Thrasher Magazine

Cowtown’s 17th annual PHX AM contest presented by Vans was hectic! Each day there was heavy skating by the world's best amateur street skaters and every night something equally exciting was going on. Friday’s practice was followed up by “Full Blast”, 20 years of photography with Thrasher’s very own Michael Burnett. And if that wasn’t enough, they also premiered Spinning Away, Vans’ latest video release featuring Chima Ferguson, Kyle Walker, Tyson Peterson and others. Saturday was the qualifiers followed by the Phx Am after party with A Happy Medium 4 video premiere and live music, including sets by Petyr and Ho99o9. If you survived all of that then hopefully you had enough juice to make it to Sunday's finals to witness Brazil's Ivan Monteiro taking the top spot, the trophy and leaving $7,500 richer. —Joe Hammeke

Arrived just before noon to Friday’s practice and a nearly empty park

Gilbert, AZ, park local Thomas Turner, half Cab to blunt

Willy Lara is no stranger to the front blunt

Lazer Crawford is a little guy but has a big frontside flip grab

Cruise Mosberg tosses up a frontside invert

The only female entered in the comp—Fabiana Delfino, decked front rock on the bank to ledge

From the 'Nati, Justin Henry feebles off the end of the tight quarterpipe

Chima Ferguson was in town for the Van’s Spinning Away premiere and wants to remind you that Phx Am is brought to you by Vans

Mario McCoy, kickflip lipslide every time

Joseph Campos is a small guy so he’s got it better than most in the tight-tranny department

Vans went full Spicoli and ordered everyone pizza. “Come on up, Rhino, get a good one”

Corey Glick, pole jam back three

Cowtown’s Danny Barrera, back noseblunt across the car. Maybe you remember his part that was on the site


As we were leaving, Dan Rogers had to stop Mike Sinclair from attacking the snacks

Kyle Walker says, “See you tonight at the Vans party”

Vans rented out Legend City Studios in downtown Phoenix for the “Full Blast” 20 years of photography art show by Michael Burnett and to premiere Spinning Away, their latest video release

Tyson Peterson is tall; his girlfriend is small. He’s trying to get on her level

Dorfin' usually works

Vans also brought in a taco truck to keep everyone well fed

Inside, the young guns were gettin turnt

Corey Millett and Lefty: amateur skateboarders, professional partiers

Cowtown even had a special run of Phx Am Cowtown Blonde Ale brewed up

Hey, look who’s on the wheels of steel—John Cardiel!

Cards always knows what tunes will get the crowd fired up

Strictly vinyl

"Hey, hurry up. The video is supposed to start soon." Chima rallies the troops

Vans’ Jamie Hart introduces Spinning Away

Deluxe’s Jim Thiebaud has been to enough video premieres and punk rock shows to know how to get above the crowd

Cold chillin'

Legend City Studios was packed and the vid did not disappoint. You can see it here on the site on April 2nd

After the video was done it was time to check out “Full Blast”

You probably recognize Mike Burnett from King of the Road. Cheers to P-Stone

David Reyes stands next to a portrait of him from KOTR when he smashed his face

Jaws got his own little hallway

Louie Barletta checks out a collection of portraits

This guy was getting a closer look at the Deathwish section

Yeah, that tré flip by Westgate is no joke

Time to go back to the hotel and Kader is pissed!

The next morning Vans was handing out water bottles so everyone could stay hydrated in the desert

Saturday morning and the stands are starting to fill up—so is the course

Cowtown’s Rayce Davis, front blunt on the tight QP

You saw him in the mag and in the Golden Foytime video—Ish Cepeda, front heel the pizza gap

Not too sure what’s going on here but I bet ants look pretty sick through a death lens

Domo was bringing the heat and this kickflip overcrook was a prime example

In case you were wondering what’s up with Kader, looks like he pole jammed himself onto Vans

CJ Collins and that buttery frontside flip

The raffle is always a big hit. Between heats, the U-Haul door opens and product (donated by all your favorite skate brands) is handed out to holders of the winning tickets

Pedro Delfino still fired up from Golden Foytime—huge frontside boneless

Lefty knows what’s up

Cody Jacobson, 180 to switch crooks on the car bar

Old school!

