Place: Colombus, Ohio.
BMX Plus: Skyway dropped their entire team just before the contest. Needless to say, none of them were at the contest.
Bicross magazine: Parmi la horde de riders, on aperçoit cinq Frenchies. Il s'agit des Blix David Chabert, Jean Somsois et Patrick Roman accompagnés de deux nouvelles recrues, Patrice Kharoubi et Christophe Chevalier. Comme d'habitude, le contest indoor se déroule dans une salle de spectacle. Au centre, l'aire du contest jouxte une aire spacieuse, le spot d'entraînement où pullulent des flatlanders. C'est la que se déroulent les fameuses jam circle riches en enseignements pour le commun des freestylers.
It was obvious who the hot guys were going to be. Not only were they cheered during and after their runs, but the mere mention of their names sent the practicing masses running for a place to see the vital qualifying routine. Jay Jones' name could be compared to E.F. Hutton's by the mini-stampede he caused. Tricks like his cross-handed hang nothing are the reasons why. He must not be too bummed about his bike being ripped at the New Jersey contest. During all this fun, Sean Leslie was witnessed cruising a hang nothing the entire length of the building. He didn't stop there. He circled around and made it halfway back before setting his back wheel down again. No way.
Krys Dauchy entered the 17 Expert class and turned in her usual unique run, though she didn't qualify. She still rides every day, even with her new job. She's no longer on General; she's the new secretary of the AFA.
Some of the craziest tricks seen were Mark Coates' backwards backwards rubber ride (a backwards rubber ride while the bike is rolling backwards), Eric Burger's bar-rides on folding pegs mounted on his bars (including attempts at twisting circles from this position), Danny Hubbard's backwards-stomachstand-invert-nose-wheelie thing (you had to be there), along with scads of rolling tricks into other rolling tricks.
The 16 Expert Flatland class was a serious battle. Danny Meng was the local favorite, judging by the crowd's reaction to his routine. He took third behind Park Carter's one-footed puppets and Bill Neuman's pedal ride (pedaling pedalpicker) to first. Jeff Cotter and Derek Oriee drove all the way from California to the contest, and Jeff's Midwestern girlfriend drove to Ohio to watch him ride. Did Jeff do well? How about a big beaming smile to go with an even bigger first-place finish in 17 Expert, one place ahead of Joe Gruttola?
Watch for Perry Mervar's name. Perry is an Indiana homeboy who just happened to dominate the 18 Expert Flatland class. Judging by the crowd's response and his routine, his name will be showing up often.
PRO BATTLE: Present in the pro ranks were Dennis McCoy, Dennis Langlais, Woody Itson and Rick Moliterno. The long-awaited confrontation between Rick and DMC finally happened. Rick Moliterno busted out some serious moves, like his hang fives to whiplashes to a candyman, but they weren't quite enough to beat out Dennis McCoy's dumptruck, deathtruck, macaroni, rolling over-and-outs, rolling over-andins, and other such exciting executed exotica. When the crowd heard the verdict on the scores, several booed the decision. They felt that Moliterno should have won. Obviously, the judges thought differently.
Bicross magazine: Le contest sol se déroule donc toute la journée du samedi, de 10 à 21 heures. Une journée a la fois interminable et inoubliable. Côte free, le flat évolue toujours à vitesse grand V.
Les nouvelles tendances sont la continuation logique des constatations faites en début d'année à Palmetto, lors du premier contest AFA. Les Wheelies en avant sont toujours de rigueur, exécutés à des vitesses vertigineuses et techniquement très complexes. Au tableau des nouveaux tricks, a noter une sorte de Pedal Picker wheelie appelé a émouvoir bon nombre de tox.
Désormais, le Kabbooz s'enchaîne en roulant et les Whisplash en avant ou en arrière ont de multiples variantes, les enchaînements sont hyper complexes et les Flatlanders moyens sont déjà d'excellents freestylers. Il est donc difficile pour nos petits Français de s'aligner face a tant de classe.
Le meilleur résultat au sol est celui de Patrice Kharoubi qui se classe 10e en 13 ans. Christophe Chevalier termine 24e en 16 ans et David Chabert 14e en 18 ans.
Seulement 4 pros flat participent au contest de Colombus et Dennis McCoy s'impose devant Rick Moliterno.
