Monster Energy’s Definitely Well-Represented At This Weekend’s Dew Tour

June 20, 2006, 2:58pm

Big summer of action sports for Monster Energy athletes kicks off
this weekend in Louisville, Ky., with the Panasonic Open Round of the ’06 Dew Tour

CARLSBAD, Calif., (June 20, 2006) – If it’s anything like last year,
Monster Energy’s glowing green ripped “Claw M” logo will again be all
over the podiums on the Dew Tour as no less than nine Monster Energy-backed athletes are set to compete in the five-round action sports tour beginning this weekend in Louisville, Ky.

Leading the Monster Energy assault on the Dew Tour will be last
year’s only double discipline winner, BMX star Ryan Guettler. The
Australian sensation captured both the overall titles in the BMX Dirt
and BMX Park competitions. Guettler will for sure be “The” guy to
watch as he defends his titles against the world’s best freestyle BMX
riders. Last year Guettler was most dominant in the BMX Dirt jumping division, winning three consecutive events (Denver, Portland & San Jose) before finishing 2nd in the final event (Orlando).

One guy no doubt gunning for Guettler’s gold is Monster Energy’s
newest acquisition, Dave Mirra. Last year Mirra limped a bit through
the competition, but did manage to pull off a win in the BMX Park at
San Jose and finished fourth overall in the BMX Park standings. In
the BMX Vert the “Golden Boy” didn’t have his A-game going, but still
managed to make podiums at Denver (2nd) and Portland (3rd). Look for Mirra to blaze back this year and take his share of Dew Tour hardware back to Greenville, N.C.

Rounding out the Monster Energy-backed BMX corps at the Dew Tour will be TJ Lavin. The longtime pro and former X Games gold medalist will look to mine precious metal from the Dew Tour’s BMX Dirt comps. Last year Lavin’s best finish in BMX Dirt was a 6th at Denver.

Over on the rollout deck of the halfpipe Monster Energy’s logo will
be seen all over television on the helmet of Pierre Luc Gagnon, aka
“PLG.” The SoCal transplant from Montreal was thisclose to winning
the overall Skate Vert title, finishing second to Bucky Lasek. PLG,
who sketched a bit at the opener in Louisville (6th), will be looking
for redemption this weekend. As the series went on he was by far the
dominant skater at the end, finishing 2nd at Denver then winning the
last two events – San Jose and Orlando. PLG is easily one of the
favorites to win the Dew Tour Skate Vert overall this summer.

Another proven Monster Energy skate podium talent is Greg Lutzka. The street specialist got out of the gate late on last year’s Dew Tour,
not making the Skate Park finals until Portland (Round Three). But
once there Lutzka made the most of it, topping previously undefeated Ryan Scheckler from atop the podium with a well-deserved win at Portland. Lutzka then backed that with a 2nd at the final round in Orlando and returns this year as one of the favorites to win the overall Skate Park division after finishing 3rd last year.

Remember this name: Monster Energy’s Taylor Smith. You’re going to see a ton of this kid during the Dew Tour coverage this summer. The 12-year-old ripper is the most decorated amateur skater California’s ever produced and will be competing on the world’s stage for the first time during the Dew Tour this summer. Already well-known through out the skating ranks, Smith has the potential to knock some big names out of the top ten, maybe higher. Smith rips it all, both vert and park and maybe be the rider of the future that can cross over between the two disciplines and succeed in both.

Also set to rock the vert ramp for Monster Energy will be Jake Brown. Last year Brown saw some limited action in the finals, finishing 10th at Denver. Still, voted as Transworld Magazine’s “Vert Skater of the Year” for ’05, Brown’s doing something right and will look to put it together on the Dew Tour beginning this weekend.

The real live “Monsters” of the Dew Tour are the Freestyle
Motocross (FMX) guys. Led by Monster Energy’s record-setting Mike
“The Godfather” Metzger, last year Metzger was busted up and could
only manage to compete in one round, finishing 10th at Denver. But as you all saw on ESPN recently when Metzger set the record for the longest back flip on a motorcycle in re-creating Evel Knievel’s
famous Caesar’s Palace fountain jump, Metzger is back and will for
certain challenge for the Dew Tour podium all summer long in FMX.

Finally, to get to the podium Metzger will have to get through
Monster Energy’s Adam Jones. Jones came on like a hurricane midway through the Dew Tour season last year to finish 4th overall, scoring podium finishes at San Jose (2nd) and Orlando (3rd). So the road to the Dew Tour FMX podium definitely goes through Adam Jones – and don’t look for him to give up that position without a gnarly battle.