Since joining the amplid Ambush team in 2008, Spanish shredder Luka Melloni has proven himself to be one of the most stylish skiers in the game; so this year it was about time that we added him to the International Cartel team. ARC TV caught-up with Luka at the Shogun Big Air in Modena, Italy and asked him about how he got into skiing, what his plans are for the coming season, where he likes to ride and who his biggest influence is.

The man with the most stylish Truck Driver spins in the game and PhilPark tycoon Mr Luka Melloni gives you the DL on his favourite possessions.

amplid skis - My first favourite possession has to be my amplid skis. I love them because they allow me to do the thing I’m most passionate about in my life, skiing. And anyway, this interview is for amplid right, so i have to say that amplid skis are the best? hahaha

Macbook - As you can see in the Photo, i need my computer with me where ever I am around the World. Not just to keep in-touch with my family and friends, but also because it’s the best tool you can have in your life, it allows me to do whatever I want without having to move my ass!

PhilPark Tee - I have one Tee really that’s really important to me. It’s the first PhilPark Tall Tee that we made… almost 5 years ago now. Since that day the brand has grown and grown.

Motorbike (Honda PS 125) - i looove my motorbike because it’s like a part of me. Every day I have to take the beast for an 18km ride to go to the office or to school, and back home again. So the motorbike helps me so much because i can go super-fast and it’s easy in the Barcelona traffic.

Private things – I have some private things that I’m not going to tell you about because they’re mine and only mine… hehehehee

Last weekend a small crew of Amplid Cartel and Ambush riders consisting of Yannick Bovard, Xavier Favre, McRae Williams, Christoph Schenk and Luka Melloni gathered in Modena, Italy for the Nissan Skipass event. Like all inner-city events the setup was a little sketchy with 20 degree heat punishing the snow and a kinky transition between the run-out and the landing which caught a lot of riders by surprise, including Luka who took a tumble because of the sharp change in gradient and dislocated his shoulder.

The majority of Saturday was spent traveling to the event, putting in a few warm-up runs and for those riders who weren’t seeded there was the matter of qualifying. Xavier and Christoph rode well securing a spot in the semi-final, Yannick threw down some nice rodeos but didn’t quite make the cut. Saturday evening was a chilled affair; the team ran-into McRae at the hotel having flown in from London where he’d been competing the night before at the Relentless Freeze and everybody made their way to the nearby restaurant for a good helping of Stone baked Pizza and one or two bottles of Moretti.

By 11:00 on Sunday morning we’d managed to drag all of the team out of bed and after filming a couple of interviews it was back to the Skipass event grounds for the Semi-Finals. The riders were called to the ramp a little later than planned but after a short briefing it was back to hiking up the run-in. The standard of the riding in the semi-finals was really high with double corks and all manner of 12s being standard tricks, but the riders were definitely struggling with the soft and wet snow to clear the table, particularly those brave enough to drop the gnarly run-in switch, which was obviously the first thing that McRae did, immediately upping his and everybody else’s game. McRae rode well and qualified for the final in 5^th fairly effortlessly. Christoph was riding incredibly well throwing 10s and even going for and almost stomping a double rodeo, but he just couldn’t put the landings down cleanly and so he missed the cut. On Saturday Xavier had also been savaged by the sketchy landing transition and an old shoulder injury had flared up. By his second run in the semi-finals it was becoming obvious that Xavier’s shoulder was causing him a lot of pain and also affecting his riding psychologically, he made the choice to pull-out of the competition after his second hit which everybody agreed was the right choice to make.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The finals kicked off just after 6pm by which time dusk had arrived and the snow in the run-in had hardened a little and sped-up a lot. On his freshly waxed Antidogmas McRae set the pace from his first hit stomping a faultless Switch Double Cork 10 which launched him into the lead with a monstrous 93 points. The international field of riders chased hard with Italian Marcus Eder stomping some nice double cork 12s but just unable to topple McRae’s first hit. McRae took the rest of his runs easy styling some slow inverts instead of hucking himself hard and risking injury at the start of a busy competition season. In the end it came down to the last hit of the night. Norway’s Klaus Finne managed to pump a lot of speed out of the run-in and stomped the biggest Double Cork 10 of the night with a seriously tweaked Guitar grab. Unfortunately for McRae it was enough to knock him off the top spot.

