| Event: 2001 BS/B3 round 1 Place: Edison Field, Anaheim, CA Date: march 23-25, 2001 | |
| FLAT | |
| Brian Tunney, www.hsacentral.com:
From the 26 competitors in the prelims, the judges weeded it down to ten finalists.
Those ten finalists woke up early, got in some final practice, and battled it out in the lot of Edison Field for the first
ESPN B3 event of the year. Powell Bikes rider and owner Scott Powell nabbed the 10th place spot with a wild assortment of brakeless decade combos and rocket g-turn to megaspin. Not bad for a guy with color coordinated bike and shoes. That color would be yellow. Hoffman Bikes/Norelco rider Art Thomason took a study break from graduate physics in Houston for the 9th place spot. Art pulled his hitchhiker combos along with a backward rolling juggler for the 9th place spot. After the comp, he was spotted back in his books and studying. How's that for dedication? Haro Bikes rider and Mission Skatepark owner Chad Degroot grabbed the 8th place spot with barspin 180 bunnyhops to barspin 180 half cabs. That might be a little street oriented for flat, but it still ruled. And it showed that Chad has fun on his bike and doesn't draw boundaries. I (Brian Tunney) got 7th place. I would write about what I did, but I'm not really into boasting. I did see Juliette Lewis though. Full Circle rider Dan Rigby landed himself in 6th place. Dan does some unimaginable combos involving backpacker g-turns and switch foot g-rolls to walkover to death truck. Free agent and winningest rider in flatland, Trevor Meyer, arrived on the scene with a new style and new tricks for 5th place. That style, brakeless and direct drive pedaling, showed that Trevor is on his own path in flatland. Can you say reverse pedaling backward death truck? Trevor can. Another free agent landed himself in 4th place. That rider, Phil Dolan, on holiday from England, pulled some great rolling combos like pedaling puppets and whiplash walkarounds. Phil is on his way back to England soon. Hopefully, he can find a new sponsor. He deserves it. Any takers? 3rd place went to France's Alex Jumelin. Alex has a dope style with nonstop motion and wild energy. The 2nd place spot was decided on after an intense tiebreaker. Dig-It's Nathan Penonzek came out in the losing spot, but he could probably care less. He's too busy smiling, having fun on his bike and travelling. And on the winning side of the tiebreaker was Finland's Martti Kuoppa. Martti did his usual insane tricks like front wheel undertakers and pedaling death trucks. It was another well deserved first place for the most innovative flatlander on the scene today. Good job Martti. That was about it for flatland. Everyone had fun. Stress was at a minimum. FLAT RESULTS: 1.Martti Kuoppa 2.Nathan Penonzek 3.Alex Jumelin 4.Phil Dolan 5.Trevor Meyer 6.Dan Rigby 7.Brian Tunney 8.Chad Degroot 9.Art Thomason 10.Scott Powell 11.Matt Wilhelm 12.Aaron Behnke 13.Leif Valin 14.Stephan Cerra 15.Pat Anderson 16.Cory Stratychuck 17.Day Smith 18.Gabe Weed 19.Ryoji Yamamoto 20.York Uno 21.Kotaro Tanaka 22.Effraim Catlow 23.Sean Peters 24.Jay Miron 25.Keith King 26.Bryan Huffman |
|
| VERT | |
| Brian Tunney, www.hsacentral.com:
The Vert class was rounded out to an even twenty and ten made it to the finals. Some of the non-qualifying highlights were as followed. Koji Kraft was going off with some crazy variations but then he knocked himself silly and couldn't finish his first run. Seiji Sato waked his head so hear that he probably thought that he was back in Japan but he go right up. He hit his head hard ! Josh Harrington was going high and doing variations like one handed x-ups and barspins out of peg grinds. The kid is getting good. On the final front we had ten guys gunning for first place. Rick Thorne rode to a song that he and his wife wrote and performed. That was pretty cool. Some misunderstanding happened with the announcing of who was going in fifth place and who was going in eighth. Jay Miron was in eighth and Jay Eggleston was in fifth but Jay had thought it was the other was around. So when they called out Miron's name he wasn't ready at all and you could tell that it screwed him up a little bit. But he still did some high ass 540s and