Yeah, we know, it’s hard to follow all of the action that goes on at the AST Dew Tour.  That’s why we want to point out a few key things you may have missed this weekend.

OUCH

Injury is part of the game when it comes to action sports, but that doesn’t make it any easier when it happens.  FMX rider Greg Hartman was critically injured on Friday when he crashed during a jump at the demo being put on.  He was transported to a local hospital and is being treated for a collapsed lung and a brain hemorrhage but is expected to recover from his injuries.

Less devastating was the slam suffered by Ryan Guettler as he dropped in for his first run at the BMX Park finals.  His first trick was going to be a 1080 but the landing went bad and Guettler landed face first.  It brought back memories of Scotty Cranmer’s big slam in ’06 in Orlando, though I didn’t see Guettler’s teeth skipping across the course.  But you can bet he lost a few.  But he was up and moving pretty quickly, so he should be in shape for the X Games.

There were some other big slams (James Foster in dirt) and minor ones, but one thing I think everyone can agree on is that the AST Dew Tour can do a better job of keeping people informed.  Want to find out how Hartman is doing? Don’t check out the AST.com site.  It’s as if it never happened.

SPEAKING OF…

Injuries…  No one can forget Stephen Murray’s terrible accident from June 2006.  It was great to see him in person at last month’s Panasonic Open and he was also in Cleveland for a special performance of TJ Lavin’s “Soldier,”  We only got about thirteen seconds of video but that was great.  Stay Strong, Stephen.

THE NON-INJURY

You’ve heard of the non-injury, right?  It’s when someone falls, grimaces, then writhes around in pain.  It looks like death is imminent.  Paramedics are called in and the crowd holds its collective breath as the injured athlete is carted off the course…

Fast forward to an hour later: the athlete is up and walking around, miraculously healed.  Amazing.

Our nominee for this event’s winner of the best non-injury: Ryan Sheckler.   In the Skate Park finals on Saturday Sheckler was the last skater on the course before the jam session and needed a big score to land in the top six.  After a fall things weren’t looking good so when he fell again, he had to quit because he apparently re-injured his “broken” arm.  But by the time he was off the course he didn’t seem that hurt at all.  Like I said, amazing.

SPEAKING OF… (PART II)

Ryan Sheckler.  Am I the only one who noticed that the single Panasonic commercial featuring the golden one that aired about a dozen times each hour is sorely outdated?  It was filmed in Dubai about 18 months ago and the now 18-year-old says he’s 17 in the spot.  Even if they did new V.O., Sheckler looks all young and different (see the pic below from Dubai).  Hell, that was even pre-tattoo…

Sheckler then and…

Sheckler now.

Panasonic, get your act together.  Millions of screaming girls will thank you.

DEW CUP IS HALF EMPTY

Last year, five out of the six winners at the Right Guard Open also won at the Pansonic Open, and all five went on to win the Dew Cup (the sixth Dew Cup champ, Jamie Bestwick, didn’t win in Cleveland or Orlando).

This year, only two winners repeated: Daniel Dhers and Jamie Bestwick.  With new winners in BMX Dirt, Skate Park and Skate Vert that means those races are pretty much wide open.  And of course there was no FMX to be repeated.

So the early line is Dhers and Bestwick will repeat, with Bucky Lasek a good choice to win in Skate Vert since Shaun White, this stop’s winner, is expected to miss next month’s stop.  Lasek won in Baltimore and second-place Pierre-Luc Gagnon had a meltdown in Cleveland and would have to win out to have a chance.  And who’s the favorite in BMX Dirt?  Nope, no chance for a prediction there yet.

And FMX…  Well, does anyone really care?  By the time it’s actually an event again in SLC we’ll forget who won the first stop (Blake Williams).

The full Dew Cup standings are at the end of this post.  Read them.  Digest them.  Bet on your favorites.

BMX = BE MOST XCITING

Last year both BMX Park and BMX Dirt were pushing the envelope with new tricks and amazing races.  This year, let’s add Vert back into the mix.  Thanks to a healthy Chad Kagy, Jamie Bestwick has some real competition — and that’s no knock to Steve McCann and Simon Tabron, who can also show up at any given contest.

Mike Spinner kept Park at the forefront by landing the first-ever in competition quad whip during his first run in the finals. Unfortunately a fall kept him from claiming the top spot but that’s just because Daniel Dhers can throw out so many technical tricks that no one else even tries.

