SAN FRANCISCO -- Perseverance paid off Saturday night for Bucky Lasek.

The best friend of the best skateboarder of all-time, Lasek used the most prestigious vert contest in the world to finally put his mark on skateboarding. Lasek won a thrilling -- and chilling -- three-way battle with Andy Macdonald and Tony Hawk to take home gold in X Games V on Pier 30.

The victory was Lasek's first over Hawk and also kept Macdonald from defending the gold he won last year in San Diego. Lasek led after both of the first two runs, but it was his third-round score of 94.25 that held off Macdonald and Hawk. In qualifying, Lasek also led after two runs, but saw both Macdonald and Hawk overtake him in the third round.

	Even a 720 wasn't enough for Hawk to overtake his good friend Lasek in the vert final.

But 24 hours later, with the wind whipping through the halfpipe and temperature dipping into the 50s, Lasek burned up the walls with a flurry of high-risk, kick flips and 540s that left the crowd of over 10,000 roaring for more as his 45-second run ended. Lasek, whose biggest win until Saturday night was a victory in the '98 X Trials, threw up his arms in recognition of the crowd and then leaned over as if to say to himself, "I finally did it."

"I really had something to prove to myself. I just wanted to skate like I skate everyday and not fall on stupid stuff," Lasek said. "It was personal. Back home I'll ride well, but then I'll fall in competitions on stuff I do at home all the time.

"I was just happy to be up there (as one of the three). It didn't even matter who won after I skated my first run. I didn't even care if I won or not."

Lasek's first run earned a score of 91.00, the only score in the 90s until the final round. But had he not put together even bigger and more difficult tricks in his third run, he would have been wearing bronze instead of gold. Lasek knew he had to just relax and let the tricks flow as they have for so many years in his backyard.

"I was hyper enough to start, then the cold made me jittery. It was hard to control myself. So I just did some Lamaze breathing I learned in Lamaze class," said Lasek as he held his new baby daughter Devin alongside his wife Jennifer. "Wind was a major factor. But I just tried not to go as high. I stuck a little lower, so the wind wouldn't blow me away."

"Aw man, it was so close. So close. I don't know what the difference was, that's up to the judges. In my eyes, Tony is the best. I'm sure that's right in everybody's eyes. It just comes down to what the judges like." -- Bucky Lasek, skateboarding vert gold medalist

The trick that may have put Lasek, 26, over the top was a frontside 540 -- a move that resembled a flat spin usually reserved for inline skaters in the halfpipe.

"I just learned that trick a couple of weeks ago. That just came to me. I haven't really nailed it too much since," Lasek said. "It's a big trick. It's one of my favorite tricks."

Macdonald also had a perfect third run. And if it were up to the crowd, Macdonald may have been declared the winner after a run that featured five 540s. Macdonald landed 540s backside, frontside and with a McTwist. He too raised his arms to the crowd after his third run. But the judges gave him a solid 93 -- which brought a chorus of boos.

"I would have loved to have gotten first, just as much as any guy in the finals. But I did my run, and that's pretty much what I came here to do," Macdonald said. "I had a routine planned out, and I made the whole thing clean. That's all I can expect. From there it's up to the judges. By the third run I was like, 'OK, this is it. It's all or nothing.' That's usually how you stay on, when you go all or nothing.

"I guess last year it was more of just a 'Tony-Andy Battle.' This year was more head-to-head, Bucky, Andy Tony. It was a lot of fun."

With Macdonald locked into no better than silver, the only skater left just happened to be the legendary four-time X Games gold medalist Tony Hawk. And as the only skater with a 720 in his bag of tricks, Hawk seemed poised to once again snatch away a victory from his buddy Bucky.

But even after landing the 720 -- fakie no less-and an assortment of kick flips and stylish 540s, a score of 92 was all the judges gave Hawk. It was Hawk's second straight bronze medal, which he tossed to a lucky spectator after he and Macdonald tackled Lasek during the awards ceremony.

"Aw man, it was so close. So close. I don't know what the difference was, that's up to the judges," Lasek said. "In my eyes, Tony is the best. I'm sure that's right in everybody's eyes. It just comes down to what the judges like. Competitions are like that. You never know who is going to win. The momentum of the crowd played a big role tonight."

The 31-year old Hawk admitted his run could have been a little more risky, but was happy with how the contest turned out-especially for Lasek.

"I kind of had a mix of both risk and safe (tricks) in my runs," Hawk said. "There were some things that I probably could have done that would have been a little harder for me, and I wouldn't have been as confident with. But I really wanted to make my last run. So I was real happy.

"I wouldn't trade Bucky winning for the world. This is (Bucky's) biggest win by far. I'm so proud of him. It's exactly what he needed. For him to win ... this is the biggest contest people see."