| Date: march 19-20, 1988. Place: Portland, Oregon. Organisation: AFA. BMX Plus!: The location was Portland, Oregon. Its city streets were more confusing than the ingredients list on a pack of Ding Dongs. It was an indoor contest. There were two quarter-pipes set up on different ends of the contest arena. There were 129 participants total. The contest seemed small, but it was thick with talent. The practice area was huge, slightly dusty, and yes, flat. The jam circles looked more like airplane runways with guys doing rolling tricks at mega miles an hour. Qualifying cut each class down to the top five riders, but some classes didn't need it because they were small from the start. When qualifying ended each day a lot of riders went street thrashing for fun. Charlie Litsky announced the contest. Things seemed pretty organized, but some people still wanted to have the judges hung. But what else is new? Mike Dominguez, Bob Kohl, McGoo, and Lew didn't make it out. People were bummin'. Krys Dauchy had a General uniform on... Todd Anderson didn't. Vision everything was worn by everyone, from everywhere! The snack bar charged 75 cents for licorice, but at least it was fresh. Jim Johnson had bangs... Joe Gruttola cut his off. Woody put gel in his hair. Eddy Roman and Marty Schlesinger were growing beards. Robert Peterson sat in the bleachers both days. Vup, he's retired from competition. The routines went by quickly or at least it seemed they did. Most people had fun, of course. |
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Sick tricks: Ryuji Hora did a quadruple G-string into a decade. Joe Gruttola, Aaron Dull, and Stefan Scholz all did backwards decades. Gerry Smith did a switchhanded hang five at turbo speed. Rick Moliterno did a switch-footed steam roller into a forwards rope-a-roni. Dennis McCoy pulled quintuple whiplashes many times (that's five, sick!). R. L. Osborn did a switchfooted, forwards side-squeak roll super far. Dave Fox did a backwards hang five (his body was backwards, but his bike wasn't!). In the tiny 13 and Under Expert class Eric "Pee Wee" Evans pulled another win. It was questioned by many people, though. Twelve-year-old Carly Garcia who kicked out some cool moves as well as Eric had the crowds vote for the win. Oh well. Carl Argila flat out smoked his class in the mains. It just goes to show you what a cool, calm and collected rider can do. The rest of the 14 Expert class should join the bandwagon. Southern California's Ryuji Hora had two of the best runs of his life in Oregon. He combined originality with some of the hardest moves out, to take the win in his 15 Expert class. Sponsorship on the way? Could be. Aaron Dull finally had a routine with only a few touches that clinched him a win. His sessioning at Golden Gate Park definitely paid off. He even beat Joe Gruttola who landed the second place finish in 16 Expert with no bitter feelings. Cool dude. The 17 Expert class was majorly tough as usual. The winner was a very smooth and flowing Jeff Cotter. Gary Pollak and Chris Day followed him with strong runs of their own. The comp was thick. Kinda scary, actually. The man with more energy than a case of Grape Nuts, Darren Pelio, showed no mercy for the riders in his class by blowing their doors off. He hopped, spun, twisted, and did everything in between in his process to taking the first in 18 Expert. Usually locals and undergrounders don't get any respect until they do something to deserve it. A guy that came out of nowhere and got some serious respect by winning the 19 and Over Expert class is Dave Morris. He's proof that you don't have to be famous and sponsored to win a contest. You just have to be rad. When it came down to the pros, a lot of people had their money on Rick Moliterno for the win (he was blazing in practice). But his former riding buddy Dennis McCoy was jammin' too. Not to mention R.L., Martin, Lashua, and the rest of the guys. So how did it end up? Well, Dennis nailed down the win with tricks like backwards whiplashes, spastic wheelies, handgliders, and a whole bunch of forward rolling tricks. He only touched once through his whole run. Man, he was STOKED! Rick Moliterno had a great run too, but touched a bit too much for the win. His style was a lot like Dennis'. He did a lot of the forward rolling tricks like forward side glides in circles, rolaids, and whiplashes along with some scuff tricks and some ankle buster variations. Martin followed them with an exciting fun-filled routine and edged R.L. to the fourth place spot (R.L.'s worst contest placing to date?). Then came Woody in 5th who looked pretty good for being down with a cold. Rick Allison and Chris Lashua earned 6th and 7th with their funky styles combined with power and rolling tricks, Ron Wilkerson who did the highest pedal picker hops ever got 8th, Dave Nourie who seemed a little detuned got 9th, and Pete Augustin who was disqualified for doing a wall ride on the GT trailer from the Vision quarter-pipe came in last. It was rad, but not worth getting disqualified for. |
