Kevin Kowalski

Schaar and Yosozumi Rise Up at Vans Park Series Brazil

By Bryce Kanights - June 5th, 2018 6:36 am

YouTube Preview Image2018’s Vans Park Series Pro Tour kicked off in São Paulo, Brazil last week under the witness of a lively crowd that spilled out beyond the confines of the bleachers surrounding specifically built new skatepark. Their chants, rounds of applause, cheers, air horns and more added fuel to the fire and truly showed how supportive the Brazilians are for a wild day of skateboarding. In the finals Tom Schaar carried forward his impressive 2017 VPS season and ripped through the park starting his runs with a huge stalefish backed by a massive 540. He moved it forward with powerful frontal nosegrinds, front feebles and a bigspin backside lipslide to take the win over two time VPS Brazil Champ Pedro Barros. The Inland Empire’s Tristan Rennie held his own with a wild bag of tricks earning his first podium spot by securing 3rd place.

YouTube Preview ImageThe Women’s VPS Pro Tour competition fielded over twenty gals vying for a spot on the podium. Japan’s Sakura Yosozumi took home her first ever VPS win with consistency and technical skill. She started her runs with 3 foot backside airs and moved on in hers runs with switch blunts, frontside lipslides through the corner, backside nose blunt reverts and much more. Florinopolis’ very own Yndiara Asp took a bad slam earlier in the day, but toughened up to unleash frontside boneless ones and stalefishes, and Texas plants; she finished in 2nd place. 2016’s World Champ Brighton Zeuner mixed it up with backside airs and handplants, feeble grinds, a backside kickflip on the banked wall and more to land in 3rd.

Final Results
Men
1. Tom Scharr (USA)
2. Pedro Barros (BRA)
3. Tristan Rennie (USA)
4. Cory Juneau (USA)
5. Chris Russell (USA)
6. Luiz Francisco (BRA)
7. Alex Sorgente (USA)
8. Ivan Federico (ITA)

Women
1. Sakura Yosozumi (JPN)
2. Yndiara Asp (BRA)
3. Brighton Zeuner (USA)
4. Lizzie Armanto (USA)
5. Bryce Wettstein (USA)
6. Nicole Hause (USA)
7. Nora Vasconcellos (USA)
8. Poppy Starr Olsen (AUS)

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Vans Park Series Begins 2018 Pro Tour in São Paulo, Brazil

By Bryce Kanights - May 25th, 2018 11:30 am

YouTube Preview Image2018’s Vans Park Series Pro Tour kicks off in São Paulo, Brazil at a brand new skatepark next weekend where Select Men and Women VPS Pros will go head to head with Challengers, Wildcards and regional hopefuls pushing for a piece of the season’s first VPS podium.

VPS tour vets Oskar Rozenberg Hallberg (2017 Men’s Park Terrain World Champion), Ivan Federico, Jack Fardell, Cory Juneau and others. Florianópolis’ Pedro Barros will defend his 2016 and 20117 VPS Brazil titles and blaze against top contenders Tom Schaar, Alex Sorgente, and new Wildcard Fernando Bramsmark looking to claim a 3-peat in his home county.

The Brazil stop is also the newest addition to the expanded 2018 VPS Women’s Tour, open for registration to all women’s competitors to compete against Select Pros such as defending 2017 World Champion Nora Vasconcellos, former champ Brighton Zeuner, Lizzie Armanto, Jordyn Barratt and Brazil native Yndiara Asp. Prospective competitors are encouraged to enter here.

Located in the heart of São Paulo – the biggest city in Brazil and in the region—Vans will debut its brand-new park, a public, free access built-to-spec skatepark with over 2,800 square feet of never before skated park terrain, featuring a 9 1/2 foot deep end, multiple transfers, extensions, a center volcano, ledges, rails, and smooth concrete coping all around.

The 2018 Vans Park Series Pro Tour will be broadcast live in English and Portuguese for free on ETNlive.com, the ETN app, and vansparkseries.com. The broadcast times and the final roster of Select Pros, Challengers and Wildcards for the 2018 VPS Pro Tour is now available online at www.vansparkseries.com.

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Vans Park Series Announces 2018 Pro Tour Invitees

By Bryce Kanights - May 10th, 2018 9:04 am

Tom Schaar VPSVans Park Series has proudly announced the official 2018 VPS Pro Tour roster, inviting the top-ranking men and women pros from the 2017 season along with new Tour Challengers and Wildcards. VPS Select Pros are pre-seeded directly into the semi-finals at every VPS Pro Tour qualifying event, to be met by exclusive qualifying Tour Challengers in pursuit of valuable points toward their final year end rankings and a chance to compete in the 2018 VPS World Championships.

For the Women’s division, Vans Park Series expands the qualification series for the 2018 Women’s Pro Tour with events in Brazil, Sweden and United States, and announces open registration at each stop for all women’s competitors who are not currently on the VPS circuit. Prospective competitors are encouraged to enter here.

The final roster of Select Pros, Challengers and Wildcards for the 2018 VPS Pro Tour is now available online at www.vansparkseries.com.