At that point we had to leave and make our way home, so we left the team to hit the parties and spend McRae’s second place winner’s cheque in the Jaegermeister tent .  Amplid HQ would like to say a big well done to the team for riding so hard and representing Amplid so strongly.

This weekend team rider Luka Melloni travelled down to Modena from his home in sunny Barcelona to meet-up with a handful of riders from the Amplid team and compete at the Nissan Skipass event.

The Skipass event’s ramp setup is completely unique, consisting of a mellow kicker transition with a hip style landing which can be hit and landed to the right or cleared completely and landed down the back which was the option that the majority of the field took, and the only option that allowed for enough airtime to stick bigger tricks. Saturday, the first day of the competition was a qualifying event and a handful of riders were to be selected from this round to compete with the seeded riders in the semi-finals on the following day. Luka had actually been seeded with an automatic pass through to the semi-finals but wanted to get the feel for the kicker so competed anyway, throwing down his trademark Truck Driver 900s with super clean style. On the last hit of the day Luka having stomped his trick got caught out by the transition between the landing and the run-out which threw him onto his shoulder dislocating it pretty badly. The team of paramedics were unable to get his arm back into the socket so a gutted Luka in absolute agony had to make a trip to the local Hospital where the doctors could use a muscle relaxant to ease up his shoulder and pop his arm back into the socket.

In typical Luka style he returned to the Hotel that evening mad with himself for not stomping the trick, but after a couple of slices of pizza with the rest of the amplid team was back to his cheery self. The doctors have told Luka to keep his arm in a sling for the next four weeks and then it will be a further two weeks before he can get back out on his skis which conveniently brings him to the start of the Pyrenean winter season. Everybody at amplid is wishing Luka a speedy recovery and praying that his one handed driving skills are as good as his Truck Driver skills because it’s a long drive from Italy to Spain!

Amplid Cartel rider Luka Melloni checked in with HQ yesterday and told us about his 4 th position at the Kaunertal Opening slopestyle competition, which took place 10 days ago. According to Luka who had made the pilgrimage to the first big event of the Freeski calendar from his home in Spain, “I had one of my best days ever. I stomped everything and I completed my three runs completely clean and smooth.”

When the results were released Luka was a little disappointed. “I thought I would podium and the judges put me 3rd. I didn’t really agree with the decision because the head judge had said in the riders meeting that style and sticking landings was most important, but anyway I was still on the podium.” However, Luka’s day took another twist, “Finally they did the awards and they decided to move me into fourth place.”

A bit of a downer to end a great weekend but when we spoke to Luka he was pretty laid-back about it “The weekend was awesome. I skied pretty good and the most important thing is that I enjoyed myself shredding with my Spanish homies in Austria!” Sometimes judging goes your way and sometimes it just doesn’t, but we’re sure Luka will be enjoying plenty of podiums this winter.

Check-out Luka’s runs between 1:52 to 2:09 and judge for yourself.

I’d call it the “Hood-ALL-STARS-EDIT”: Extra shots from the summer at Mount Hood 2011. Featuring: Maks Gorham, Dale Talkington, Ben Moxham, Parker White, Chris Logan, Nick Martini, Matt Walker, LJ Strenio, Nick Keefer, Jeff Kiesel, Will Berman, Sean Jordan, Noah Albaladejo, Dane Tudor, Tim McChesney, ARC rider Luka Melloni & more.  Fun edit, enjoy it.

BTW: A shout-out to Steptproduction

Nice edit from ARC member and PhilPark owner Luka Melloni hanging out with AMPLID team mate McRae Willimas up at Windells Camp, Mt. Hood (OR). Awesome rail and kicker action …

Couple of ouchs …

Click here to view the embedded video.

Featuring ARC riders Luka Melloni, Mcrae Williams & Pako Benguerell.