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There were 540s and 720s galore on Sunday afternoon in Orange County as ten of the top vert skaters in the world battled for the Carl’s Jr. US Men’s Pro Vert title and a $75K first-place payout at the Maloof Money Cup in Costa Mesa, CA. When it was all said and done, Pierre-Luc Gagnon took the top spot spot (repeating his prelim standing), followed by Shaun White and Bucky Lasek.

For his win PLG not only went home with the $75K, but also a new Ford Flex ($25K value) and a $10K Nixon watch. For second, White received $35K and Lasek $20K for third.

The finals on Sunday were broken into two heats, each featuring the skaters getting two runs in order, followed by a 35 minute jam session. The jam format certainly kept things going fast, with some crazy tricks being landed including Bucky Lasek’s 720 Indy Nosebone, Danny Mayer’s kickflip mctwist and Sandro Dias’ nar jar 540. Dias wasted most of his jam session trying to land the 900, basically ensuring he wasn’t going to end up in the running for the top prize. However, he did manage to land it with less than a minute left in the session. While the jam led to a few close calls, there were also led to more than a few close calls as everyone tried to get in as many runs as possible. White did deliver in the format after strong individual runs with mutlple spin-filled runs but PLG’s lead was too strong to overcome.

In the street finals, there were five zones including a 16-stair to close it out. Going through the first four zones, it was the Chris Cole and Nyjah Huston show, with the 13-year-old definitely coming into his own this year. Paul Rodriguez, the to top qualifier, was third.

After the 16-stair, which actually counted for half of the final score, the final lineup shifted with P-Rod killing the obstacle, followed by Huston and Cole. It was a debatable end to a huge contest and P-Rod’s $100K payout is the largest ever in a skateboarding competition.

“I thought this guy had it for sure,” Rodriguez said of Huston after being named winner. “I still don’t know if I earned it.”

Fan-favorite Ryan Sheckler ended up in fourth and said, “That was the most insane skateboarding contest ever,” before congratulating Huston on killing it — not mentioning his Plan B teammate P-Rod.

For the ladies, Lacey Baker came through big in the five-woman finals taking first place for Street and winning $25K and a $10K Nixon watch.

For those who didn’t catch the action in person or via the live webcast (with its announcements of lost kids and the like) the action will be replayed in all its glory on July 20 on CBS at 12 noon / 3 p.m. PT.

Check out our photo gallery here.

Final Standings

CARL’S JR. U.S. MEN’S PRO VERT CHAMPIONSHIP
July 13, 2008 – Costa Mesa, CA
1. Pierre-Luc Gagnon ($75,000)
2. Shaun White ($35,000)
3. Bucky Lasek ($20,000)
4. Danny Mayer ($10,000)
5. Sandro Dias ($6,000)
6. Andy MacDonald ($5,000)
7. Bob Burnquist ($4,000)
8. Lincoln Ueda ($3,000)

U.S. MEN’S PRO STREET CHAMPIONSHIPS
July 13, 2008 – Costa Mesa, CA
1. Paul Rodriguez ($100,000)
2. Nyjah Huston ($40,000)
3. Chris Cole ($25,000)
4. Ryan Sheckler ($15,000)
5. Darrell Stanton ($6,250)
6. Jereme Rogers ($5,000)
7. Terry Kennedy ($4,000)
8. Andrew Reynolds ($3,000)
9. Greg Lutzka ($2,500)
10. Dennis Busenitz ($2,000)
Zumiez Best Trick Winners
(Awarded to best trick in each lane across the comp – finals/semis)
5. Greg Lutzka – blunt side to back nose one ($3K) *
4. Jake Duncombe – blunt side to back nose one ($3K) *
3. Greg Lutzka – frontside 270 kick flip nose one on the Barcelona Gap ($3K)
2. Leo Romero – frontside nose blunt slide up the ledge on the Carlsbad Gap ($3K)
1. Nyjah Huston – big spin flip to front side board slide on the 16 stair handrail ($5K)
*As posted on MMC’s website

World Industries Amateur Street Competition
July 13, 2008 – Costa Mesa, CA
1. Dustin Blauvelt
2. Scott DeCenzo
3. Timmy Knuth

World Industries Amateur Vert Competition
July 13, 2008 – Costa Mesa, CA
1. Ronaldo Gomez
2. Pedro Barros
3. Dylan Taylor

Ladies Street Competition
July 13, 2008 – Costa Mesa, CA
1. Lacey Baker (25,000)
2. Rachel Reinhard ($8,000)
3. Vanessa Torres ($4,000)

Read on for the full release from the MMF and check out the official site for more.  Be sure to check out Skateboard.com for the live webcast.

SKATEBOARDING’S LARGEST PURSE CONTEST, MALOOF MONEY CUP, HAS BEGUN!

Costa Mesa, Calif. – Bottles were poppin’ this morning as Joe Maloof, Pierre Andre Senizergues, Ryan Sheckler, and Jake Brown christened the brand-new Maloof Money Cup Street Course. The preliminary action has been a whirlwind of intense competitors battling it out for a chance to win the big bucks, complete with A-list celebrities in attendance, a live performance by #1 Rapper Tyga, and thousands of people in the etnies Festival Village.

