Maybe Jake Phelps thought David genuinely deserved it more than anyone else and the win had nothing to with the fact Gonzalez is the only person I have ever seen skating that most crass and money grabbing of products, Thrasher-branded grip tape. Like all things in skateboarding it’s a matter of taste and Phelps is entitled to his opinion it just so happens his is the only one that matters. But if there is any truth to all this salacious speculation then it’s a shame to see one of skateboarding’s few grand traditions being subverted by commercial concerns, just the sort of commercial concerns that people like Jake Phelps would go through such great pains to say have no place in skateboarding.
Personally I think Austyn Gilette should have won it. But that’s just me.
