White Back on Top After Vert Prelims

Shaun White is back on top after finishing today’s skateboard vert prelims as the top qualifier and advancing to Sunday’s finals. He was Mr. Consistent and earned the highest scores of the day with an 88.75 on his first run, and 80 on his second and an 88.50 on the last one.

Shaun White

White spun just a bit higher, bigger and faster than any of the guys, and landed a heelflip fakie into a 720, a McTwist, and multiple other 540 variations.

He said earlier in the day that he’s been coming to Portland since he was a kid, and feels comfortable in the town, and it showed on the vert ramp.

Bucky Lasek

Second-place qualifier Bucky Lasek held the lead throughout the first heat, until Alex Perelson took it away, but Lasek was quick to regain his lead when his run came up again. Perelson finished sixth and will advance to his first finals of the year.

Brazilian powerhouse Pedro Barros was the youngest guy on deck at 15, but you wouldn’t know it from his multiple varieties of huge 540s and his third place qualifying result.

Rob Lorifice, fourth-place qualifier, was on it today, and he will advance to the finals. Rob Lorifice was sitting in third in Heat 1 going into his last run, but he went even bigger with a huge run that included a backside 5, frontside nosegrind and tailgrab 5 to indy grab 5. He moved up to second and bumped Perelson into third at one point in the heat.

Bucky & Bob

Bob Burnquist will make his return to Dew Tour finals at the Wendy’s Invitational, after missing the first final of his Dew Tour career at the season-opener. He qualified in fifth.

Marcelo Bastos was the last guy to make it into the finals, after bumping bubble boy Adam Taylor out of the finals on the last run of the day.

The top seven qualifiers advance to Sunday’s finals held from 1-3 p.m. inside the Rose Garden. They will join the top three Dew Tour riders, Pierre Luc Gagnon, Andy Macdonald and Sandro Dias.

For full results of the prelims, click here.

Results
1. Shaun White, 88.75
2. Bucky Lasek, 87.25
3. Pedro Barros, 86.50
4. Rob Lorifice, 86.25
5. Bob Burnquist, 85.25
6. Alex Perelson, 84.50
7. Marcelo Bastos, 84.00