with their brethren on the smooth ramps of Modern Skatepark. But a few months ago another event went down in the D, this one in the gritty streets and grass-roots skateparks of the city and known by the name Delta City Open. Event co-founder and organizer Noah Zipser headed up this coverage that shows some of the blading and brotherhood that goes down when Detroit plays blade host. Respect!

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Every year since 2011 The Delta City Open has gone down here in Detroit on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. If you aren’t familiar with this event (along with the Motor Town Classic this weekend), it is a group effort by James Fisher, Sean P. Quinn and Noah Zipser, with spot consulting/selection/construction by Al Dolega and our website handled by AK. 

2015 marked the 5th annual DCO, making it a very special one for all of us here in Detroit. Over the years, we have had an amazing array of unique locations raging from burly, true street obstacles and perfect DIY setups. As expected, DCOV had it all. 

Registration/Spot 1 was at The Wig, a now infamous DIY skatepark here in Detroit on the edge of Midtown. Al Dolega had a heavy hand in its construction and was building obstacles all the way up until the event started. You can’t stop that guy! The warmups turned to hammers pretty quickly as those Not Cereal boys (Don Bambrick and Brian Weis) started putting on a show. Don pulled quite a few 3+ trick switch ups on both sides of the shotgun ledge while BWeis was working on a wacky cess to hop royale on the launch box transition. Ed Gilley, Luke Rappa and Zack Savage laid down some serious style and technical lines as well.

Spot 2 was the 3rd Street ledges with one long, gradual, up ledge and another steeper and shorter up ledge. Before most bladers got here, Brandon Long (DCO2 Champ) was sizing up a huge 180 gap into the street. That trick ended up sealing his fate for the day and busted his wrist fairly hard on the landing. Grant Hazelton came out and pulled a huge back royale to fakie, and Luke Naylor followed suit with a royale to ao topsoul 720 out. Rugburn caught his usual DCO skitch too.

Spot 3 was no easy task as we headed to a triple kink rail while making our way east through the city. These guys handled it well with LJ Fanti busting an x-grind, Brett Urbas with a sweaty, Jake Cawley going topsoul to transfer royale and Don following it up with a topsoul to transfer soul. I clearly remember Nate Snowden styling out a topsoul to 180 and just barely not being able to hold onto the fishbrain which everyone was rooting for. 

Spot 4 was a total wild card. It was a bank to ledge with a double rail on top (just look at the photos) at the Stroh’s ice cream plant near Eastern Market. It was a little slow starting as no one really knew what to make of it. Grant Hazelton, Mikey Blair, Luke Rappa, Zack Zavage and Rugburn all attacked the bank to ledge but Luke Naylor took it up a notch and back royaled the high rail from the flat and transfered almost perfectly into the bank. The crowd let Luke know they appreciated it and I’m pretty sure that made Papa Don want to hit the bank to soul on the highest rail which set everyone off. 

Spot 5 was an always overlooked Detroit spot right on the river. Two stair rails varying in height on the same set. This turned into a true street battle as we saw at least a few huge 540s, 720s and Misty Flips (by Eli Lindauer who took Haunted Wheel Co’s Spookiest Trick Award) on display. Nick Doherty and Grant Hazelton continued to pour the style on with their tech grinds and effortless flow. However, it wasn’t enough to stop our Dad, Don. This guy pretty much filmed a section at this spot and coming fresh of filming his Vibralux VOD, it showed. The nail in the coffin being the 360 soul to rewind and the ao fishbrain to back fastslide with the same foot and grab. 

As the comp ended and we all made our way back to Al Dolega, Ryan C and Charlie Sparks’ place for a true Detroit BBQ with plenty of coney dogs to go around. After a little bit of chill time and a grind box session, we honored Grant Hazelton with 3rd place, Luke Naylor with 2nd and Don Bambrick with this year’s Delta City Open title. 

See you all at the Motor Town Classic this weekend! — Noah Zipser, James Fisher and Sean P. Quinn

Thank you’s go out to: Al Dolega, Ryan C, Charlie Sparks, Chris Gerard, AK, Zack Straight, Adam Longstreet, Matt Brideau, Modern Skate Park, Haunted Wheel Co, FID Shred Co, Stak N Doe Ent, Vollkries, Black Eagle Press, and all of the competitors, friends and family that make this all possible!