It was supposed to be easy for Bucky — he was first in the points standing and needed a first or second-place finish (depending on where everyone else placed) to win his third Dew Cup.  Instead, he fell and ended up in last place, opening the contest up to Bob Burnquist, Andy Macdonald and Pierre-Luc Gagnon, who trailed him in the Dew Cup standings.

PLG took advantage by winning the contest with a huge 96.00 run — Andy Mac finished in second for the contest (and  only 13 points behind PLG in the Dew Cup race) and Danny Mayer came in third.  Burnquist ended up in sixth-place.

For PLG, the win comes three years after coming close to getting the Dew Cup in 2005 (he lost it when Lasek won it in the final contest).  PLG’s season has been a remarkable one outside the AST Dew Tour, with wins at the X Games and the Maloof Money Cup.  And while he has won at the Dew Tour before, this was his first win of the season (he had three second-place finishes).

Skate Vert Final Results – PlayStation Pro
October 18, 2008 – Orlando, FL
1. Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Canada, 96.00
2. Andy Macdonald, Boston, 87.00
3. Danny Mayer, Omaha, Neb., 86.00
4. Sandro Dias, Brazil, 85.25
5. Adam Taylor, Cocoa Beach, Fla., 81.00
6. Bob Burnquist, Brazil, 80.75
7. Anthony Furlong, Tampa, Fla., 79.50
8. Buster Halterman, Wellsville, Calif., 75.25
9. Jean Postec, France, 71.75
10. Bucky Lasek, Baltimore, 45.75

Bob Burnquist cr. AST

A trio of well-seasoned skaters led the field Thursday as the Skate Vert finals went down at the Pansonic Open in Baltimore. Danny Mayer, Bob Burnquist and Andy Macdonald rounded out the top three, who will join Bucky Lasek and Pierre-Luc Gagnon in the finals. Last year’s Dew Cup champ Shaun White is missing the event so his absence opened up one more qualifying spot in the prelims, allowing Neal Hendrix to make the cut. Hendrix had been tied with Sandro Dias but would have otherwise missed the finals thanks to a tiebreaker.

Two younger SoCal skaters, Alex Perelson and Josh Stafford (who won Wednesday’s open qualifiers) failed to make the cut but Adam Taylor did, finishing sixth. Rune Glifberg, Jean Postec and Lincoln Ueda were among the other athletes to make the finals.

The Skate Vert finals will take place on Saturday from 7:30-9 p.m. ET and highlights will air on USA at midnight ET.

Here’s the lineup for Saturday’s final (in order)

10. Neal Hendrix
9. Sandro Dias
8. Renton Millar
7. Rob Lorifice
6. Adam Taylor
5. Andy Macdonald
4. Bob Burnquist
3. Danny Mayer
2. Pierre-Luc Gagnon
1. Bucky Lasek

Skate Vert Prelim Results
June 19, 2008 – Top Eight Advance

1st — Mayer, Danny — 83.75
2nd — Burnquist, Bob — 83.25
3rd — Macdonald, Andy — 83
4th — Taylor, Adam — 81.75
5th — Lorifice, Rob — 78.75
6th — Millar, Renton — 78.25
7th — Dias, Sandro — 76.75
8th — Hendrix, Neal — 76.25
—————————————-
9th — Furlong, Anthony — 76
10th — Menezes, Rodrigo — 75.25
11th — Halterman, Buster — 74
12th — Perelson, Alex — 73.25
13th — Stafford, Josh — 72.75
14th — Ueda, Lincoln — 72.5
15th — Bastos, Marcelo — 69.75
16th — Postec, Jean — 64.75
17th — Glifberg, Rune — 63
18th — Simao, Mizael — 58.75