The overall Vert Dew Cup comes down to the last event of the season in Las Vegas as the three-headed vert monster which includes Bucky Lasek, Pierre-Luc Gagnon, and Shaun White battle it out for the title.

Defending Dew Cup champ PLG has the overall season lead with 190 points over Bucky Lasek heading into the Dew Tour Championships in Las Vegas this weekend.

Lasek is eight points behind with 182. If Bucky comes out on top in Vegas he'll collect his fourth Dew Cup. "I just fell short on one last trick before I was going to bring my last three tricks that were new and technical," he said after finishing third in Salt Lake.

Not too far behind sitting in third with 172 points is Shaun White, who collected his first and only vert Cup in 2007. In order to secure the Cup this year, he needs to win in Vegas and PLG must finish third or lower.

"I'm not out here to beat Shaun, I want to win," Gagnon said. "Whether he gets second or third, I'm just trying to win the contest. I just got to worry about what I want to do. I can't stop the way Shaun or Bucky or anyone is skating. All I can do is better myself to skate better at each event. If you start worrying about other people, it throws your focus off."

White said winning the Cup this season would be unreal.

"Just coming off these pretty heavy snowboard seasons, they take their toll on me," White said. "It's a whole different set of tricks and style of competing. So when I show up here it's extremely refreshing, but it's still frustrating. I got to relearn old tricks, I got to make up new tricks. I got to put it all together and hope to win. But the goal obviously is taking the whole Cup."

Watch the drama unfold on Sunday, October 16 on the ramp above the pool at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino or live on NBC.

Photos courtesy of Alli Sports.

The class of Skateboard Vert for the past decade or so showed once again he's not ready to pass the torch quite yet. On his final run of the competition Bucky Lasek found his rhythm landing combo after combo, including a fakie to fakie 540 and a McTwist 540 earning a score of 88.50 which was enough to take the lead from Pierre-Luc Gagnon.

After a long rain delay which included the evacuation of the competitors, staff, and fans from the beach due to lighting concerns one of the most competitive vert comps was set to go in Ocean City Maryland.

PLG had an opportunity to regain the lead but was unable to link together enough tricks to better Lasek's 88.50. The Vert competition is better than ever with the crop of young talent nipping at the heels of the experienced guys. Fourteen-year-old Mitchie Brusco finished in 6th place at his first ever Dew Tour while Skate Bowl champ Pedro Barros proved his abilities translate to the vert finishing in 4th.

Shaun White was back on a skateboard once again proving he's a serious contender in Vert but will have some work to do if he plans on winning this week at X Games.

As you would expect Lasek was ecstatic after his comeback victory "Oh man, I'm speechless right now, I guess I just like the pressure. I need something to push me and Pierre killed it. Shaun was ripping. Pedro was on fire. Adam, I've never seen him skate that good. And it was just go time. I think I just used that and I went off their momentum."

His excitement from his win won't last long as the competition resumes in Los Angeles on Saturday night as these guys battle it out for Gold at X Games 17.

Official results form the Dew Tour Pantech Open-
1 Bucky Lasek 88.50
2 Pierre-Luc Gagnon 87.75
3 Shaun White 86.25
4 Pedro Barros 82.50
5 Adam Taylor 77.25

photos courtesy of Alli Sports.

Once all gain, all the hype going into the final stop of Dew Tour Vert will focus on one guy, Shaun White. He's put together back-to-back runs of his life in back-to-back contests, which you guessed it have translated into back-to-back wins. But guess what? The only way he can win is if Pierre-Luc Gagnon (PLG), who hasn't finished worse than second all year, finishes dead last and Bucky Lasek and Andy MacDonald, two consistent podium placers, finish no better than forth.

In other words PLG is going to win the Dew Tour Vert Championship, you heard it here. Unless he has a complete breakdown, or an injury, or some weird event occurs, it's his. The overall ratings race, is really only a race for second between Bucky Lasek, who is sitting in second overall, and MacDonald, who is hot on his heels in third. They're separated by a mere two points.