tailwhips. Coming out with facial hair like Lemmy from the band Motorhead was Jason Davies who did one of my favorite variations where you do a topside no footed can-can and put the bottom foot on the top pedal. Going high and smooth is Jay Eggleston's style and he was doing just that plus lots of variations. Kevin Robinson comes out swinging. He tried a switch handed flair but slide out on the landing. I bet he pulls it at the next contest though. There was something different about Dennis McCoy at this event, he wasn't wearing a chest protector but he was blasting like he was invincible. He was doing lookback and barspin 540s, flairs, and barspin to barspin back. I love to watch John Parker ride. The kid is good. How good? How about nothings, x-up tailwhips, no handed 540s and a perfect double tailwhip. Simon Tabron has 900 better than anyone else. Even though at this contest he slide out on a couple. He also does all his variations in 540s really late. Like no handed and lookback but it makes them look so good. The battle between second and first was pretty close. Jamie Bestwick was flowing all over the ramp with tons of crazy variations like he usually does. Besides alley oop barspins to turndowns, nohanded 540s, and downside tailwhips he pulled an opposite flair. Dave Mirra won this event. He did one of those cork screw flairs high as hell over the channel and land with so much speed that he did a seven or eight foot no hander out of the other side. He also did a double tailwhip and when he landed his hand popped off but he still rode out of it like he meant it. He also did high nohanded 540's and the craziest thing he did was a no handed to barspin. He fell off the back but he pretty much had it. This was on hell of a contest. Vert riding is getting pushed hard and I'm glad that I got to witness the craziness. Thank you very much. Todd Seligman, www.lifelounge.com: The vert competition was amazing. This year is going to be one of progress, like we haven't seen since Hoffman did Head First (The 1990 video in which Hoffman defined vert for the next decade). Jamie Bestwick and Dave Mirra are walking away with the entire discipline of vert riding. That being said; the rest of the vert class is progressing as well. It was pretty windy on the vert days but that didn't seem to phase any of the riders. Simon Tabron is doing the coolest lookdown 540ºs, where he fully clicks his lookdown in the last 180º of his spin. He is also doing better opposite airs and big no-handers to barspins. Don't forget his 900ºs, which he came close on here but didn't pull. My favorite guy to just watch do airs, John Parker, was up to his usual hi-jinx. If you consider huge airs, variation 540ºs, downside tailwhips, x-up tailwhips, opposite airs and a double tailwhip usual! Kevin Robinson seemed a little detuned at this contest but he still managed to blast multiple corkscrew flairs and some big 5s. DMC was back in the house and ripping. Dennis has been off vert for way too long with injuries. So it was great to see him back in the giant U-track. Despite being off for almost a year, D still managed to bust big flairs, a truck-driver 540º, and a barspin 540º tailtap, all while wearing the best jeans ever! Jay Miron showed up representing his own Co., MacNeil/Sobe. It appeared the harsh winter in the Great White North may have kept Jay off the vert more than some of the other guys, but Jay just improvised and did an X-up to high-speed nose-wheelie over the channel and across the whole ramp. Jay Eggleston blasted. Rick Thorne made the cut in his first comp back from double ACL knee surgeries. And he rode to his and his wife Madonna's band, All Scarred Up. Jamie Bestwick is a mad scientist who has turned himself into a smooth machine. He flows any and every direction at will, while covering as much of the ramp as he wants, forward, alley-oop, opposite, you name it, while doing picture perfect variations. Not only does he have flow, his tricks are diabolical. No-handed alley-oop 540º, lookdown corkscrew flair, the beyond comprehension opposite flair over the channel, and my personal favorite Timvert 540º! He is so dialed; he makes the hardest stuff look effortless. Dave Mirra must have