But there is one thing that shows, beyond a doubt, that the field is getting harder:  the scores.  For the first time ever eight finalists in both Park and Vert scored 90+.  First time.  In 20 events over four years.  That’s big.

Throw in the prelims and the numbers are event crazier.  In Dirt, a full 19 riders scored 90+ in the prelims (different format, yes, but still — that’s sick) though only nine made the cut — remember three riders on top of that were prequalified.

With scores like that it’s great to see riders like Rob Darden, Drew Bezabson and Craig Mast making waves, too.  Darden’s third-place finish in Park left perennial fave Ryan Nyquist on the outside of the podium looking in.

The only thing missing from Park is Scotty Cranmer, who is recovering from a broken foot.  Hopefully he will be back for the next stop in Portland.

STEVE “THE MECHANIC” MCCANN

Yes, much has been made of Steve McCann’s incredible versatility and ability as he continually competes in Dirt, Park and Vert.  While he’s done well in all three, he hasn’t done well in all three at the same time.  Well, that all changed this time, as he made the finals for the first time in all three events — the first person ever to do so.

It was only due to some huge competition that McCann missed out on a podium in Vert and Dirt (he finished fourth in each) but in Park his 90.00 score was only good for eighth.  Let there be no doubt — McCann is for real.

WEATHER MAN SEZ…

One thing worth noting is that while the wind did kick up off of Lake Erie, it was a dramatic improvement from last year when the BMX Vert Finals and FMX prelims had to run at midnight (plus the FMX finals were canceled).  This time around the weather played much nicer with everyone and while wind was hard on the FMX demo, most other sports had no issue.

PEOPLE LIKE SPORTS

Attendance for the Right Guard Open was announced as 51,327 — impressive, but slightly off the 55K that were predicted to show.  The number is also a slight decline from the 52,502 that showed up for the Panasonic Open in Baltimore last month.

I couldn’t find last year’s attendance for Cleveland, but the city had better hope it’s doing better than the tour did in Denver — after all, the economic impact is expected to be $10 million…  Wait a minute, who cares.

SHAUN WHITE: CELEBRATE WITH CAUTION

Hell hath no fury like a Bucky Lasek scorned.  As soon as the legend fell on his final run (and chance to catch Shaun White) in Skate Vert, White began his signature freakout celebration.  You’ve been there before, dude, act like it.  At least he didn’t say in an interview afterward “Not putting Bucky down…”

All that said, is it just me, or does it look like a little part of Bucky dies each time Shaun beats him?

AST Dew Tour Current Standings

BMX Dirt Points
1. Cameron White, 175.
2. Ryan Nyquist, 175.
3. James Foster, 134.
4. Dennis Enarson, 122.
5. Luke Parslow, 122.
6. Corey Bohan, 118.
7. Ryan Guettler, 116.
8. Diogo Canina, 99.
9. Rob Darden, 84.
10. Steven McCann, 78.

Skateboard Park Points
1. Paul Rodriguez, 185.
2. Chaz Ortiz, 160.
3. Ryan Sheckler, 153.
4. Greg Lutzka, 140.
5. Austen Seaholm, 118.
6. Rodolfo Ramos, 115.
7. Chad Bartie, 110.
8. Carlos deAndrade, 110.
9. Ricardo Oliveira Assis, 84.
10. Fabrizio Santos, 76.

Skateboard Vert Points
1. Bucky Lasek, 185.
2. Andy Macdonald, 145.
3. Bob Burnquist, 145.
4. Pierre-Luc Gagnon, 138.
5. Adam Taylor, 130.
6. Renton Millar, 122.
7. Shaun White, 100.
8. Danny Mayer, 88.
9. Sandro Dias, Brazil, 85.
10. Rodrigo Menezes, 85.

BMX Vert Points
1. Jamie Bestwick, 200.
2. Chad Kagy, 170.
3. Simon Tabron, 145.
4. Steven McCann, 136.
5. Kevin Robinson, 131.
6. Dennis McCoy, 122.
7. Jimmy Walker, 102.
8. John Parker, 98.
9. Jay Eggleston, 94.
10. Zackery Warden, 93.