U.S. MEN’S PRO STREET CHAMPIONSHIP PRELIMS:

The Friday evening preliminaries included 24 skaters. Three heats of eight skaters each competed in 10-minute jams with three-minute breaks in-between. The pros really tore the course apart, trying to get into the semi-finals, the first step towards the big cash.. The top 12 skaters to advance to the semi-finals are:

Bryan Herman
Jake Duncombe
Tommy Sandoval
Nyjah Huston
Dennis Busenitz
Sierra Fellers
Kurtis Colamonico
Chris Mendes
Darrell Stanton
Mike Carroll
Peter Ramondetta
Sean Malto

U.S. WOMEN’S PRO STREET CHAMPIONSHIP PRELIMS:

Friday evening’s preliminaries included ten skaters. There were two heats of five skaters each that received two eight-minute jams with a three-minute break in between. The ladies were completely shredding the course, showing everyone that skating is not just for the boys. The top five skaters to advance to the finals are:

Lacey Baker
Leticia Bufoni
Rachel Reinhard
Vanessa Torres
Elissa Steamer

THE ORIGINAL éS GAME OF SKATE, PRESENTED BY BOOST MOBILE:

The èS Game of SKATE presented by Boost Mobile kicked off today with the preliminary round of this World Amateur Championship. With 24 of the world’s best coming from Asia, Europe, South America, the South Pacific, and all over North America to compete for one of skateboarding’s most prestigious World Champ titles.

éS Game of SKATE Amateurs who will go on to compete tomorrow at 2 p.m.:

Mark Suciu
Carlos Lastra
Diego Najera
Chris Mendes
Brent Sowinski
Jean Sebastien Lapierre

WORLD INDUSTRIES AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRELIMS:

The Friday afternoon preliminaries included 24 skaters, three heats of eight skaters each. Although they’re not pro, if they keep skating like this they could be soon. The top 8 skaters to advance to the semi-finals are:

Timmy Knuth
Taylor Smith
Evan Smith
Collin Hale
Cody Davis
David Loy
Scott DeCenzo
Dustin Blauvelt

TYGA rocks the party with his #1 hit single “Coconut Juice”

Thousands of people came through the etnies Festival Village, with over 200,000 expected throughout the course of the weekend. Notables in the crowd at the Maloof Money Cup today included Charles Barkley, Danny Granger, The Prince of Saudi Arabia, Travis Barker, Lil John, Tyga, and Mae Andersen.

Tyga took the stage overlooking the street course in front of a large crowd of many hip-hop and skateboarding fans alike. Tyga’s high-energy performance fueled the crowd for more excitement to come on Saturday and Sunday with his single “Coconut Juice,” hot off the heels of his #1 album No Introductions.

For additional details, photo galleries and video check out maloofmoneycup.com.

Be sure to catch all of the action from the Maloof Money Cup on CBS, July 20, 2008.

About Maloof Money Cup:

The Maloof Money Cup is the premier showcase for professional skateboarding in 2008. This three-day festival, and WCS sanctioned U.S. Skateboarding Championship, will take place July 11-13, 2008 at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, California during the opening weekend of the OC Fair. Including three professional U.S. Championship Competitions – Men’s and Women’s Pro Street, and Men’s Pro Vert – and the U.S. Amateur Championships, the Maloof Money Cup boasts the largest purse in the history of professional skateboarding with over $450,000 in prize money, while setting the benchmark at each prize level.

We’ve put together three of the videos in one clip for you to check out below. And keep an eye open for the new Silver vid shot in Barcelona…

Element just posted a brand spanking new video part by Nyjah Houston and I have to admit it’s pretty amazing what this little man can do.  What’s even more amazing to me is how he maintains that hair.  About a week ago, I probably would have described it by saying “that awful hair”.  After watching Nyjah’s amazing part, I got an epiphany and realized that people with dreadlocks aren’t so bad, or scummy.  So to get over my prejudice for dreadlocks, I did a little research and found a few facts to debunk those myths that the uneducated such as myself feed in to. 

1. All dreadlocks are dirty.

Dreadlocks are only dirty if you don’t take care of them and wash them. Not washing dreadlocks is the best way to ruin dreadlocks. You should wash your dreadlocks at least once a week.

2. Anyone with dreadlocks is dirty.

Not true!! Dreadlocks need to be washed at least once a week. (This one is kind of sick)

3. The neglect method is the only way to make natural dreadlocks.

Not true at all. There are many other methods that are natural, such as Backcombing, Twist and Rip, Twist and Pin, Twisting, Dread Braiding, and Brush Rubbing.

4. Dreadlocks damage your scalp.

Dreadlocks do not damage your scalp. In fact your scalp never even knows you have dreadlocks, because the hair starts to dread about an inch away from the scalp.

5. Mayonnaise, Honey, Toothpaste, Glue, Rubber Cement, Mud, Chewing Gum, Peanut Butter, Shea Butter, Candle Wax and Hair Gel all work great for starting dreadlocks.

Yea, if you want your dreadlocks to fall out, and want to suffer from nasty bacteria and mold growing in your hair. These products are not used or recommended for one reason, they don’t work. They were not made for dreadlocks, and there is no reason to try to make them work, if your going to make dreadlocks do it right, get some DreadHead wax and shampoo follow the instructions and you will have great dreads.

6. Dreadlocks are for rastas only. 

It is a common misconseption that dreadlocks were started by Rastas and only Rastas should wear them. It is common knowledge that cavemen wore dreadlocks, not for spiritual reasons, not for fashion, just for the fact that the comb wasn’t invented yet. It is ok for you to wear dreadlocks if you are wearing them for fashion, and it is ok for you to wear dreadlocks if you are doing it for spiritual reasons, hey, whatever works for you.

Anyway, I hope that this little education on dreadlocks helps breakdown any bad stereotypes you may have had on people sporting the wonderful look.  And enjoy this Nyjah video.  It’s really really good.