Vans Park Series
2018 World Championship Tour Invitees*

Select Pros
Oskar Rozenberg Hallberg
Pedro Barros
Tom Schaar
Alex Sorgente
Karl Berglind
Ivan Federico
Cory Juneau
Jack Fardell

Men’s Tour Wildcards
Chris Russell
Fernando Bramsmark
Grant Taylor
Jaakko Ojanen
Kevin Kowalski
Raven Tershy
Ronnie Sandoval

Women’s Select Pros
Nora Vasconcellos
Brighton Zeuner
Kisa Nakamura
Lizzie Armanto
Grace Marhoefer
Jordyn Barratt
Kihana Ogawa
Yndiara Asp

The 2018 Vans Park Series Pro Tour will be broadcast live and for free on the ETN app, ETNlive.com, and vansparkseries.com.

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Vans Park Series Announces 2018 Pro Tour Schedule

By Bryce Kanights - February 21st, 2018 11:19 am

Vans Park Series has announced its 2018 Pro Tour schedule. For 2018, Vans Park Series reinforces its ongoing commitment to the development of women’s skateboarding by expanding the 2018 season with the addition of two additional Women’s World Championship qualifying events to establish park terrain skateboarding’s first-ever Women’s World Championship global qualifying series.

2018 select VPS Continental and National Championship dates will be released via updates on www.vansparkseries.com.

VPS 2018 Pro Tour
São Paulo, Brazil – June 2nd

Vancouver, Canada* – July 14th

Huntington Beach, CA – August 4th

Paris-Chelles, France – September 8th

VPS World Championships
China – October 27th

*Men’s Only Pro Tour Event

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Indy Riders Put the “Pedal to the Metal” in Colorado

By Bryce Kanights - September 13th, 2017 10:09 am

YouTube Preview ImageIndependent Truck Co. hit the road with several of its team riders for a tour which canvassed the many diverse parks and backyards of Colorado. Chris Russell, Kevin Kowalski, Cody Chapman, Willis Kimbel, Lance Mountain, Ben Raybourn, Peter Hewitt, Chris Haslam, and Tony Trujillo. Sit back and watch the annihilation unfold!

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Vans Park Series 2017 World Championships in Shanghai

By Bryce Kanights - September 11th, 2017 8:56 am

YouTube Preview ImageThe Vans Park Series World Championships are set to take place in just under two weeks in Shanghai, China on September 23rd.

Located on the world-famous Bund waterfront area in central Shanghai, the 2017 VPS World Championships will pit skateboarding’s top bowlriders against 2017’s VPS Continental Champions to showcase a global competition in a custom designed and constructed VPS-certified park. With a total purse of more than $160,000 USD up for grabs, this momentous event will officially crown the men’s and women’s 2017 VPS World Champions of Park Terrain Skateboarding and establish 2018’s elite VPS Pro Tour group.

Leading the men’s field all season, top ranked tour challenger, Tom Schaar rolls ahead as a serious threat to the competition. Will he be able to unseat current world champion, Alex Sorgente (USA) and earn his rank against an open field of select VPS Continental Champions? Europa Champion, Rune Glifberg (DEN), Americas Champion, Patrick Ryan (USA), Ivan Federico (ITA), Jack Fardell (AUS), Kevin Kowalski (USA), Ben Hatchell (USA) and others will certainly make it a battle to remember. In the women’s division, reigning VPS World Champion Brighton Zeuner (USA) will defend her title, skating against a diverse class of international contenders including Poppy Starr Olsen (AUS), Amelia Brodka (POL), Kisa Nakamura (JPN) and Lizzie Armanto (USA). See below for the full list of competitors.

VPS Select Pros
Alex Sorgente (USA)
Ben Hatchell (USA)
Cory Juneau (USA)
Curren Caples (USA)
Greyson Fletcher (USA)
Ivan Federico (ITA)
Jack Fardell (AUS)
Kevin Kowalski (USA)
Oskar Rozenberg Hallberg (SWE)
Pedro Barros (BRA)
Raven Tershy (USA)
Ronnie Sandoval (USA)

VPS Tour Challengers
Tom Schaar (USA) – 30,000
Karl Berglind (SWE) – 23,300
Murilo Peres (BRA) – 20,300
Willy Lara (USA) – 18,800
Tristan Rennie (USA) – 17,400
CJ Collins (USA) – 17,100
Roman Pabich (USA) – 15,601

VPS Continental Champions
Bowman Hansen (NZL), Oceania
Rune Gliberg (DNK), Europa
Patrick Ryan (USA), Americas
Kensuke Sasaoka (JPN), Asia

2017 Women’s World Championship Field

VPS Select Pros
Brighton Zeuner (USA)
Jordyn Barratt (USA)
Kisa Nakamura (JPN)

VPS Tour Challengers
Bryce Wettstein (USA) – 10,000
Nora Vasconcellos (USA) – 8,000
Hanna Zanzi (USA) – 6,500
Kody Tamanaha (USA) – 5,800
Grace Marhoefer (USA) – 5,300
Lizzie Armanto (USA) – 4,800
Yndiara Asp (BRA) – 3,800

VPS Continental Champions
Poppy Starr Olsen (AUS), Oceania
Amelia Brodka (POL), Europa
Dora Varella (BRA), Americas
Kihana Ogawa (JPN), Asia

The official 2017 VPS World Championships will broadcast live from Shanghai on Red Bull TV and vansparkseries.com in English, Mandarin and Portuguese on September 23rd. To see the full list of 2017 results and information on how to enter or watch live, download the free Vans Park Series iOS app now or visit Vans Park Series online.

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