|
Date: june 1989 Place: Bristol, Pennsylvania. Organisation: AFA, Bob Morales. | |
| FLAT | |
| BMX Plus! october 1989: 1. The one-day event took place at Grundy's toe kink in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Since it was a flatland-only contest Novice and Intermediate riders could be squeezed in to compete with the Expens and Pros. 2. The qualifying rounds of each class (except the Pros) gave each rider three 30-second runs in which to impress the judges. Five riders from each class made the out 10 the finals. 3. The 13&Under Expert class had a mad battle for first between Ohio's Matt Smith and New Jersey's Alfred Teo. Both riders kicked out difficult trick lists, but Matt had more overall redness to snag the win. 4. North and South went to war in the 14-15 Expert class, and Pennsylvania local Jesse Kramer waved the flag of victory over Georgia's Jamie West when the fight was over. New Yorker Carl ArgiIa was actually favored to win the class, but all he could muster was a fourth behind Brian Miller out of Maryland. 5. The 16-17 Expert division was considered the most controversial of the day by most folks. The problem unfolded over Ohio's second-place finisher Danny Meng and New Jersey's winner Ross Smith. Danny pulled death trucks, macaronis, rolling peg aids and a rollback backward whiplash to a forward rope-a-roni, but wasn't able to beat Ross who did a death truck to dump truck combo amongst a load of other rolling tricks. In the end Ross touched a lot more than Danny, so when the results were announced people cringed hard. 6. Domination, on the other hand, was Perry Mervar's story in the 16 & Over Expert class. The Indiana resident blasted his wild style past Missouri's Jim Johnson and lock the class with an impressive margin, Perry's own creation called "The Perry Doom" was the crowd (and judge) favorite. It's a move where he jumps up into a rubber ride from his rear pegs. Sick! 7. The Masters class is a relatively new concept. It's an Open class where Expert riders are allowed to compete against each other regardless of their age. Mark that heavy win for Massachusetts' Tommy Simpson. 8. Though small in size, the Pro class wielded its usual amount of intensity. Both Bill Neuman and Kevin Jones made their Pro debuts with valid attempts to beat veteran hard-core Dennis McCoy. But even though they both spilled leads of originality onto the contest floor, they didn't measure up to the speedy. The two rookies did, however, show off the raddest trick of the weekend -the hitchhiker. Jones took it one step further by rolling its reverse version called the backpacker. That's Kev, he's always innovating. 9. Realize that the Novice and Intermediate riders are rad these days. Most have the talent lobe Experts- they just seem to be holding back in comps to gain experience. So be warned, you Experts; there are a ton of hot stylers on your trail. pwh4130, pedalbmx.com, 2004: Grundy's ice skating rink in Bristol, Pennsylvania. That was the first hitch hiker in competition. Billy Neuman tried to do one in his run before Kevin's but he sketched on it. I think Billy's cousin, Jayce, told him about it. Pros reults: 1.Dennis McCoy (VIP Concepts) 2.Kevin Jones (GT) 3.Bill Neuman Masters: 1.Tommy Simpson 2.Jay Jones 3.Pete Kearney 4.Danny Regenye 5.Josh Marsele 18&over Expert: 1.Perry Mervar 2.Jim Johnson 3.James McGraff 4.Sean Leslie 5.Mark Eaton 16-17 Expert: 1.Ross Smith 2.Danny Meng 3.Craig LePage 4.Tommy Simpson 5.Josh Marsele 14-15 Expert: 1.Jesse Kramer 2.Jamie West 3.Brian Miller 4.Carl Argila 5.Jason Hughes 13&under Expert: 1.Matt Smith 2.Alfred Teo 3.Ricky Newberry |
Effraim Catlow, www.flatmattersonline.com, may 2013: Kevin Jones’ ground breaking run from the AFA Masters Bristol PA 1989. This was the first time anyone publicly saw the hitchhiker and the backpacker. Watch the crowd reaction when Jones pulls out the backpacker at around 3:58. This is without a doubt one of the influential moments in BMX. Thank you Kevin Jones and thank you AJ for the re-upload in better quality! This is golden! AJ, www.flatmattersonline.com, may 2013: I was fortunate enough to be the “run music guy” and had a view from the other side. His run was just jaw dropping to watch. If I remember correctly, there was rumor circulating at the contest of Kevin having these tricks to drop, which made the anticipation build up for his run and everyone asking “what is this hitchiker?” When he did pull them, it obviously changed flatland forever. Two footed rolling tricks pretty much started to became the norm. David, www.flatmattersonline.com, may 2013: Rumor has it that Mccoy was paid by the afa to compete as long as he was guaranteed a victory. Kevin got 2nd place here. Everyone already knew about the hitch. Bill neuman was practicing them all day at the comp and tried it in his run. |