Date: january 9-10, 1988.
Place: Palmetto, Florida.
Organisation: AFA.
The AFA unveiled new classes (individual ages between 13 and 19) and its new system in Florida. Now riders compete in a preliminary run with the best five riders in each class advancing to a Main Event. According to Scoff Patterson, AFA competition director, the judges first separate the best five riders in each class. Then, they have those five ride again to determine the final order from first to fifth.
Did it work? Pretty much. We didn't hear very many complaints on either day. But because of the small turnout, several classes didn't even have preliminary runs, so many riders went right into their Main Event. That gave everyone a lot more time for practice and many "official timeouts"to make Saturday's comp last longer.
Bicross magazine: 120 engagés au total avec parmi eux un seul européen: David Chabert qui, manifestement, tient à se mesurer, ou plutôt à se situer par rapport aux riders U.S. Comme souvent, le contest est abrité dans un gigantesque centre sportif L'aire d'évolution est très grande et la taille du Manatee Civic Center de Palmetto permet aux organisateurs de gérer a côté de celui-ci un immense espace, servant à la fois de parc-coureurs et d aire d'entraînement. Inutile de vous préciser que cet endroit là pullule de flatlanders.
David Dugger, 13 & under, the youngest flatland winner did a frontyard into a corner squeak into a fork squeaky, then a turn bucket. a fire hydrant corner squeak into a McYard, a 360 flail boomerang, a 540 toprock into a log roll, boomerankle, a perverted decade, an elephant glide and a hang glider, which he touched on.
Carl Arquila, 14: To start, Carl did a back-wheelie bar spinner, a walk-up and walk-down surfer, a backwards wheelie decade, a funky chicken and a boomerang.
Ruben Castillo, 15: How about a whiplash to get Ruben under way, and then a steamroller, fork spins (which he touched on during the finals) and a spastic no-handed frontyard.
In the amateur classes, one of the most surprising runs was that of Jerry Smith, 16, who raged, pulling off some of the hardest tricks of the contest (a flawless caboose, puppet, rolling decade and a junkyard). Jerry beat the likes of Aaron Dull and Joe Gruttola.
Jason Geoffrey, 17: his appearance in full-factory GT uniform was a little surprising until he blew away all other 17 Experts on the ground. Jason was proud of the scurfer he pulled off, because he learned it during the week before the contest. His other tricks included hop-hoppers and an elbow glide.
Darren Pelio, 18: Darren's run consisted. mainly of his own combinations, including a Gturn into pinky squeaks, a backwards super squeaker, an undertaker, an upside-down lawnmower, and an upsidedown lawnmower with spinning inside circles to finish.
Robert Castillo; 19 & Over: Robert led off with a backwards wheelie bar spin, a smoothie, a side-glide spin, a quadruple fire hydrant into a boomerang, his new trick called a "waltz:' a forward-rolling tailwhip, a funky chicken into a hyper-spastic backyard, and finished with a firecracker routine.
Then it was time for the pros. Dennis McCoy led things off. The crowd yelled (what little crowd there was), and he quickly went into a fast-paced, go-for-it routine that took up the entire performance area. Unfortunately for Dennis, he touched a bunch of times and even fell on his back once.
Martin Aparijo was second and he, too, had problems, turning in one of his worst runs ever for seventh overall. Woody Itson and Chris Lashua originally tied for fourth; a runoff gave that place to Chris. R.L. Osborn took the floor seventh. He did the kinds of tricks he's famous for, especially boomerang tailwhip combinations. That run put him ahead of Dennis with two riders to go, including Rick Moliterno.
