Spot 2 was a bank to rail with a sizeable drop on the right side, which is the side you approach it from. Shit got real when Houston cat Travis Reynolds started pulling out switch-ups reminiscent of O.G. Texas Legend Jason Howard. Most notably top porn stepback topsoul to truespin top soyale, and I want to say he did a 6-trick switch up on the damn thing. San Antonio local Dylan Cobb basically floated over the rail like a hovercraft with a perfect truespin topsoyale grabbed 360 out. Ian Freunscht, another S.A. resident, tore it up as well with a pornstar stepback topside pornstar, frontside unity to topsoul 540 out going fast as hell. Anthony Medina did a Christ fishbrain (crucifish) quite appropriately since it was the day before Easter. Once again Andrew Broom gave the spot a spanking with the sickest backside torque and floated 270 out to the chunked up ground everyone had been landing on. He followed that up with a grabbed backslide to the top deck, to Phillips 66 over the cross-bar. Shit was nuts.

Dylan Cobb / TTS 360 out

Rob Zbranek.

Sam is a fan.

Sorry boutcha hands.

Andrew Broom / BS Fastslide

Eric Balle.

Logan Harlan / AO Top Soul

Logan Harlan / Top Soul

Soon we all headed over to the final spot. It was a ditch containing a rail that went from the flat of the parking lot, down the bank of the ditch, across the flat, then back up the ditch again. I had never seen anything like it, and boy was it intimidating. Will Kennedy also made the announcement that any obstacle in the ditch could be skated. This included not only the rail but a few raw gaps and up-ledges as well. There was a slight division of skating at the last spot because of this. Some people owned the gaps such as Josh Ferguson, Andrew Broom, Caleb Benavides, and especially Timona “T.K.” Kasue — who wasn’t even competing in the event, but when I offered him ten dollars to gap from basically a bridge into a tiny steep bank he was immediately about it. He gapped into the bank with a grin on his face and snatched the money out of my hand as he rolled away. At the other end of the ditch things were getting serious on the rail. Travis Reynolds and Logan Harlan were able to make it all the way across, down, across, back up the rail and land into the bank, rather than the grass. Others were sticking to laying hammers on the across and down sections of the rails. Jarrod Banning was able to lace a backside savannah across the flat then down and across some of the flat again which had people going nuts. Ian Freunscht got buck as hell with a frontside torque to topsoul 540 out. Most of all Dylan Cobb was spittin’ hot fire with numerous tricks. What stuck out to me the most was his truespin topsoyale across and down the rail and his pornstar to truespin topside pornstar across and down the rail. That kid was dropping so many hammers it really is hard to remember them all. There was no time limit at the last spot so over time it ended up being a few people still going at it. When we lost count how many tricks Dylan and Jarrod had done we knew we had our winners.

Andrew Broom / 540

Bloody Broom.

Logan Harlan / Pre KO

Travis Reynolds / Royale

Timona “T.K.” Kasue.

What really makes Texas Skate Series special is that Will has created an event where we can all pitch in and further Texas blading. We all pay in to watch our friends get what they deserve. I would guess that at least half of the people that enter know they are not going to win and yet they compete anyway because they know that $25 is going to go to their friend that almost killed themselves that day. When I compete, I almost like to think of my entry fee as a donation to the homies that are really pushing it. That is the general vibe. That is why Texas has the most tight-knit and dopest scene in the country right now and it is only getting bigger. I hope to see the same thing happen in every state soon and hopefully things will be as big as they are in Texas.

Final results for the TSS SA:
1) Dylan Cobb
2) Jarrod Banning
3) Travis Reynolds

Text by Heath Burley
Photos by Greg King and Eric Milliren