GRINDTV Newswire via Red Bull - July 7, 2010 - (Santa Monica, CA) - Around the States, and in 32 countries around the globe, skaters have been putting their two wheels to the ground in hopes of qualifying for a spot in the Red Bull Manny Mania World Final in New York this August 21st. After a series of qualifiers coast to coast, now the U.S. is ready to crown their best amateur manual skater who will carry the nation's hopes of world domination on their back wheels.

Set at the world-renowned action sports camp and practice facility to the best in the sport, the Red Bull Manny Mania U.S. National Final, at Camp Woodward in central Pennsylvania, will host over 20 skaters on July 17th, 2010 to battle it out. Winning this contest means the American skater will book their ticket to NY to face off against the top skaters from South Africa to Japan to Chile in the Red Bull Manny Mania World Final with a chance to earn a single, coveted spot in the Red Bull Manny Mania pro contest, held on Sunday, August 22nd.

The best am manual skater in the world crowned on Saturday won't have much time to rest- Sunday they face the likes of previous Manny champs Joey Brezinski, Ronnie Creager, Eli Reed and other heavy hitters like Brandon Biebel. Tim O'Connor, Stevie Williams, Zered Bassett, Forrest Kirby and Rodrigo Tx.
LOCAL FUN TO NUMBER 1?

The winner from the final U.S. local qualifier on July 10th in Pittsburgh, will join the following skaters at Woodward: Spencer Brown, Cody Cepeda, Kyle Dalrymple, Matt Fink, James Espinoza, Ben Fisher, Jason Garfield, Nate Jackson, Timmy Johnson, Daniel Kim, Jason Kinzel, Derek Leroy, Justin Schulte, Danny Sook, Ryan Stiffler, David Thurn, Bert Wootton and Dan Zvereffe. Several additional wild card selections will round out the field, and Pros Joey Brezinski and Mike Maldonado will judge.

With a chance for one amateur to compete against skateboarding's top professionals, this summer will quite possibly see a manual pad turn into a launching pad for one tenacious two-wheeler.


For USA info and information for the Am series, visit www.redbullusa.com/mannymania
For a complete list of global contests and updates, visit www.redbullmannymania.com
For complimentary images for editorial use, visit www.redbull-photofiles.com
For high resolution moving images content, visit www.redbullcontentpool.com

The day after Back to the Banksunder the Brooklyn Bridge it was on to Red Bull's Manny Mania under the Manhattan Bridge. That's what's so cool about New York City skate events, the city just has so much history, which creates epic scenery around the contest area. The course was sick, the crowd was huge and the talent showed up. Names like: Brandon Biebel, Mike Mo Capaldi, Stefan Janowski, Stevie Williams and Eli Reed all were there getting their two wheeled tech on.

So here's the jist. There's all sorts of different boxes set up into a course, and the object is to put together the craziest combo of tricks into and out of manuals. It gets pretty technical, probably one of the hardest contests I could imagine having to announce, my hat goes off to you Jeff Pang (NYC skate legend and the event announcer).

In the end it was a toss up between Mike Mo and Eli Reed. Jeff had the crowd vote by cheering for who they thought won, even though the judges had already decided. One of the judges pro skater, Dan Pensyl, walked by me when all that was going on and said, "Eli won." The Top three were as follows: Eli Reed $10,000, Mike Mo Capaldi $5,000 and Kelly Hart $3,000. For full results go to http://www.redbullskateboarding.com/. Here's some pictures I took from the day:


Mike Mo smooth as ever.


Stevie Williams always down for a manual.


Zered Bassett fresh off his part in the Zoo York video.


Skate legend and Manny Mania judge, Donny Barley.


Mike Mo again.


Nick Diamond showed up.


Big crowd and amazing New York scenery.


The crowd swarming Jeff Pang right before the winner was announced.


Some Russian girl must of really made this guy's day one time.


The bridge it all went down under.