Henry Gartland was easy to spot with the blue hair—backside noseblunts every time, too

Heavy lineup in the staging area. Chris "Cookie" Colburn is ready to go

Switch tré down the double set by Cookie

Marcos Montoya, smooth back tail on the car bar

Tyson Peterson got the crowd fired up with this hippy jump through the car window

Kader Sylla knows how to hurricane, just check the new mag

“What up, dog?"

Muska showed up and was immediately mobbed by fans. He loves it

Having a heart to heart with Laura from Cowtown about how important a real skateshop is to the local scene

Signing a Thrasher t-shirt for a fan

A Happy Medium 4 was premiering so Tim Cisilino had to get a photo with Hunter O’Shea. Hunter and his brother Buster are the masterlensmen and editors behind the entire series. You can watch parts from the video starting today on this very site!

John Motta has a full part—amazing as always

Showtime!

Three screens so no matter where you looked it was playing

“John Rob, everyone is trying to find you”

Rad dad Jeff Stevens got in trouble with his wife when he hired a babysitter off Craigslist for $20 so he could get a trick for his part

Took a little break to cool off outside

Then back inside it was time for Las Chollas Peligrosas to take the stage

John Dilorenzo snatched up a DVD

Next up it was Drunk Dom and the Roaches—imagine if Johnny Cash sang Skate Rock. Check 'em out!

Then it was time for Petyr with Riley Hawk on lead guitar and vocals

Shredding the guitar as hard as he shreds on the board

Which got the crowd more than warmed up for headlining act, Ho99o9

Ho99o9 bringin some of that East Coast hardcore energy to the stage

The crowd was definitely feeling it

They shut it down!

Sunday’s practice lookin' like Saturday night’s mosh pit

Gustavo Servin front crunts first thing in the morning

John Dilorenzo, frontside half Cab flip

Vans and Quasi’s Justin Henry skated solid all weekend, stylish overcrook on the car bar

Henry Gartland had consistent runs and a big bag of tricks—kickflip 50-50 in the semi finals

When your dad films the Birdman there’s probably and extra camera or two floating around. Cruise Mosberg rolling long lens

Here’s the top 11 from the semis plus golden ticket winner Vincent Milou about to skate the finals

All of Sunday’s skating was broadcast live for free. Here’s the webcast announcers Chris Pastras and Andrew Cannon

Jack Olson, 180 nosegrind all the way to a third place finish

Jake Ilardi was the only skater to spin a McTwist and it landed him in fourth place

Mario McCoy stepped it up with a kickflip noseblunt in the finals securing him a solid fifth place finish

Maruice Jordan, gap to front feeble the A-frame rail

Henry Gartland, backside ollie on the tight quarter into seventh place

Tyson Bowerbank, are you ready?

Tyson with an impossible over the car

Ivan Monteiro rifled off a huge barrage of tricks over the car and this tré flip was done with ease

Cole Wilson on top of the world. Are you ready for best trick?

Best trick, always a shit show. But in the best way possible

Aaron Goure battled some heavy traffic and after several nearly fatal attempts he stuck this gap to boardslide

After the traffic had cleared a bit Tyson Bowerbank was able to stick this Brockel flip over the car

But it was Dylan Williams who took home the trophy, $2,500 cash and a case of caffeine and taurine with a backside 180 switch front crook to fakie flip out across the car bar

Who’s gonna take these home?

Top three: Ivan Monteiro, Maurice Jordan and Jack Olson

Here comes the champagne

Ivan Monteiro in first place, Maurice Jordan took second and Jack Olson finished third

Congrats to Ivan Monteiro, Cowtown’s Phx Am 2018 winner! Thanks to all the sponsors, especially Cowtown and Vans for footin' the bill. See you next year when Phx Am turns 18!