OK, that all said this contest is going to be one hell of an entertaining one because of, yup, Shaun White. The only reason he isn't in the running to win the overall title is he pulled out of the Boston stop due to an injury. He has a big fat goose egg for an event, and is still in fifth, just fourteen points from Sandro Dias in forth. He's won every contest he's entered this year on the Dew Tour, and is going for three in a row in Vegas.

Simply put, White seems to be in another world right now when it comes to vert skateboarding. His amplitude and ability to spin are just on another level. Plus, he's linking into his run new tricks he's come up with in his lab like the armadillo, a frontside heelflip body varial 540. Not to mention, he even through up a 900 at the last event, The Toyota Challenge, and hinted at the fact that he may try to link it into his run in Vegas.

This contest is going to crazy even for Vegas. A poolside vert ramp at the Hard Rock, with vert skating's ultimate rock star, White, hinting at some history making things. And even though PLG practically has the overall championship, you know he wants to finish the year with a contest win and prove he is on the same level as America's favorite red headed skate star. Get ready for a battle at the pool Vegas style.

Shaun White made it two Dew Tour victories in a row Sunday when he edged out Pierre Luc-Gagnon (PLG) to win the Toyota Challenge in Salt Lake City, Utah. He'd been skating with the lofty amplitude he is known for all day, and was able to link some very difficult tricks in his winning run including back-to-back fakie-to-fakie 540s into a giant 720. White sealed the deal with his signature trick, the armadillo -- a heelflip body varial frontside 540. PLG was his usual solid, technical self, but was not able to put together the kind of run he did this summer at the X Games when he edged out White to win the gold.

"You want to do probably your hardest thing, but just hold back one trick so maybe you can bump up your score later," said White. "I was definitely in the mindset of landing whatever it was going to take to win."

White was even able to take a victory lap since he was the last skater of the day and had already clinched the win. To the delight of the crowd he threw up a 900 attempt -- something he has not done all year -- and came close to landing it.

"I tried my pretty fancy new trick at the end there," said White. "I wasn't going to break it out, but I got real excited, so you may see that at the next one."

"The next one" will be the final stop of the Dew Tour in Las Vegas. White will go into Sin City at the top of the overall Dew Tour Championship standings. PLG, who is hot on his heels, will be gunning for him, which should make for an exciting finish to the 2010 edition of this tour.

Final results of Skateboard Vert at the Toyota Challenge:

1. Shaun White - 94.75

2. Pierre Luc-Gagnon - 90.50

3. Bucky Lasek - 88.25

4. Andy MacDonald - 83.50

5. Bob Burnquist - 63.00

Shaun White unleashed the armadillo, a body verial frontside 540, to win the Wendy's Invitational in Portland, OR Sunday. He was finally able to put out the fire that is Pierre-Luc Gagnon (PLG), who has won the last three contests he has entered, including beating White at the X Games. It is only fitting that his first skateboarding win of the year came at the Wendy's Invitational since he does bare a striking resemblance to the fast food chain's mascot, enough so he even dressed like her for Halloween (pictured to the right).

Deffending Dew Tour Vert Champion Bucky Lasek was able to get back to the podium with a third place finish. But the amplitude and spinning ability of White is just unmatched, and what he lacks in technical skateboarding he makes up for by simply "going huge." He links huge heelfips with effortless 720s and on Sunday was able to mix in his armadillo, which propelled him into the lead. PLG skated technically brilliant as usual, and was one big move from a second straight win.

One skater who always goes for it and was skating great as usual was Alex Perelson. He stuck a cab 50-50 to 180 revert, which is about as hard as it gets in vert coping skating, and nearly landed a 900 on the second wall of his final run.

PLG remains in the overall championship lead, but this performance by White has shaken things up a bit. The two-time Olympic gold medalist snowboarder had to sit out the first stop of the Dew Tour in Boston, and now has to win the final two stops of the Dew Tour to have a shot at the championship.

The Final Results:

1. Shaun White
2. Pierre Luc-Gagnon
3. Bucky Lasek