Japan makes it two in a row in Portland as Sasaki dominates the Rockstar Energy Open

The Rockstar Energy Open returned to Tom McCall Waterfront Park for its third edition, and once again the course was a highlight in itself — visually sharp, technically demanding, exactly what you want for a street contest of this level.

On the broadcast side, Chris Roberts was as painful as ever on commentary, Shayne Heil sounded more stunned than enthusiastic, and Boo Johnson brought the right energy for interviews without quite having the interviewer chops to back it up. But the skating spoke loudly enough.

One notable absence that raised eyebrows all weekend: Deyvid Tuesta, Golden Ticket winner from PHX AM, never showed up. No explanation, no replacement — just a gap in the lineup nobody could account for.

VQS: the door opens, sort of

The Video Qualifying Series kicked off the weekend with 9 riders competing in 30-second best-of-2 runs, with only 4 spots up for grabs. Why 9 and not 10? Nobody seemed to have a clean answer.

Some familiar faces, some genuine unknowns. Steven Vasquez, Nobacel Villalobos, Malachi Gray and Koston Eaton punched their tickets through to the semis. Rion Swanson came the closest to crashing the party, finishing 5th and just missing the cut.

Semis: Toa in a different league

With 21 riders in the semis — 4 VQS qualifiers plus the field — the top 10 moved on to the final. Steven Vasquez arrived in Heat 2 like he had something to prove, kicking the door down early. But the story of the semis was Toa Sasaki, who skated in a completely different league from everyone around him, including a strong Braden Hoban who couldn't quite match him.

Final: Toa, Hoban, Crawford — in that order

The 60-second final runs gave riders enough time to build something, and Toa Sasaki used every second of it. His dominance was clean, consistent and hard to argue with. Behind him, Braden Hoban and Lazer Crawford — both Rockstar Energy team riders on home turf — rounded out the podium. A good result for the brand, a better one for Toa.

Best Trick: great skating, unwatchable broadcast

The Best Trick Cash Jam had the tricks — it just didn't have a broadcast setup to match. The coverage was a chaotic wide-angle mess with no way to catch everything properly. Someone should check the Tampa Pro's Best Trick jams to see how it's done.

The skating itself was another story. Wyatt Hammond absolutely lost the crowd with a cab heelflip backside tailslide, then kept going with five more bangers like it was nothing.

And in one of the weekend's more unexpected moments, Lizard King and Dakota Servold showed up and threw down — neither officially registered for the event, both completely unbothered about it.