BMX Park Points
1. Daniel Dhers, 200.
2. Mike Spinner, 160.
3. Ryan Nyquist, 130.
4. Steven McCann, 123.
5. Ryan Guettler, 121.
6. Rob Darden, 120.
7. Marcus Tooker, 102.
8. Garrett Reynolds, 101.
9. Craig Mast, 97.
10. Dennis Enarson, 90

FMX Points (through one event)
1. Blake Williams, 100.
2. Nate Adams, 90.
3. Mathieu Rebeaud, 80.
4. Thomas Pages, 75.
5. Jim McNeil, 70.
6. Adam Jones, 65.
7. Jeremy Lusk, 60.
8. Robbie Maddison, 55.
9. Nixey Danielson, 50.
10. Mike Mason, 45.

Below that, another video of FMX action from a Sunday demo.

Daniel Dhers has won the BMX Park finals at the second stop of the AST Dew Tour at the Right Guard Open in Cleveland, OH.  Dhers held off Mike Spinner, who came close but could not catch up with his second run of 91.17.  The score was good enough to give Spinner a tie-breaker over Rob Darden, who had the same score and ended up in third.

It was a tight contest, with eight of the 12 riders scoring 90 or above in scoring.  In addition for the tie in second-place, Garrett Reynolds and Ryan Nyquist tied for fourth with Reynolds getting the tiebreaker and Drew Bezanson and Craig Mast tied for sixth, with Bezanson getting the edge.  In the even of a tie, the rider with the higher score on his second run gets the advantage.

One of the contest favorites, Ryan Guettler, crashed during his first run while attempting a 1080.  He landed on his face and received multiple injuries, though none are expected to be serious.  However, he could not take to the course for his second run and ended up in 12th place.

BMX Park Finals – 2008 Right Guard Open
July 20, 2008 – Cleveland, OH

1st – Dhers, Daniel – 92.67
2nd – Spinner, Mike – 91.17
3rd – Darden, Rob – 91.17
4th – Reynolds, Garrett – 90.67
5th – Nyquist, Ryan – 90.67
6th – Bezanson, Drew – 90.33
7th – Mast, Craig – 90.33
8th – McCann, Steven – 90.00
9th – Tooker, Marcus – 89.83
10th – Barbero, Alessandro – 87.83
11th – Foster, James – 86.83
12th – Guettler, Ryan – 80.50

Check out the video highlights below from each of those events.

Kagy fell while attempting a double whip flair and Bestwick came through with a clean run that included a downside tailwhip X up.  That was enough.  The score didn’t best his earlier one but it was enough of a tiebreaker for Bestwick to win his second AST Dew Tour contest in a row.  At last year’s season-ending PlayStation Pro the situation was reversed when Kagy ended up with the tiebreaker and the win and Bestwick took second.  But in both cases one thing stayed the same:  Steve McCann finished in third.

“I was just keeping the height and didn’t stop tricking,” Bestwick said. “I tried to capitalize on their mistakes. That was right to the end tonight. It was a really awesome final.”

“I wished Chad had landed that double whip flair. There are three stops left and I know everyone’s gunning for me.”

Check out the full results below and more at AST.com.

BMX Vert Finals — 2008 Right Guard Open
July 19, 2008 — Cleveland, OH

1st – Bestwick, Jamie – 94.50
2nd – Kagy, Chad – 94.50
3rd – McCann, Steven – 93.33
4th – Tabron, Simon – 91.83
5th – McCoy, Dennis – 91.33
6th – Robinson, Kevin – 91.17
7th – Warden, Zack – 90.17
8th – Walker, Jimmy – 90.00
9th – Eggleston, Jay – 86.17
10th – Parker, John – DNS

Update:  Check out the end of this post for an update from Hartman’s wife from Saturday night.

FMX rider Greg Hartman was injured Friday night during a demo at the Right Guard Open in Cleveland, the second stop of the AST Dew Tour.

Hartman suffered a head injury while performing a backflip and other reports have him suffering a collapsed lung and bleeding from the brain.  Paralysis is not a concern, according to Rick Bahr, executive medical director of Winning Medicine International, the AST Dew Tour’s medical staff.

Last year the FMX finals in Cleveland had to be canceled because of high wins and this year the event was downgraded to a demo-only event.  The official reason was attributed to venue size, but weather was a key reason.

The wind was still strong on Friday night and many riders stuck to easy tricks.  After Hartman was transported to a local hospital, where his status is still listed as critical, the demo was restarted.

This is the first major accident on the AST since last year, when BMX rider Stephen Murray was critically injured and paralyzed at the Baltimore stop and Blake “Bilko” Williams broke his leg and missed the entire season, also in Baltimore.  While weather was not deemed a major factor in either of those accidents, rain and wind did force many schedule changes at three of the five AST stops last year.

