| Date: 1989 Place: La Jolla. Organisation: Ron Wilkerson | |
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The first Swatch-sponsored 2-Hip street fest was a one-day event. It was held in conjunction with a ten-speed roadrace in downtown La Jolla, California. Qualifying started at high noon and the finals started around 6:00 p.m. There were two classes: "good" and "great." Eddie Roman and Kevin Martin built almost all of the portable street ramps -about eight altogether. There was also a portable wall propped up against a street light, a bench for serious grinding and, yes, even a Cadillac Seville parked in the middle of the riding area to use and abuse. A total of about 45 riders entered the jam, but only nine made the cut to the "good" class and only eight made it to the "great" class. "Everbody was rad, not only the guys who made it to the finals," Wilkerson commented. Riders flocked from all over to participate in the contest, including England's Jess Dyrenforth and Craig Campbell, Pennsylvania's Gary Pollak, Kevin Jones and Mark Eaton, and New York's Joe Gruttola, along with regular resident California sessioners. Fortunately, injuries were few with only Dave Voelker and George Smoot sustaining harsh-enough wounds to be forced out of further jamming. Many riders were smokin' hot in the final runs of the day, but there wasn't much stress floating around over who was going to dominate-despite the $1500 purse up for grabs for the "great" dudes. Everyone had a pair of two-minute runs to attack the artificial terrain to the best of their abilities. There were many highlights throughout the evening, including some downright chaotic moments. Car smashing, wallride manipulation, lip-trick insanity, peg and sprocket grinds and major launch-ramp lofting were performed by nearly every rider. The sessioning lasted late into the evening, which left the local law enforcers a bit unhappy. When Wilkerson himself finally turned in the last run of the day, a spectator stretched out the contest a bit more by taping a $20 bill to the street light above the wall. Yup, you guessed it, the finale of the contest was an intentionally provoked high wallride session for a cash prize. Mike Krnaich ended up with the winning attempt by blasting straight up the wall, snatching the dough and crashing back to earth. It was insane! Both the crowd and the other riders lost control. Mike was mobbed by frenzied fans. All in all, it was a fun contest. In fact, everyone had such a good time that most people left before the results were even announced. It didn't seem like anyone even cared who won. Now that's weird. It goes to show you-sometimes you just have to say, "Why stress?" |
GREAT 1.Craig Campbell 2.Eddie Roman 3.Todd Anderson 4.Craig Grasso 5.Vic Murphy 6.Danny Schow 7.Chris Day 8.Ron Wilkerson GOOD 1.Jess Dyrenforth 2.Gary Pollack 3.Mark Eaton 4.Mike Krnaich 5.Danny Hubbard 6.Kevin Jones 7.Joe Gruttola 8.Mike Kirankyk |