It's the end of an era for back-to-back-to-back Dew Cup champ Ryan Sheckler. After winning the PlayStation® Pro Skate Park Finals to seal the deal, 14 year-old rookie Chaz Ortis. is the new sheriff in town.
"It's been ridiculous," says Ortiz. "Last year I took 6th in this contest as the Free FLow Tour champ and now I'm the Dew Cup champ. It's unreal. I wasn't expecting it, but I'm psyched."
Ortiz was just 8 points behind Sheckler in the overall standings heading into Orlando for the fifth and final stop of the 2008 AST Dew Tour, after claiming his first win last week in Salt Lake City at the Toyota Challenge. Ortiz occupied every step of the Dew Tour podium this year, and came out big in Orlando.
He took a commanding lead in Run 1, with a nearly flawless run featuring a frontside bluntslide, a kickflip to backside tailslide, and a switch backside lipslide. After Run 1, it was Ortiz in 1st, followed by Greg Lutzka, Paul Rodriguez, Austen Seaholm, Danilo do Rosario, and defending champ Ryan Sheckler.
Ortiz put it together again in Run 2 to secure a huge lead, posting a score of 92.75 that put him way ahead of P-Rod and the rest of the field. The top 6 skaters advanced to a free-for-all jam session to battle it out. In a huge surprise and tremendous upset, Sheckler didn't make the cut, finishing in unfamilar territory down in 10th place. An even bigger surprise: 2008 Free Flow Tour champ Timmy Knuth did make the cut, tracing Ortiz' path to Dew Tour fame. Also in the mix: Greg Lutzka, Austen Seaholm and Carlos De Andrade.
P-Rod actually won the jam session with hugely technical tricks like a switch kickflip to boardslide and a switch 360 kickflip, but it wasn't enough to close the massive lead Ortiz established with his 2nd run. Ortiz held on in the jam session with a switch backside lipslide, his signature kickflip boardslide to kickflip out, and other big tricks.
Final score? Ortiz on top with 92.75, P-Rod in 2nd with 91.25, and Lutzka in 3rd with 86.75.
The win put Ortiz' overall points total to 430, ahead of P-Rod's 408 and Sheckler's 387 to make him the youngest Dew Cup champ in the history of the AST Dew Tour.
