Date: September 27 and 28, 1986. Place: NYC. | |
FLAT | |
Freestyle Spectacular february 1987: There were some pretty incredible moves being pulled off by the 13 & Under Experts, including bar rides, inverted boomerangs, etc.. . Very impressive. In the 14-15 Expert class, Scotty Freeman executed a clean, flowing run to take the win. Next up, 17 & Over Expert. What a class! Rick Moliterno's departure from Hutch hasn't hurt him too much-he turned in a perfect ground routine. He didn't touch down once and ended the run with a double-inverted boomerang. Everyone was into it. Not to be overlooked are the performances by CW's Boy Wonder Gary Pollack, Schwinn's Jason Parkes and the crowd's weekend favorite Dizz Hicks. 17 Pros entered the contest. The pressure was on. With so many riders and only one first place, it was a dogfight from square one. A few factors really control who wins, but when it comes right down to it, the guy who wins is the one who's most prepared-physically and mentally. Dennis McCoy turned in one hot run-it had a lot of fresh new moves and few mistakes. He won. Martin's run was good, but it didn't move as fast as Dennis'. That may or may not have had anything to do with his getting second. R.L. was fully dialed, entirely original and scored a third. Pro flatland: 1.Dennis McCoy 2.Martin Aparijo 3.R.L. Osborn 4.Woody Itson 5.(tie)Eddie Fiola 5.(tie)Robert Peterson 5.(tie)Rick Allison 8.(tie)Ron Wilkerson 8.(tie)Dave Nourie 10.Chris Lashua 11.Dennis Langlais 12.Rich Sigur 13.(tie)Fred Blood 13.(tie)Oleg Konings 15.Kevin Foss 16.Maurice Meyer 17.Paul Delairrio 16 and over expert flatland: 1.Rick Moliterno 2.Gary Pollack 3.John Hicks 4.Josh White 5.Jason Parks 14-15 expert flatland: 1.Scotty Freeman 2.Jim Johnson 3.Brian Belcher 4.Anthony Miccice 5.Joseph J. Gruttola 13 and under expert flatland: 1.Mike Karanik 2.Benjamin Johnson 3.Aaron Kiander 4.Greg Macomber 5.David Fox |
DMC's frame dance. |
VERT | |
Freestyle Spectacular february 1987: Skyway rider Matt Hoffman cranked some radical airs for the top spot in 14-16 ramps. Even newer to the ramp scene in 14-16 Expert is Jeremy Alder. Jeremy turned in a killer run, too. In 17 & Over Expert ramps it was a close battle between Joe Johnson, Josh White and Dino DeLuca. Joe tore it up! He pulled off high airs, a no-hander, a no-footed invert and tons of other cool variations. Josh blazed some hot airs, too, and he pulled a clean 540. Dino had a totally clean run-high airs, variety and style. It was anyone's contest. Josh swooped on the win, probably because of the 540. It was that close! The Pro Ramp class and crowd insanity go hand in hand. Highlights: Dominguez turned in a mind-blowing run on 'The worst ramps I've ever ridden." He was pulling high airs and whipped off a high 540 air. Blyther clean as usual. Other pro highlights: Woody-off day, Todd A.-a controlled, conservative run, Hugo-an 'almost" canyon from the quarterpipe to the short ramp, Nourie-great variety, Allison havin' fun and making the crowd feel it, Robert Peterson-the usual. Chris Lashua and Dennis Langlais-more upand-coming with every contest. As for me (Ron Wilkerson), I turned in a self-satisfying ramp run-a no-hander, an Abubaka, a no handed fakie air, and a bail (ouch!). Eddie and I ended up tying. The result of the run off: I got third, Eddie fourth. Grounda fourth. Sometimes you bite the dust... Pro ramp results: 1.Mike Dominguez 2.Brian Blyther 3.Ron Wilkerson 4.Eddie Fiola 5.Todd Anderson 6.Dennis Langlais 7.Dennis McCoy 8.Rich Sigur 9.Paul Delairrio 10.Hugo Gonzales 16 and over expert ramp: 1.Josh White 2.Joe Johnson 3.Dino DeLuca 4.Rick Moliterno 5.John Hicks 14-15 expert ramp: 1.Matt Hoffman 2.Jeremy Alder 3.Brian Belcher 4.Gregg Rogers 5.Roger Sullivan 13 and under expert ramp: 1.Luke Dellavalle 2.Greg Macomber 3.Mike Karanik 4.Benjamin T. Johnson |
Ron Wilkerson from krts on Vimeo. Krt, krtschmidt.com, june 2008: The amount of space between these ramps was amazing. The Pros at this contest had around 3 minute runs THREE MINUTES! Rich Sigur from krts on Vimeo. |
Mat Hoffman, The ride of my Life, 2002: On June 29, 1986, there was a massive AFA contest scheduled in New York's Madison Square Garden. I'd been riding every day from sunup to sundown, and my friends told me this would be the comp where I'd earn a factory sponsorship. I bet my friend Page five dollars that he was wrong Then, just days before the event I crashed and broke my toe. I taped my foot up so I could ride in the contest and flew to New York with my dad, mom, and sister. I was nervous to be entering but stoked to be present around all the other riders I hit it off with Skyway rider Eddie Roman after meeting him in the stands, and we passed the time heckling bystanders and cracking corny jokes When it was time for my run, I put the butterflies out of my stomach, bowed my head down, and cranked toward the quarterpipe. A slew of can-can lookbacks, switch-handers, no-footers, no-footed can-cans, and everything else in my arsenal poured out of me Out of nowhere, the arena burst to life with applause and camera flashes. I won 14-15 Expert Ramps and lost the five dollars to Page. Before I'd caught my breath after my run, the team managers from Skyway and Haro had approached with sponsorship offers. Haro wanted to try me out on their B Team, and let me work my way up. Skyway didn't operate like that-I would be part of their factory squad and get to go on tour, get flown to contests, and draw a salary. I signed on the line with Skyway and was soon flown to their headquarters in Redland, California. The team manager had been hyping my skills, and the owners wanted to witness their new kid in action During the show I slammed so hard I snapped my other collarbone and wound up in the hospital. Luckily, they decided to keep me on the team. |