Action Sports with Leigh Roche

The long-overdue and much-anticipated New York City edition of the Damn Am series went down last weekend at the Nike SB-rebuilt Lower East Side (LES) Skatepark in Coleman Park in Lower Manhattan. LES is one of NYC’s quintessential original skateparks, a perfect venue for the Damn Am. Damn Am NYC had the qualifiers on Saturday, where over 75 of some of the best amateur skaters competed for 30 semi-finalist slots. Antonio Durao (New York, NY, USA) and Kevin Bradley (Los Angeles, CA, USA) were the top two qualifiers, which earned them Golden Tickets to the finals. The finals went down on Sunday, and when it was over, Yoshi Tanenbaum (Silver Spring, MD, USA) took the top spot, with Bradley (2nd place) and Durao (3rd place)  sharing the podium.

Tanenbaum killed it all weekend with stylish, powerful runs laden with tricks on every feature of the course, including a tre flip over the big apple obstacle, amazing Laser flip down the double set, 270 lipslide on the rail, as he narrowly edged out Bradley, who also annihilated the course. Durao was spot-on also, skating everything switch with an unbelievable arsenal of tricks like hardflip to front nose on the ledge and a switch tre flip over the gap.  All 12 Finalists qualify for the prestigious Tampa Am, held in December. 

Damn Am NYC Final Results

1. Yoshi Tanenbaum
2. Kevin Bradley
3. Antonio Durao
4. Zion Wright
5. Dan Corrigan
6. Pat Schaefer
7. Markus Jalaber
8. Dylan Witkin
9. Chris Pierre Jaques
10. David Dixon
11. Ben Walters
12. Corey Goonan

Independent Best Trick:

1. Gage Smith- bigger flip
2. Karim Callender- kickflip frontside crooked grind & frontside smith grind frontside flip out
3. Antonio Durao- switch flip frontside tailslide
4. Derek Acosta- hardflip to flat & backside tailslide bigspin out
5. Devin Abreu- Ollie over the pyramid into the bank

Zumiez Destroyer Award: Dylan Corrigan

Damn Am enjoys sponsorship from Nike SB, Independent, Zumiez, and the SkatePark of Tampa that makes it all happen.