Vand Cup Tahoe: Night Rail Jam

Dozens of high-profile rail sharks bit down on the Vans Cup Rail Jam this Friday night. After being released on the five-feature set up, some riders floated over the features as if they were underwater. Others didn’t swim so well.

For the competition, the Northstar Park Crew set up a down-flat-down rail, which ran parallel to a down-flat-down ledge. On the other side, a down rail sat next to a down ledge. In case anyone needed to call for pizza, a phone booth was placed in the middle. The booth definitely got tapped a few times.

Plenty of riders showed up for this feeding frenzy, too many in fact. The rail jam started with an elimination session during which shredders had to prove themselves to be allowed into the cash running. Desperate people do desperate things.

Once the best of the best were selected, the real style came to town. The ladies kicked down first. Desiree Melancon hit a sick backside 180 on backside 180 off the down ledge, good enough for second place. Iris Lazzareschi killed a 50-50 to front board on the down-flat-down ledge. Cheryl Maas, who placed third, hit a super-clean boardslide on the down-flat-down rail. In the end, it was Molly Aguirre that stood out above the rest. Aguirre’s smooth front boards and clean 50-50s on the kinks slid her to first place.

For the men there were too many good tricks to list them all. Front board 270s, half cab ons, combos, it was all craziness. Aaron Bittner dropped a clean 180 on 180 off on the down-flat-down rail. Scotty Arnold hucked a few backside 270s onto the down rail. Local Danny Toumarine popped off the phone booth into a front flip, a real crowd pleaser. Brendan Reis nailed a 180 on to 360 off on the down rail, which put him in second. Chas Guldemond went with the monkey tactic, climbing all over stuff and jumping off. It seemed to work, he won.

Yeah, it was a good night under the lights. Nice mellow setup, tons of ecstatic fans, what more could a rail rider ask for? Oh, maybe $10,000.

Men’s Results:

1. Chas Guldemond
2. Brendan Reis
3. Kade Madsen

Women’s Results:

1. Molly Aguirre
2. Desiree Melancon
3. Cheryl Maas

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