FMX fans are hoping the 24-year-old, who currently lives in Cleveland, TX, will get a speedy recovery, but news is difficult to get.  No mention of the crash or Hartman’s condition has been listed on the AST website.

UPDATE:  Greg’s wife Carly posted this update to FreestyleMTX.com on Saturday night.

Hello everyone. This is Greg’s wife Carly. We just got back from the hospital and Greg seems to be improving slowly but surely. I see there are many mixed stories, but the injuries are a brain hemorrage and a collapsed lung. He had emergency surgery to place a chest tube, and thankfully the doctors want to just wait out the head injury for now since he’s so responsive. He’s been kept under a lot of sedation because he’s been very violent and resistant. Anyone who knows Greg knows that it’s not like him at all, so you can imagine the state he’s in. He’s now opening his eyes, speaking very little, and knows who we all are. He’s still very agitated, though. ICU is pretty strict about all visitors, but I’ll try to keep you posted on his condition. For now we will be staying in Cleveland until I can bring my boy home. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. God heals, and we’ve already been watching Him move in this situation. God Bless. Good Night.

 Shaun White | cr. AST

Shaun White followed up a strong second-place finish at last week’s Maloof Money Cup with a win today at the 2008 Right Guard Open in Cleveland, the second stop of the AST Dew Tour.

White fell on his first run but scored a 90.25 on his second run, which would have still been enough for a win, before scoring a 92.00 on his third and final run.  White was skating fourth from last so three skateboarders (Bob Burnquist, Pierre-Luc Gagnon and Bucky Lasek) all had chances to catch up but all had their share of bad luck.

Lasek’s second-place 88.25 was his first run’s score and falls on his last two runs kept him from reaching White.  Meanwhile, PLG was uncharacteristically sloppy and fell on all three of his runs, dealing his hopes for his first-ever Dew Cup a blow by landing in eighth-place.  Burnquist had one solid run to give himself an 83.00 which was good for fourth.

Andy Macdonald found himself in third with a strong 87.25.

White missed the opening stop of the AST and is expected to miss next month’s stop so at this point Bucky Lasek is in the driver’s seat for his third Dew Cup championship if he can remain consistent.

Skate Vert Finals – 2008 Right Guard Open
July 19, 2008, Cleveland OH

1st – White, Shaun – 92.00
2nd – Lasek, Bucky – 88.25
3rd – Macdonald, Andy – 87.25
4th – Burnquist, Bob – 83.00
5th – Taylor, Adam – 78.25
6th – Millar, Renton – 75.75
7th – Stafford, Josh – 74.75
8th – Gagnon, Pierre-Luc – 62.75
9th – Menezes, Rodrigo – 51.50
10th – Halterman, Buster – 50.75

If there is any doubt that Paul Rodriguez is taking his skating seriously this season, it was gone Saturday after he clinched the Skate Park finals at the AST Dew Tour’s Right Guard Open.  The win follows his Maloof Money Cup victory of last week.

While P-Rod’s win was huge, two other stories dominated the day.  One was the continued emergence of Chaz Ortiz as a dominant skater this season and the other was how, for the first time in AST Dew Tour history, a skate park final jam session went down without Ryan Sheckler.  Shecker, who prequalified for the finals, needed a strong score to make the jam session and instead fell hard mid-run, injuring his arm and stopping the competition.

Viewers of the live webcast got to witness the fall, though the feed was cut almost immediately after the fall, returning about two minutes later with replay footage of the injury.

It was the first time this season the AST provided a live webcast of the finals, allowing fans across the globe to tune in.  All in all, the quality of the webcast matched the TV broadcast with the added bonus of every skater getting screentime.  The only negative?  The standard definition webcast took an HD picture and squashed it even though there was space in the player to show an HD picture.  Oh well.

The legendary Chris Miller was on hand to provide commentary along with Paul Zitzer, giving Kenan Harkin the ability to hang back and only jump in with obvious questions.

Between Sheckler’s fall and the start of the jam session, the webcast spent a good amount of time watching the skater as he was looked at by medical staff and spent time with his father, Randy, who appeared to be consoling him.

The injury proved to be a slight distraction as the top six skateboarders, led by Ortiz, took to the course for a seven-minute jam session to close out the contest.

Ortiz began his day with a flawless first run that included a late backfoot flip, while Sheckler was a full 10 points behind in fifth.  By the time Ortiz was ready to do his second run, he was still in first and Sheckler was out of the top six with a big score needed to make the jam session.

