OK, the last of our 2008 Oregon Trifecta coverage has finally come straggling in. That’s Bacon’s Tim Johnson in the shot above. Check it out.

Day three of the Trifecta and I may actually be getting worse as a photographer instead of better. Half of these pictures look like they were taken underwater. I remember having some sort of technical issue with my camera acting up, but it’s been two weeks since I’ve looked at the pictures, and it’s all a blur, sometimes literally. I think I caught the equivalent of Gulf War Syndrome from the Trifecta. Trifecta Syndrome manifests itself in laziness, general malaise and increased frequency of excuses.

You may wonder why I chose such a mediocre action shot for this post. It’s true it’s not a great skate shot or particularly well exposed for that matter, but I do like the way you get a sense of all the eyes focusing on the skating, from the spectators to the photographers to the video camera boom.

Check out page one of Oregon Trifecta 2008: Battle Ground.

I’m never sure how to take the Exit skate shops. We met one of the owners several years back and had a very positive experience, but every time we’ve dealt with the staff from a business standpoint, we’ve had some negative interactions with a snotty, hipper-than-thou staff. We finally just gave up trying to deal with them. Admittedly, this was more than a couple of years ago, so maybe there have been changes. Every skateshop in Portland seems to have it’s own scene. There is some mixing, but some are quite insular. The Exit shops have been one we just haven’t interacted with much. I’ve always associated them with a particular type of skater, but this contest they are throwing in Salem makes me want to check out the scene. It’s the Skate Classic 5, and it looks like some loose semi dork session and 70’s inspired events that sound like a lot of fun. Saturday August 30th in Salem, Oregon at at Bush Park on the soap box derby track.

- Thanks to Estes and Colin for the tip.

I just added another 30 pictures from the Tigard stop of the 2008 Oregon Trifecta.

(Oops! fixed the link.) Check it out.

The first time for any park on the Trifecta is always fun, and Tigard was a blast, as well as a blast furnace. I don’t know what the official temperature was, but it was nasty hot. the topic on everyone’s mind was which half of the park were they going to use, but they used the whole park for the contest, which was cool. The double layered coping that seemed so bizarre during construction now seems like something completely normal. There were two fireworks explosions, a bad collision and a lot of sweating.

I took about a million photos at Tigard, and rather than do a good job of editing them, I’m going to dump them all on you, but in two parts at least.

Check out Oregon Trifecta 2008: Tigard - Part one

In terms of spectators, this year’s Trifecta showing at Lincoln City was not as packed as it has been in previous years. That might have had something to do with the weather. It seemed like it might rain, and the fog and/or clouds were literally blowing through the top of the trees. Perhaps the heat wave was keeping away some of the inland folks who didn’t realize there was a 30 degree temperature difference between Portland and Lincoln City. It fluctuated between almost downright cold and mildly warm, with the warm periods seemingly only lasting for about 10 minutes at a time when the sun would peek out.

So it’s that time of year again. Time to get ready for the onslaught of pictures that are edited with an eye towards quantity and not quality. If the names aren’t listed, it’s because I don’t know who they are.

Check out Oregon Trifecta 2008: Lincoln City

Pro
First: Benji Galloway
Second: Tim Johnson
Third: Kevin Kowalski
Fourth: Brice Niebuhr
Fifth: Bruno Passos
Sixth: Rion Linderman
Seventh: Sky Siljeg

Sky Siljeg is going to be (more of) a force to deal with. He was killing it and he’s something like 12 or 13 years old. Oregon skrote Rion Linderman pulled a proper McTwist in the final jam. There was another rain out (temporary) and another bad collision on the heals of yesterday’s in which Chad Shetler left blood from a head injury on the concrete. This time was pretty scary. Taylor Bingaman got knocked unconscious and started bleeding fast from his head. The good news is both guys are relatively OK.

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This shot didn’t turn out as good as I had hoped, but this guy’s (Edwin, or Evan?) mouth is bleeding because he lost a tooth in a hard slam about five minutes earlier. There was another bad collision between Rex the Albany/Red Cement ripper and another guy named Chet (?) Chad Shetler. He left a pool of blood from his head on the flat, but got up and walked away. As far as I know he didn’t lose consciousness. Dave Duncan has replaced “this kid is no joke!” with “Blood is the new black.” Full size shot of toothless after the jump.

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Pro
First: Daniel Cardone
Second: Tim Johnson
Third: Kevin Kowalski
Fourth: Steve Reeves
Fifth: Benji Galloway

I think Tyler Martin got ripped off at 6th place, but I’m not sure who I would swap out.

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Pro
First: Bruno Passos
Second: Kevin Kowalski
Third: Tim Johnson
Fourth: Chaz Pineda
Fifth: Rune Glifberg (With a broken shoulder)

Masters
First: Buck Smith
Second: Pat Nogho
Third: Pat Black
Fourth: Jason Parks
Fifth: Lenny Byrd

Womens
First: Julie Kindstrand
Second: Erin Wolfkiel
Third: Megan Brown
Fourth: Lexi Barclay
Fifth: Justyce Tabor

Sorry ladies. I couldn’t get the camera turned on in time to get the women’s results. Anyone?

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