Rick Moliterno is obviously greatly influenced by Dennis. His run was energetic, fast and consisted of so many tricks it's hard to name them all. Rick touched very little, and everyone there-spectators and fellow riders alike-was completely awed by his extensive and nearperfect performance. Rick has been practicing a lot, and it showed. Following the contest, Rick said he was under no pressure; only the other pros were under pressure. His routine started with a rolling tailwhip, then a hang five, a ropearoni into an upside-down wheelie in a circle with a Dizz slide-out, a G-string decade, a boomerang, a Wilkerwhip a trick -saver, a barhop into frontyard, which Rick barhopped out of, a forward side-glide in a circle, a left-handed elbow glide with a tailwhip back (he sketched but did it over and pulled it off), next a fire hydrant into a pedalpicker into. a decade, a bar-split boomerang, an undertaker, a rolling decade (which Rick missed, but he did it over and pulled it off), a surfer, a cancan glide, a slider into an elbow glide into a steamroller into a funky chicken. Then Rick tailwhipped it around into another funky chicken, a locomotive, a cancan slider into a double fire hydrant decade and finally a sweeper into a whirlwind.
Chris Lashua
Spastic fork wheelie by co-factory Mongoose Paul Mackels
Pro flatland: 1.Rick Moliterno 2.RL Osborn 3.Dennis McCoy 4.Chris Lashua 5.Woody Itson 6.Ron Wilkerson 7.Martin Aparijo 8.Rick Allison 9.Pete Augustin
19 and over expert flatland: 1.Robert Castillo 2.Nathan Shimisu 3.Bruce King 4.Dino DeLuca 5.Greg Tinkle
18 expert flatland: 1.Darren Pelio 2.George Smoot 3.Brett Hernandez 4.Paul Levering 5.Chris Rothrock
17 expert flatland: 1.Jason Geofrey 2.Jimi Johnson 3.Gary Pollack 4.Steve Kiander 5.Eddie Venglik
16 expert flatland: 1.Gerry Smith 2.Joe Gruttola 3.Bill Swoop 4.John Huddleston 5.Aaron Dull
15 expert flatland: 1.Ruben Castillo 2.Jeff Rugg 3.Park Carter 4.Derek Shott 5.Hamid Rashidzada
14 expert flatland: 1.Carl Argila 2.Jamie West 3.Andy Sanesi 4.Bill Gawrynch 5.Sandy Crawford
13 and under expert flatland: 1.David Dugger 2.Greg Miccomber 3.Matt Smith 4.Dave Mirra 5.Johnathan Rugg
Le squeaker backwards ou Locomotive, lui aussi ne cesse d'évoluer. A New York on avait vu McCoy et quelques autres tourner ainsi dans un mouchoir de poche en one hand. A Palmetto, la tendance veut que l'on tourne à fond en no hand, sur le plus petit périmètre possible. Peur cela, il faut tourner en sens inverse a celui du one hand, en butant la selle sur le genou, et le guidon sous le fessier. A ce jeu là le dieu s'appelle Rick Moliterno. La longueur de ses jambes lui permet de s asseoir confortablement sur le guidon, et conserver un bon équilibre en tournant.
La lutte est âpre dans toutes les catégories expert, et bien souvent, deux points a peine séparent le premier du dixième au classement du run qualificatif. Plusieurs riders de talent, tels Trevor Hernandez (8ème), ou Scott Freeman (12ème), n'accèdent pas en finale. David Chabert se classe neuvième en 17 ans, catégorie dont le vainqueur est Jason Geoffrey, un officiel GT qui taquine bien le cow boy spin bar de Martin Aparijo. Dans la même catégorie, Gary Pollack termine troisième. Les frères Castillo Rubben et Robert, gagnent en 15 et 18 ans, Daren Pelio do chez Hutch, s'impose en 18 ans devant George Shoot et Brett Hernandez.