Josh Marsele, www.vintagebmx.com, april 2005: There's one trick that I'll never forget seeing pulled. At the Ohio Masters in '88, I was watching Joe Gruttola's (Haro) routine. He did a triple or quadruple Fire Hydrant into a decade, but when he landed his left foot onto the seatclamp, he just kind of stalled there, with his right leg out in the wind and the front tire still off the ground. Everyone thought that even if he managed to pull it, it would be ugly as hell. In the single greatest display of spontaneous improvisation I've ever seen, he took that stall and just jumped around again for the second decade without switching feet. It ended up being SO clean. The look of his face was one of shock and self-awe. The crowd went nuts. Just regular double decades were impressive at the time. I don't know if he or anyone had ever pulled those before that, but he sure took about 2,000 people by surprise.
Bob Lenhart, december 2006: I got 5th place in the 13 and under expert flatland at the competition in Columbus, Ohio... and I've been resting on my laurels ever since. I was tied with Matt Smith going into the final run and I blew it, got a black 5th place ribbon...
Pro flatland results: 1.Dennis McCoy 2.Rick Moliterno 3.Woody Itson 4.Dennis Langlais
19 and over expert flatland: 1.Mark Roldan 2.Mark Eaton Lungmustard 3.Robert Castillo
18 expert flatland:1.Perry Mervar 2.Bill Nitschke 3.Gary Pollack
17 expert flatland: 1.Jeff Coter 2.Joe Gruttola 3.Steve Goates
16 expert flatland: 1.Bill Neuman 2.Park Carter 3.Danny Meng
15 expert flatland: 1.Tommy Simpson 2.Carl Argila 3.Sandy Crawford
14 expert flatland 1.Dave Mirra 2.Frankin Arnwine 3.Jamie West
13 and under expert flatland: 1.Greg Macomber 2.David Dugger 3.Matt Smith 4.? 5.Bob Lenhart
Gerry Smith guillotine on the cover of 'The Zine.
missOneday333, www.youtube.com, january 2011: Dennis McCoy's pro run in Columbus round 6 of the AFA Masters Series. Dennis got first place at this comp.
missOneday333, www.youtube.com, january 2011: Rick Moliterno's pro flatland run from AFA Masters Round 6 Columbus, Ohio on Sept. 24th 1988. Rick placed 2nd to Dennis McCoy. This run always got me psyched to ride. Hearing the crowd roar when he does the straddle rope-a-roni and especially the forward one which he busts right outta the half lash without rolling, and at the speed he hit it at, was insane. You hear someone go ' AAWW' then a split second of silence before the crowd erupts in a monsterous frenzy. Sick!!!!
missOneday333, www.youtube.com, january 2011: Woody's pro run from Columbus on Sept.24th 1988 round 6 of the masters series that year. Woody got 3rd outta 4 people in pro class. He was riding for Diamond Back at the time. I'm salted his first trick ' Top Gun ' got cut out due to tape deterioration.
missOneday333, www.youtube.com, january 2011: Danny Meng's run in the 16 expert class from round 6 of the masters series on Sept.24th 1988. Danny got 3rd in the comp after a run-off against Jay Jones for 3rd & 4th place.
missOneday333, www.youtube.com, january 2011: Bill Neuman (Kuwahara) and Park Carter (Mongoose) had a one minute each run-off for 1st place in the 16 expert class at the Columbus, OH masters on Sept.24th, 1988. Bill won the run-off.
missOneday333, www.youtube.com, january 2011: Dave Mirra's flatland run from the AFA Masters comp. round 6 in Columbus, OH on Sept. 24th 1988. He was in the 14 expert class at the time and got 1st place at this comp. In his younger days he was all about flatland.
It rained Saturday, but the sky was clear Sunday. The sun was shining in through the windows around the contest area. The glare hit just the right spot so that it blinded a lot of guys just as they hit one of the transitions. This was not an ideal setup, and it interfered with practice before the noon eliminations. Fortunately, the glare was gone before the elims began. Leo Chen was present but bikeless, though he did borrow a bike and participate in practice.
Only three classes had to run eliminations; 14, 16, and 18 Expert. They were finished by 1:30 and practice resumed till four for the mains.
Patrice Kharoubi beat Gregg Macomber in 13 Expert ramps. Patrice was one of the members of a French team who flew all the way to Ohio for the contest. They all did quite well. The international scene is expanding by great leaps and bounds.
The 16 Expert battle Sunday was just as intense as it was Saturday. Matt Hoffman was at this contest, blasting severe air with millions of variations such as no-footers to no-footer cancans, decade drop-ins, barhop airs, and way-high disasters. He's been on the road polishing his routine and substituting for Ron Wilkerson (who broke his ankle and had pins put in it just days before) on the Swatch Impact Tour.
