arnette

We were extremely proud to be the official sponsor for the Tampa Pro 2011 which took place last weekend! The skating was insane and the afterparty even better (photos of that coming soon), but, in the meantime check out the recap and video below from our good friends at ESPN.

Dennis Busenitz has won Tampa Pro 2011. Busenitz flew to Tampa from his home in San Francisco the night before the finals and came through with a perfect run in his last of three. Busenitz, who won Tampa once before back in 2005, saw the wins (or perhaps the winning celebrations) as being similar.

"Very similar. Champagne and ... weirdness," he said after the scores were announced. "It's good though. I just landed all the stuff I wanted to do."

The final was a fierce contest between Busenitz, Torey Pudwill, Chaz Ortiz, Nyjah Huston, Shane O'Neill, Paul Rodriguez and Luan Oliveira. Though it consisted of the top 10 from semifinals as well as Pudwill and Zered Bassett (the golden ticket winners from qualifying day), the real contest seemed to be between the aforementioned group. Each of those skaters had runs and tricks that could win a heavy contest on any given day. Sunday belonged to Busenitz though, no question about it.

Witnessing Busenitz during his last attempt in the finals (the 12 riders who make the finals are given three runs each) was surreal. He skated faster than anyone else the entire weekend with the possible exception of Mike Peterson. With each run, Busenitz changed up a few of his tricks and went full-speed, full-gusto at every obstacle. Falling more than once during his first two attempts, it was amazing to see him hang on in his last run and continue to do tricks even after his time was up. The entire crowd here in Tampa erupted in amazement and the results in his favor seemed like a foregone conclusion to all in attendance.

Altogether, this was yet another fantastic contest put on by SPoTlight Productions and the folks at the Skatepark of Tampa. Seems like they get better every year and the level of competition gets more and more intense. Outside of the competitive atmosphere on the course, the camaraderie of a skateboarding event put on by skaters for skaters makes Tampa Pro something unique and special for all of us in attendance. See you next year. 

For the complete and non-rundown version of the story head to ESPN...

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

1.    Dennis Busenitz $20,000
2.     Nyjah Huston $15,000
3.     Torey Pudwill $10,000
4.     Shane O'Neill $5,000
5.     Luan Oliveira $4,000
6.     Paul Rodriguez $3,000
7.     Chaz Ortiz $2,500
8.     Zered Bassett $1,750
9.     Eric Koston $1,500
10.     Ryan Decenzo $1,250
11.     Jereme Rogers $1,000
12.     Chris Troy $1,000

Our very own Ryan Decenzo getting busy.