Before Ortiz started his second run Sheckler told him, “I’m so proud of you.  So sick.”  Then he added, “Can you do my run for me?”

Ortiz went on to have a solid run, including a sick kickflip frontside feeble, but a couple of stumbles left his first run his top score going into the finals.

The jam session was packed with solide tricks from everyone, though P-Rod and Ortiz were obvious frontrunners and Ortiz delivered some huge tricks including a frontside bluntside big spin out.

When it was all said and done, P-Rod pulled out his first-ever AST Dew Tour win, followed by Ortiz, Rodolfo Ramos and Greg Lutzka.

With his already-impressive history, P-Rod’s place at top should be no surprise, but Ortiz’s time may be around the corner.

“He’s probably going to be one of the best skateboarders to come,” Sheckler said of the 14-year-old phenom.

Skate Park Finals – 2008 Right Guard Open
July 19, 2008, Cleveland OH

1. Paul Rodriguez Jr. – 90.75
2. Chaz Ortiz – 90.70
3. Rodolfo Ramos – 88.50
4. Greg Lutzka – 85.85
5. Rodil Araujo Jr. – 83.60
6. Carlos De Andrade – 77.45

The first video features highlights from the BMX Dirt finals, including parts of Cameron White’s winning run and those of Ryan Guettler and Ryan Nyquist.  The second has some shots from Friday’s FMX Demo, which replaced the full contest this season.  Judging from the almost-empty stands, it’s understandable.  Of course, the Red Bull X-Fighters contest in Madrid could have something to do with it, too.

Sheckler after winning the 2007 Right Guard Open. cr. Lat34/ Michael Nakonachny

Ryan Sheckler is in Cleveland for the Right Guard Open, where he plans to compete tomorrow in the skate park finals despite having a broken elbow.  While there, he answered some questions for the AST and clarified some comments he made in his current ESPN the Magazine cover story.

“They said something in the ESPN interview that I was comfortable with selling out which is completely not what I said.  It is not selling out.  I haven’t sold out.  People say what they want to say, but in my eyes I have taken my skateboard career and gone on a different path,” Sheckler said. “It might not be the same path as some of these core skateboarders that think that their path is the right way.  There is no right path in skateboarding.  I want to do something different.  I love this.  I love the fans.  My life is crazy as it is and this fits right in the puzzle piece.”

Of course, the topic of his MTV reality series, now filming its third season, came up.

“My life changed a lot (after the debut of the TV show).  I didn’t really think it would change that much.  The core fans are still there, but I definitely have a new following of TV fans.  It is an uncontrollable monster.  It can go either good for you or bad for you and turn in a snap.  You have to make sure you keep everyone happy too, which is hard.  I am a skateboarder.  I have an extraordinary gift and that is what I love.”

“I have walked around and people would recognize me before that show.  Now, obviously, people are like ‘Look at Sheckler.  Look at Sheckler.  What a punk.’  There is a lot of jealousy.  There are so many jealous people now.  That is the biggest thing I’ve dealt with.  There are just haters.  More jealous people than I ever thought existed.  There are so many people that speak badly about me, but that is okay because they are still talking about me.  That is my plan, whether it is good or not good.  There are people that will say I am not cool, but other people correct them and say ‘No, I’ve met him.  He’s cool.’  It is funny to see.  It motivates me so much.  It just makes me want to skate.  All I want to do when I wake up is skate.  That has been the same thing since I was four years old.”

When asked about how he planned out his career, the answer wasn’t surprising.

“My blueprint came from Tony Hawk and Danny Mayer and the whole Plan B team.  When I was growing up I wanted to be a street skater.  I wanted to be like those guys in that movie.  Now I actually have a movie too that is coming out soon.  Everything is working right now.  My whole plan is rock solid,” he said. “Everything I said I was going to do I’ve done.  It is going to the sky.  There is really not anything that is stopping me.”

Finally, the 18-year-old Sheckler discussed how his career hopefully will influence a new generation.

“My path is skateboarding, giving back to the kids and showing them different ways they can take skateboarding and branch off into movies and TV and commercials.  If anything kids that follow me can learn is that it is just a guideline to start them on a road to something else.  It is not like I’m telling them ‘You have got to do this and this.’  I just mean to say, ‘This is what I have done.  Look at what I have done.  You can do it too.’”

You can catch Sheckler skating in the skate park finals via a webcast on the AST.com starting at 1 p.m. ET.