Danny Gonzalez * is back on his board and will be going to San Francisco * to shoot some photos for an upcoming ad for the release of the new DG shoe, “THE BASTA”. Look for it in early 2003 *.

Greg Lutzka * is coming off an ankle injury from a couple months back but is coming around great and is now in LA to shoot with Digital VM. This was a perfect opportunity for Greg to come to Cali and do some sizeable tricks on obstacles that have not yet been totally conquered. The word on the street is that Greg will blow minds with this part.

Matt Mumford * just got back from Australia * and was seen skating street to finish up his Zero * video part.

Jayme Fortune * will be relocating to So Cal in the next month so keep your eyes out for good things to come. Fortune will also be working on some upcoming projects with TransWorld * and Globe *.

Amateurs:

Globe ams Cooper Wilt & DJ Chavez have been on the Skateboarder Motorhome Tour for the last two weeks and have been repping Globe up and down the west, with stops from So Cal all the way up to Oregon * and out to Colorado *. “It’s been fun and we’ve done a lot of skating,” says Chavez.

The Globe promos at Jack’s and HSS in Huntington went off. The whole team was there - CJ, Damo, Taj, Noodles, Snips, Shibata, Danny Nichols, and Omar Etcheverry. Your basic U.S. Open promo - scantily clad young women, grom’s harassing for some stickers, and star struck kids. Globe rep Snowy was on fire, making the crowd earn their free stuff with push-up and dance contests. One girl did ten real push-ups to earn a free T-shirt. The dance contest was great, one girl was trying to rub up to the boys, but this little, short chubby kid was doing the moonwalk or something and he ended up winning a free pair of shoes.

CJ Hobgood is less than 1,000 points from current leader Andy Irons. With the Europe * leg approaching, CJ has plenty of time to make a charge to defend his World Title. He is also in the process of buying a house back home in Florida *. At the U.S. Open, CJ finished 7th in front of thousands of competitors and was the crowd favorite at the Jack’s promo signings. CJ also went on a trip to Indo to get some perfect surf in preparation for the tour to start back up again. CJ placed fourth in the Surfer Poll, and won the Most Radical Maneuver award in the Surfer video awards.

Damien Hobgood was in full effect at Duke’s “Big Wednesday” party. He was there signing his epic Surfing Magazine cover and hanging out with the large industry contingent that was on hand. Damien was on a role at the Boost Mobile Pro at Lowers. He made it to the quarter finals before being taken out by Kelly Slater. Damien won Best Wipeout at the Surfer Video Awards. Damien would have been stoked *, except the wipeout that was being honored was actually CJ.

Occy was in town for the Boost Mobile Pro at Lowers. He showed up at Luke Egan’s victory party in Laguna Beach dressed in 80’s gear, complete with a mullet wig.  Globe was so happy with his performance that night that they signed him to a 10-year deal.  Occy Forever!!!  Occy received the only standing ovation of the night at the Surfer Poll awards to receive his sixth place award. The Occ then informed the crowd that he was pregnant. Actually, his girlfriend May is expecting in April.

Before the U.S. Open, Taj Burrow and a few of his buddies drove to Las Vegas * for a few days of madness. Taj made the semis at the U.S. Open, then went to France * for the Anglet six-star and made the semis again. Taj was back in California * for the Boost Mobile Pro. Taj surfed in the expression session and attempted what looked like a 720 aerial. Taj finally cracked the top ten at this year’s Surfer Poll awards. He placed ninth. His video, Montaj, won Video of the Year. Taj told the crowd how happy he was to have the opportunity to stoke out so many groms with his videos.

Nathan Webster got second at the six-star in Anglet, France. He followed that with three other great placings in Europe. It moved him to sixth in the WQS standings and it’s looking good to re-qualify for next year’s WCT. Nathan was recently out in California for the Boost Mobile Pro and the ASR trade show in San Diego *.

Standout Aussie power surfer, member of the WCT top 44, and all around good guy Luke Hitchings is now riding for Globe. Luke is really excited with his new deal and is looking to have a good run on the WCT through Europe.

Amateurs: Giant killer Pat Gudauskas made some waves by making it through six straight heats at the U.S. Open.  This is a major accomplishment for the 17 year-old, considering he started from the very first round and finished in the round of 128 with the big seeded surfers. That’s like winning your own little contest right there. This is a big thing for him to build some points and get a higher seed for next year’s WQS contests.

Australian * Beau Mitchell got equal 5th in the Boost Mobile Pro/Jr. at the U.S. Open. The relatively unknown Aussie made his debut on American soil with a bang. Using solid contest strategy, Beau beat many top American juniors on his way to a semi-final finish. Beau then went on to win the GPB Biarritz Pro Junior in Biarritz, France.

Ryan Briggs won the 16-and-up division at the Billabong * Surf Rat Challenge during the U.S. Open. He won a trip to Tavarua! Ryan kept his winning ways with back to back victories to start the season in the NSSA Southeast/North Conference.

What does Cory Arrambide do when he’s not breaking NSSA records? He’s doing a photo shoot and interview for Sports Illustrated for Kids. Check him out in the September issue. Cory began the NSSA season right where he left off, winning. He won the Boys division at the first Gold Coast conference comp of the year.

Raymond Reichle is off to Indo.

Media Contact: SNL Communications Ryan Snyder 310-996-0239

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