Pedro Day wins Zon of the Lines Wellington

Pedro Day wins Zon of the Lines Wellington

Saturday 17 Nov, Wellington, New Zealand: Despite the persistent efforts of a dampening Northerly, the clouds lifted over Wellington’s Odlins Plaza just in time for the Capital’s Zon of the Lines event to proceed.

A thinned-down line-up of 15 skaters was pieced together and the invitational event commenced as an ominous mist lingered on the surrounding hills. A solid crowd watched on as threatening rain and windy conditions played havoc with the skaters.

During the 15-deep preliminary heats Hutt Valley’s Brynn Durham struck out early doing an impressive backside nosebluntslide on the picnic table setting the tone for the comp. Jesse Abolins followed suit treating the course to his smooth, solid and switch classics, James Huntley breezed through switch frontside bluntslides on the box and flatbar, while Jason Gallant added his signature chilled and steezy vibes to the session.

Due to the impending weather semi-finals were abandoned and the five skaters, who stood out in the heats, moved forward into a quick fire final. Levin’s Darren Beach, Wanaka-bred Digby Luxton, Wellington legend Joseph Whaanga and Ben Evans joined H-Town’s Pedro Day, who flew in especially from Brisbane for the competition.

Wildcard Darren Beach stood out in the heats with the first clean line of the comp consisting of solid grinds on the box and flat bar, and a stylish kickflip off the wheelchair bump, but he struggled to reenact similar runs in the finals, closely missing a backside kickflip off the bump. He took out fifth place. In a well-deserved fourth, Ben Evans paced down the course riding away from powerful lipslides, and in the final minutes, a nosebluntslide on the picnic table.

Digby Luxton nailed line after line littered with tech combos like a noseslide nollie heelflip out and noseslide bigspins earning himself third place and $500. Joseph Whaanga landed second place and $750 with consistent backside Smith grinds and nosegrind reverts on the box. He popped out clean fakie crooked grind transfers on the flat bar, did a surgical boardslide transfer on the bump to bar, he also switch ollied and tweaked out a japan grab off the wheelchair ramp.

The clear favourite Pedro Day brought a high caliber of skateboarding to the event stomping clean lines made up of switch crooked grinds and switch backside lipslides. He then made his win a sure thing with a massive frontside flip over the wheelchair ramp. He added a cheeky 50-50 transfer on the bump to bar for bonus points and walked away with a novelty cheque worth $1250.

In the customary product toss Matt Sole eagerly took the plunge off a nearby dive platform into the frigid habour waters and was rewarded with Plan B deck. Crowds huddled in the nearby Mac’s Brewery and surrounding plaza were treated to numerous spot prizes from the events other sponsors Vans, Mountain Dew and Amazon. While hundreds of people tuned into a live stream made possible with the help of TradeMe’s free Wifi service.

On this wild Wellington day the skaters were under the thumb of some less than ideal weather in a fast and furious competition that brought the most consistent, and deserving skaters, head to head.

Zon of the Lines Wellington Results
1. Pedro Day
2. Joseph Whaanga
3. Digby Luxton
4. Ben Evans
5. Darren Beach

Zon of the Lines Skateboard Invitational Series, proudly supported by Amazon, Mountain Dew, Vans and Plan B.

The final stop in the Zon of the Lines series is Auckland – 1-5PM, 1 December, Shed 15, 90 Wellesley Street, Auckland. There in the grand final, Pedro Day, along with Christchurch winner James Kingston, join 20 more skaters hand picked from Auckland’s finest.

For more info visit: Zon of the Lines Skateboard Invitational series
http://manualmagazine.com/2012/10/12/zon-of-the-lines-skateboard-invitational/

Confirmed Rider Lists
http://manualmagazine.com/2012/10/19/zon-of-the-lines-rider-lists/

Wildcard Callout
http://manualmagazine.com/2012/10/21/zon-of-the-lines-wildcard-callout/

Follow the event on Instagram #zotl

Keep up to date with the event by following Amazon Surf Skate Denim on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/amazon-surfskatedenim/10150147325600585?fref=ts

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