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Jackson Shapiera mini-Interview: Movin’ & Groovin’

Wheelbase | August 31, 2024 | Comments (0)

Jackson chillin' huge, Mohican-style. Photo: Bandy.

A couple days ago we received the official Otang press release stating that Jackson and Orangatang Wheels had parted ways, and that Jackson had hopped on over to the Sector 9 urethane program. We were happy to hear that all involved were stoked on the move and working toward the future.

Anyway, we got to thinking that it would be rad to reach out to Jackson, catch up with ‘em for a bit, and get his personal perspective on the move. It took a couple of days to track this globe-trotting shredder down, but we ended up finding him at the airport and chatting on Skype. So with no further ado, here it is straight from the kangaroo’s mouth:

Jacko Gnarsteezin' on one of California's best. Photo: Bandy

By now, most everybody has heard that ya left Otang wheels and moved to Sector Wheels, but we haven’t heard your thoughts on this new development yet. So what’s shakin’?

I’ve been with O-tang for a few years now, I have watched their company evolve and move on up just as I have in my own career as a skateboarder, however, I see our paths taking two different directions. Loaded/Orangatang wants to focus more on the freeride/dancing form of longboarding, where as my focus is more revolving around the racing scene. It’s not that I don’t focus on the freeriding aspect of longboarding, it’s just that the racing is what allows me to travel around the world. Without the racing and the competitions I would not be where I am today. I have a big competitive drive and I like to put a lot of focus and energy into the racing. Sector 9 will focus on any form of skateboarding as long as it has wheels. After the move from Rayne to Sector last year I got to know their company a lot better and see an insight into their views of longboarding. The boys there are doing great things for skateboarding and I felt like I had a good thing going with them. They like to support racing and racers, so it just seemed simple to make the move so I could put all my focus into the one brand as they are putting a lot of focus into supporting me as a skater.

Now that we have ya here, can ya give us a head’s up on what the future holds for you and your skateboarding adventures? Where should we be looking for ya? Wheelbase interview maybe? Ha ha?

Well, currently I’m sitting at the flight lounge at Sydney Airport awaiting my flight to Calgary for Paskapoo this weekend! Pretty excited for this race; I’ve heard so much about it and it’s my first time. Apart from that, I’m looking forward to taking a trip to South America to race at Tarma and Teuntonia. Visiting South America will also be another first for me.

As far as new things for the future, we can all get excited about some new wheels coming out early next year—boys over at Sector know their stuff and have got something big planned. All will be revealed soon!

If we’re going to be doing a proper Wheelbase interview, we gotta do it like Heelside did with Tony Graves: 20 questions. 1 shot per question. . . gettin’ ’er done!

Nice!—Heelside is definitely sick. Yo, thanks for sharing your thoughts with us here at Wheelbase. Anything else you’d like to throw out there before we wrap this up?

Thanks to you for your time Mr Bandy! Great to see Wheelbase stepping it up and getting a lot of cool info and stories out there for us skate folk. Even the people at the top of the league browse the webs and sites such as www.wheelbasemag.com for all the up-to-date info in the skateboarding world! Stoked to see more content from you guys, keep up the good work!

Orangatang Press Release:

“Jacko has decided to move to Sector 9 for wheel sponsorship. After speaking with Jackson about Orangatang’s direction and what he is looking for in his growth as a rider, we found that our paths have diverged in the past couple years. We’re thankful for what Jacko has done over the past few years here at Orangatang. We know Jacko to be multi-talented and a self starter, and we are excited for his opportunities with Sector 9. We think that this will be a great opportunity for him and we expect to see great things over the coming years.”

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