Pro flatland: 1.Dennis McCoy 2.Rick Moliterno 3.Martin Aparijo 4.R.L. Osborn 5.Woody Itson 6.Rick Allison 7.Chris Lashua 8.Ron Wilkerson 9.Dave Nourie 10.Pete Augustin 19 and over expert flatland: 1.David Morris 2.Mark Roldan 3.Ron Camero 4.Pete Kearney 5.Johnathan Garcia 18 expert flatland: 1.Darren Pelio 2.Brett Hernandez 3.Danny Hubard 4.Karl Rothe 5.Ron McCoy 6.Guy Horsey 17 expert flatland: 1.Jeff Cotter 2.Gary Pollack 3.Chris day 4.Jim Johnson 5.Joe Alder 16 expert flatland: 1.Aaron Dull 2.Joe Gruttola 3.Stefan Scholz 4.Park Carter 5.Chris Romeo 15 expert flatland: 1.Ryuji Hora 2.Bill Neuman 3.Hamid Rashidzada 4.Jeff Rugg 5.Scott Freeman 14 expert flatland: 1.Carl Argila 2.P. James West 3.Josh Rohal 4.Branden Morgan 5.Richard Cockrell 13 and under expert flatland: 1.Eric evans 2.Carly Garcia 3.Gregg Macomber 4.Matt Smith |
| VERT | |
| Sick tricks: Rampster Jack Smith did a rock walk drop in (think about that one). Little Gregg Macomber did a no-footer about three feet out (on a 20" scoot no less). Ron Wilkerson did a 360 abubaca. Dennis "out of nowhere" Langlais tried a 900. And Josh White did a dangerously high fakie. Sunday's main event started off with Eric "Pee Wee" Evans taking two more wins. This time in the 13 and Under Ramp class, and for the overall title. Gregg Macomber and Mike Woodley tied for second with Mike winning the run off. Gregg had to settle for third. Could you believe it? With only two riders in 14 Expert ramps, there was a tie! Yup, Eben Krackau and Ryan Lee Dunman then had a run off with Eben taking home the bigger trophy. The newest General recruit is gnarly. Roger Sullivan tried all kinds of variations at mass altitude with some serious close calls. He won the 15 Expert class this time, beating out Joel Alamo, but he'd better mellow out or he might pay the doctor a serious visit, soon! Co-sponsored hot up and comer, Jeremy Alder did his thing to the 16 Expert class and pulled a strong win. Chris Romeo (Rick Moliterno's buddy) turned in a clean run too, and took second. Not bad for a dude that mostly rides flatland. A young man by the name of Chris Potts tromped on the rest of the young men in 17 Expert for a fresh first place trophy he's been aching for. Gary Pollak aerialed his way behind Chris for a close second. That put his name down for the overall win! McGoo would've been proud. Chris Rothrock's first air in the mains for the 18 Experts was one of the highest of the contest. The rest of that run kept going at that pace until his time was up. He was psyched when he found out he won. Wouldn't you be? England's pro, Craig Campbell, snagged the second place slot. He had to compete as an amateur even though he's been a pro in other sanctions for years. In the AFA you have to earn your way to the pro ranks through points. Rules are rules. Dino DeLuca finally did it. He beat out teammate Dave Voelker (who surprisingly didn't qualify) at an AFA contest. Dave went unbeaten in last year's AFA series and it looked as though it could've happened again this year (when he won in Round 1 in Florida), but everyone can have a bad day. Oregon local and one time GT guy, Monte Hill took second. That got the crowd roaring. There was a tie for third between Marty Schlesinger and Steve Broderson that Marty later won a runoff for, leaving Steve with fourth. The fierce battle in the pro class focused on Ron Wilkerson and Josh White. Both ripped, but someone had to lose. Unfortunately for Ron he was that someone-Josh won. Ron did a superman air, mass lip tricks, a 540, and even a nothing, but he couldn't beat Josh's high airs, insane variations, mega fakies, and some boosted 540 sickness. It was REAL close. Both scored four full points higher than the third-place man, Dennis McCoy, who snaked the overall anyway. Next came Joe Johnson who didn't have it in him THIS time. Dennis "I think I'll try a 900" Langlais got 5th, a mellow Brian Blyther ended up with sixth, an injured Rick Moliterno (his back's been killing him lately) dragged in for seventh, and lastly Todd Anderson who wanted to make a comeback, but crashed too many times got 8th. He'll be back. |
Pro ramps: 1.Josh White 2.Ron Wilkerson 3.Dennis McCoy 4.Joe Johnson 5.Dennis Langlais 6.Brian Blyther 7.Rick Moliterno 8.Todd Anderson 19 and over expert ramps: 1.Dino DeLuca 2.Monte Hill 3.Marty Schlesinger 4.Steve Broderson 5.Andy Shohara 18 expert ramps: 1.Chris Rothrock 2.Craig Campbell 3.Jack Smith 4.Danny Hubard 5.Billy Jacobs 17 expert ramps: 1.Chris Potts 2.Gary Pollack 3.Marty McFailand 16 expert ramps: 1.Jeremy Alder 2.Chris Romeo 3.Mel Goodek 4.John Alvey 5.Randy Shohara 15 expert ramps: 1.Roger Sullivan 2.Joel Alamo 3.Beau Cobb 4.Jeff Larue 5.Jerry Rugg 14 expert ramps: 1.Eben Krackau 2.Ryan Lee Dunman 13 and under expert ramps: 1.Eric Evans 2.Mike Woodley 3.Gregg Macomber |
| The contest ended early Sunday night. The people that won were the best for that day, but the Arizona contest is only a month away. There, they'll have to prove themselves all over again. It's a never ending quest. | |