Puis arrive l'heure des Pros, les dieux vivants du Free. La victoire revient à Rick Moliterno, qui pour son arrivée dans cette catégorie fait très fort à Palmetto. Rick est véritablement à la pointe du freestyle actuel, avec une maîtrise et une rapidité d'exécution fabuleuses Sa classe et un run sans faute lui accordent la victoire. Durant quatre minutes, Rick nous gave d'enchaînements de grande qualité nose wheelie, whips et squeaker en tous genres, dont une locomotive no hand en tournant quasiment sur lui même: un véritable festival. Le deuxième est omniprésent R.L. Osborn, toujours la, très clean, avec un style quelque peu différent, moins spectaculaire, mais comme d'habitude, bien classe. En troisième position, on retrouve le Real McCoy , l'authentique légende vivante qui passe le plus clair de son temps sur son sam. Dennis est tellement passionné, que lorsqu'il s'entraîne, on a l'impression qu'il ne s'aperçoit même pas que les autres s'écartent sur son passage, par respect, mais aussi pour le voir rouler. Rick Moliterno et Dennis McCoy ont sensiblement le même freestyle de pointe. A Palmetto, la différence s'est faite sur quelques erreurs de McCoy lors de son run. Dennis nous éblouit quand même avec, entre autres tricks venus d'ailleurs, un nose wheelie en fork squeaker, tout en faisant valser le cadre, d'un côté puis de l'autre, magique. Quant à Martin Aparijo, il apparaît au classement septième sur neuf: il n'ose vraiment pas raconter a quel point il a pu se planter.
Gregg Macomber, 13 & Under: Gregg was getting three to three-and-a-half feet out. easily making him the most talented of the youngest set. Gregg kicked things off with a fakie, then a no-footer, a one-footer, a one-footer into a cancan and finally a nofooted cancan.
Eben Krackau, 14: In order for Eben to win, he had a runoff with Ryan Dunman. His runoff was a sealed-down version of his main event, which began with a cancan, then a candybar air, a top-side no-footed cancan, a fakie, a turndown fakie, a one-footed cancan, an over-and-out and finally an invert.
Joel Alamo, 15: Mongoose's then cofactory, now full-factory rampster started with an invert, then a no-hander into a no-footer, a no-footed down-side cancan (which he fell on), a lookdown, a candybar into a cancan. a no-footed top-side cancan and concluded with a jammin' salmon.
Matt Hoffman, 16, Skyway's superstar amateur arguably hit the highest airs at this contest (nine or ten feet out) and was insanely rad as usual, winning his class. He got the crowd screaming starting with a Quadaffi, then a cancan, a nohander into a no-footed one-hander. a pendulum air, a candybar lookback, a 540 flyout, a lookdown, a no-footer and finally a candybar into a cancan.
Bob Kohl, 17: Bob made it to the five to six-foot range starting with a bar-spin air, then a Miami hopper drop-in, a 540 about coping high, a lookback into a one-footer and then his patented Superman air.
Chris Rothrock, 18: Beginning with a lookdown, Chris went into a one-footed invert, a onehand cancan, a candybar air, a Iookback, a top-foot helicopter, and ended with a no-footed cancan
In the 19 & Over class, Steve Broderson went first with an assortment of new radness, but was outclassed by both Dino DeLuca and Dave Voelker. Dave Voelker, kicked things off with a high air, then a topside one-footer, a no-hander (which he messed up a little on), a lookdown and then another no-hander (to make up for the previous effort). a fakie air and finally, a 540 flyout.
Brian Blyther won the Pro Ramps class with a clean run featuring high airs. Brian's ramp run began with a flipper 360, followed by a decade on the kick ramp, then a high air. a lookdown, a candybar air, a sprocket roll, an abubaca, a cancan X-up, a one-hand cancan, a 270 drop-in, a fakie footplant, then Blyther hops, a 540 air, 540 flyout and lastly, a cancan footplant.
The other pros had their share of problems. Josh White turned in his worst run to date, taking last in the class. Joe Johnson, who entered as a pro for the first time, took home a respectable third place. Although Rick Moliterno's ramp run in Florida paled against his ground routine, Rick did well enough on ramps to capture the Overall Pro title that weekend.
