Under any normal circumstances spending your Sunday afternoon under a flyover in Manchester would not be time well spent.  But nothing about NASS is normal, especially when you have Ben Grove organising the last opportunity for qualification into the Pro Course skate finals.

The concrete section at Projekts ‘Pumpcage’ skatepark provided the stage and the Manchester scene turned up in force to support skaters from all over the UK.  We had 34 entrants and ran 7 heats, breaking the park down into the 3 sections and running jams in each.  To say it went off would be an understatement.

Everyone was ripping but it was Joe Hinson and Alex Dechuna who really stood out in each of the sections (Rail, Stairs and Transition).  The tech wizardry was abused with flip in and  outs of pretty much anything and both guys were super consistent making pretty much everything.  Keep an eye out for the edit which will be coming out later this week.

Little Liam Spencer got everyone pumped by landing his first kickflip down the stairs after everyone got behind him.  That got him the Z-Flex most commitment award, seeing the little fella taking home a shiny piece of wood and T-shirt.   Other standouts were Jasper ‘crazy legs’ Clough who pulled some insane wall (fence) rides and almost making a wallie from the rail to firecracker down the stairs (the kid is insane).

NASS SKATE NORTH PRO QUALIFIER WINNERS

4th Place // Charlie Birch (GBR)
5th Place // Gareth Thomas (GBR)
6th Place // Keith Walsh (GBR)
7th Place // Lloyd McLeggon (GBR)
8th Place // James OG Hewitt (GBR)
9th Place // James Grindley (GBR)
10th Place // Jasper Clough (GBR)

11th Place // Robert ‘Rooney’ Woodward (GBR)
11th Place // Sam Mason (GBR)
11th Place // Craig Smedley (GBR)
12th Place // Lucien Costello (GBR)
12th Place // Owen Ashley (GBR)
12th Place // Rob Sanderson (GBR)
12th Place // Frank Spacey (GBR)
12th Place // Dale McDermott (GBR)
12th Place // Phil Long (GBR)
13th Place // Cam Gooden (GBR)
14th Place // Will Golding (GBR)
15th Place // Danny Moore (GBR)
16th Place // Liam Spencer (GBR)
17th Place // Curtis Munson (GBR)
18th Place // Danny Broadsurf (GBR)
18th Place // Liam Edgerton (GBR)
19th Place // Leigh Devine (GBR)
20th Place // Ben Stanaway (GBR)
20th Place // Chris Chadwick (GBR)
21st Place // Caleb Meadow

Z-Flex Most Creative – Jasper Clough
Z-Flex Most Commited – Liam Edgerton
Z-Flex Most Northern – Scottish Ben

A big ‘Thank you’ goes out to everyone who made the Skate Qualifier what it was and we would like to say a big thank you to the Grover and everyone in Manchester that turned out to either skate or support.  Big thanks to the guys at Projekts as well for hosting an amazing day (and for the Panini’s and hot drinks).

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEWIS ROYDEN