Defending Champions: Bucky Lasek

Defending Champions: Bucky Lasek

The cup spilleth over

It’s been almost 20 years since the debut of a plucky kid named Bucky in the classic 1988 film Public Domain, and tricks like his switch frontside rodeo 540 show both how far the sport has come and how much his influence has had on its progression.

Bucky Lasek’s Dew Tour wins at the Right Guard Open and Vans Invitational contests last year helped him win the whole shebang, forcing him to clear off some space on the mantle for a Dew Cup to add to his collection of X-Games heavy metal and the golden fruits of nine years spent prospecting as a skateboard pro.

Lasek also took home a Toyota Tacoma for his 2005 Dew Tour performance, and must have put in some quality time on the road with it before heading off to the races: in April, he won the 30th Anniversary Toyota Pro/Celebrity charity auto race with a start-to-finish lead from the pole position, leaving Dave Mirra, John Elway, Xzibit, Martina Navratilova, and Captain James T. Kirk in his exhaust.

He’ll be driving from the pole position again and looking to get off to a similar lead as the summer skate contest season kicks off in Louisville, KY for the Panasonic Open, June 22-25, but this is no Sunday drive. The returning champ will need the best head start he can get for this tour: several guys with 900s in the bag will be in hot pursuit, and conventional wisdom says this year’s series is wide-open. Lasek says he now realizes there’s a different strategy involved in skating to win the full series and not just individual contests, and he knows there are some thirsty guys out there.

Skating against pros like Pierre Luc-Gagnon (2nd place overall, Dew Tour 2005), Andy Macdonald (3rd) and Bob Burnquist (4th) means everything is on the line, always, especially with Sandro Dias, Rune Glifberg, Lincoln Ueda, Anthony Furlong, and Shaun White looking to make a mark.

Not content to rest on his laurels, look for Lasek to unveil some big new tricks and add to his cup collection this summer. After squirreling away tricks through the off-season, everybody’s got some secret weapons under their hoods, and Bucky will need more than being lucky. He does have one slight advantage: he’s he only guy in the field who’s already seen the checkered flag first-hand.

Gentlemen, start your engines.

– Colin Bane