Joel Alamo was his usual impressive self, blasting Indian airs, barhops, nohanders, and the like at about the seven-foot mark. Carlo Griggs has been staying at Gary Pollak's house for a while. The two practice together and it shows. Carlo went out for his routine with the crowd behind him. His first air was a shocking 12 (yes, twelve) feet! The hush that befell the crowd amplified the deafening sound of Carlo's back tire exploding as he hung on re-entry. He coasted to an unsteady stop on the floor, 17 seconds into his routine. He was granted a rerun and after changing wheels he came back and took second place between Hoffman and Alamo (both of whom are turning pro next year). That was Carlo's only second at the contest. His other two were "firsts" -first place in Overall (congrats, dude), and 21st in flatland (heh, heh).
Pro ramp attendance was up from the last contest. Present were DMC, Josh White, Joe Johnson, Rick Moliterno, Dennis Langlais and Todd Anderson. Obviously missing were Brian Blyther, who was on the Swatch Impact Tour, and Ron Wilkerson, who was recovering from ankle surgery. Todd Anderson was way aggressive, but bails and sketches took their toll on his score.
Dennis McCoy was definitely not having an on day Sunday. A hard bail during an attempted grasshopper drop-in (he flies out and lands on the deck facing away from the transition, then hops back hard and lands his front wheel next to coping and does a backwards drop-in) in practice seemed to detune him a bit. He did, however, pull the dropin during his run.
Joe Johnson's cherrypicker drop-ins, barspinner disaster, candybar to cancan, attempted double-tailwhip flyout, no-hander disasters (think about that one ... ), and, of course, his nearly flawless tailwhip airs should have taken top honors, according to many members of the crowd who booed his second-place spot. First place went to a raging Josh White. His airs and 540s were way up there, and his one-handed cancan 540 capped-off an intense, flawless routine. Too cool.
Bicross magazine: Dimanche, jour des saigneurs et des airs ! Le contest rampe réunit moins de concurrents mais secoue beaucoup plus les gradins. Tout comme le sol, la rampe connaît aussi une évolution radicale. Au tableau des tricks insensés, on trouve le nothing à donf de Matt Hoffman, le Bar Hop Air du même Hoffman ou de Joel Alamo ainsi que les 540° One Foot, one hand one foot ou cancan de Josh White, mais le trick aérien le plus côté est le Tail Whip air de Joe Johnson, de la folie pure qui à chaque fois déchaîne les spectateurs.
Ce jour-là, les résultats du Team Explorateur sont très satisfaisants grâce à la victoire de Patrice Kharoubi en 13 ans et à la super 4e place de Christophe Chevalier en 16 ans derrière Matt Hofmann, Carlo Griggs et Joel Alamo. Patrick Roman se classe 9e en 18 ans malgré un run vite interrompu par une mauvaise chute, alors qu'une 6 ou 7e place était tout à fait abordable. Le plus mauvais français est Jean Somsois qui se classe 5e sur 5. Jean rentre pourtant un travail de plate-forme exceptionnel, Pedal Picker Drop In, fifty fifty, pop drop et acid drop, mais une fois la plate forme terminée, les 3/4 de sa minute 30 sont écoulés, il ne lui reste plus le temps que de réaliser deux aérials... qu'il rate. C'en est fini de Jeannot qui pouvait pourtant prétendre à une 3e place dans cette catégorie peu représentée. Six pro rampe ont fait le déplacement à Colombus et c'est Dino Deluca qui l'emporte devant Joe Johnson. Dennis Langlais se classe 3e et récolte les fruits d'une nette progression depuis Palmetto. 4e Rick Moliterno qui sort vainqueur overall, 5e Todd Anderson et 6e Dennis Mac Coy, une contre-performance pour Dennis mais si tous les derniers assuraient comme lui...
Jeremy Alder did a full barspin.
Jeremy Alder, november 2005: I first pulled 360 barspin in March of 88, but the first contest I did them was round 6 in Ohio.
Pro ramp results: 1.Dino De Luca 2.Joe Johnson 3.Dennis Langlais 4.Rick Moliterno 5.Todd Anderson 6.Dennis McCoy
16 expert ramp: 1.Matt Hoffman 2.Carlo Griggs 3.Joel Alamo 4.Christophe Chevalier
15 expert ramp: 1.Beau Cobb 2.Ryan Lee Dunman 3.Joel McCay
14 expert ramp: 1.Even Kraban 2.Dave Mirra 3.Chad Dosta
13 and under expert ramp: 1.Patrice Kharoubi 2.Gregg Macomber 3.Donovan Beck
Joe Johnson .Tailwhip
Joel Alamo
The big rumor of the weekend was that Dennis McCoy was negotiating a deal with Matt Hoffman and Ron Haro, though full details were not available (VIP ?). On the way out of the parking lot, a brown station wagon passed by with Micki Conte, Joe Johnson and no Dennis. Joel Alamo was in the back seat, though. Hmm...