Dave Voelker
19 and over expert ramps: 1.Dave VoeIker 2.Dino De Luca 3.Steve Broderson 4.Kenny Lawson 5.Brian Dahl
18 expert ramps: 1.Christ Rothrock 2.Eddie Roman 3.George Smoot 4.Duane Duncan 5.George Silver
17 expert ramps: 1.Bob Kohl 2.Chris Potts 3.Danny Hubbard 4.Jon Byers 5.Kevin Gutierrez
16 expert ramps: 1.Matt Hoffman 2.Jeremy Aider 3.Corey Beaman 4.Bill Swope
15 expert ramps: 1.Joel Alamo 2.Jeff Rogg 3.Tim Ledim
14 expert ramps: 1.Eben Krackau 2.Rian Donman 3.Bill Gawrych
13 and under expert ramps: 1.Gregg Macomber 2.Jamie Mac Pherson 3.Dave Mirra 4.Shawn Beamen
Le dimanche est placé sous le signe des aerials déments, qui peuvent atteindre jusqu'a 3,50 m pour des Pros tels Blyther, Mac Coy, ou Joe Johnson, nouveau venu en Pro class.
Chez les experts, Matt Hoffman, vainqueur 16 ans, est une fois de plus ahurissant. Sa dernière invention, le Candy Bar Look Back, prend les spectateurs a la gorge et ses aerials à deux tricks, tels que Cancan No Foot In and Out ou Candy Bar into Cancan déclenchent la fièvre. L'autre expert prédateur est bien entendu Lord Dave Voelker, le héros de Bercy IV. Dave s'impose magistralement en 19 et plus, avec un run dans lequel on retrouve son Foot Plant légendaire, mais aussi un No Hand à fond, un Look Down Mega Air, et son saut dans les airs avec reception sur la plate forme, le velo dans une main. C'est Dino De Luca, le co factory de Dave, qui se classe second. Dino est bourré de talent, mais ne parvient pas a gagner un contest Lord Voelker est toujours là, en travers de sa route. Dino chute sur son Pedal Picker Drop In, et assure bien le reste de sa routine Look Down, Cancan No Foot, One Foot X-Up, Look Back, No Hand et Cancan. Chez les Pros, Brian Blyther est le grand vainqueur du jour, avec un run d'une propreté exemplaire, a la fois dans le style et dans les tricks. Brian débute sur un 360, va ensuite exécuter un Vertical Quick Change sur la small ramp, revient sur le bank avec un aerial à 3,50 m, puis Look Down, Cancan Foot Plant, Rock'N'RolI, 360 Drop In, Cancan X Up, Candy Bar, Fackie Stop In, Cancan, et un 540 pour finir, suivi des cris du public qui appelle au 900, mais n'y a pas droit. Le second Pro ramprider du jour est Dennis McCoy, qui après son semi échec au sol, se démène comme un furieux au cours de son run a la rampe. Dennis part de la plate forme sur un 360 Drop In, suivi d'un aerial à 3,50 m, et de sa panoplie d'aero tricks, Cancan Look Back, Fackie No Hand, Look Back, montée sur la plate forme en 360, puis Abubaca, One Foot Cancan, No Foot, Cherry Picker Drop in et pour finir un Fackie Look Back démentiel.
Le troisième est Joe Johnson qui, d'entrée, atteint les 3,50 m, passe ensuite a un Cancan No Foot, puis fait un No Hand. Joe rate un Acid Drop, et rentre ensuite Fackie Look Back, Cancan Foot Plant, No Foot, Look Down, Cancan, No Foot InNOut et One Foot pour finir.
Ron Wilkerson se classe quatrième avec un run hyper sympa Overflat, No Hand, Pedals Picker Drop In, Rocket Air, Miami Hopper Acid Drop. Ron clôture son show sur un No Hand No Foot simultané qui embrase le Manatee Civic Center. Cinquième Dennis Langlais, sixième Pick Moliterno et septième... Josh White, dont les chutes repetées le désavouent auprès des juges.