Local boy flies high in skateboarding competition

Local MB/WARP Skatepark team skateboarder, Chaz Ortiz, 13, of Carpentersville won first place at the Mountain Dew Action Sports Tour in Orlando recently, scoring an unprecedented fifth place among the pros and earning him a spot to compete in the professional competition, in which he came in sixth place.

Ortiz, who has been skating with the MB/WARP team for four years, ranked sixth behind pro skaters Greg Lutzka and Ryan Sheckler. The contest aired on the USA Network, and the talk was all about "Who is this 13-year-old from Chicago?"

After his big win, Ortiz went on to skate the international Damn Am skateboarding competition in Costa Mesa, Calif. He came in second place, less than a point behind the first-place winner, a 19-year-old Brazilian skater.

"These are huge wins for Chaz," said Rob Mutert, owner, MB/WARP Skatepark. "Chaz is an amazing skater and can perform tricks that only pro skaters can usually pull off. He held is own skating with the top skaters in the world in the pro competition, and showed the world that this kid is for real," Mutert said.

Chaz was at MB/WARP Skatepark Nov. 2 for the Birdhouse Demo and Video Premiere and to welcome home MB/WARP team skater John Dickson, who's now touring with Tony Hawk's Birdhouse team and appearing in its new movie, "The Beginning."

For details, call (815) 334-9277 or visit www.warpskatepark.com.