played his video game way too much over the winter. He destroyed any concept of there being limits to what one person can do on a bike and he did it in the first 30 seconds of his first run of the finals! Seriously, he could have quit after the first barrage of tricks and still deserved to win! Lets just say he rolled in, pumped up to about ten feet and went directly into a corkscrew flair over the channel that was at least seven feet out and covered a good twenty feet of the ramp. He landed so smoothly that he pumped up into a no-hander on the opposite wall at about seven feet. Directly into one of the best no-handed 540ºs ever seen. One pump air to a double tailwhip that he slipped his grip on and muscled away one handed! From there it all becomes a blur, but Mirra also did no-hander to barspin, double barspin to x-up, no-footed can-can tailwhip, barspin to suicide no-hander divebomb, and so much more! In his second run he came so close to pulling a no-handed 540º to full barspin. But it didn't matter in the least, Mirra owned vert. And he didn't even get to do a bunch of tricks he wanted to! STUNTMEN VERT RESULTS 1.Dave Mirra 2.Jamie Bestwick 3.Simon Tabron 4.John Parker 5.Dennis McCoy 6.Kevin Robinson 7.Jay Eggleston 8.Jason Davis 9.Jay Miron 10.Rick Thorne 11.Rob Nolli 12.Josh Harrington 13.Achim Kujawski 14.Joe Tecca 15.Shaun Eglington 16.Seiji Sato 17.Mike Mancuso 18.John Bristol 19.Danny Parks 20.Koji Kraft |
|
| PARK | |
| Brian Tunney, www.hsacentral.com:
There were thirty guys in the beginning and only ten made it to the finals. The park had a lot of ramps; rails and banks scattered all over the place. I liked the look of the course and I think a lot of the riders did too. Van Homan is one of the raddest natural street riders out there. He brought his style to the park course flowing all over it like the Mississippi. A few too many crashes kept him in tenth though. Colin Winklemann qualified third on his trusty DK but things didn't go to well for him in the finals. He did pull of flair to the wedge and fast plant on the wall ride for a respectable ninth. Colin McKay pulled a perfect 360 tailwhip, and tailwhip transfers to the wedges for eighth place. Rob Noli is one of the most consistent riders out there. Tailwhip bunny hops in to the wedge, 360 tailwhips were just a small example of his prowess.His first time in the finals, Alistair Whitton went off. He did some crazy lookback backflip transfer, a sprocket to pegstall on the wall ride and tailwhip transfer over one of the rail for sixth. Schwinn's Dave Osato did a manual to tailwhip, a downside grind to a wedge and a 360 nosepick over a sub rail spine. This Canadian is one bad mother. Another Canadian and McNeil Bicycle owner Jay Miron did a really impressive nose wheelie on the deck up a wedge and into the ramp, and a Manuel to feeble and what looked like an over to pedal grind on a rail. It was pretty awesome. GT must be proud of Tom Haugen placing third. This kid has so many tricks that it make my head spin. 360 tailwhip over the spine, 360 tailwhip to x-up, and a jump where he crosses over his feet to the pedals and lands like that are just a few things this guy has to offer. It was close between second and first. Ryan Nyquist pulled a double barspin backflip, a perfect 720, double truckdriver and flipped the spine plus a lot more for second. First went to Haro's Dave Mirra who is showing no signs of letting up. He barspun bunny hopped off the vert wall, did a huge flip over the spine, did an opposite fufanu on the subbox and fufanued the vert wall. The man is sick and first place was all his.
Todd Seligman, www.lifelounge.com: During practice the street course was a zoo. There were more riders zipping around that course than ever before. The main attraction on the street course was the sub-rail on the deck of the mini. At about four foot it was high enough to be difficult while being low enough to do a variety of tricks on and over. In the same way that barspins used to be thrown anywhere and everywhere on the park course tailwhips are now being... whipped. Off wedges, into wedges, into tailtaps, onto subs, to disasters... tailwhips are this year's barspin. When it finally came to the comp, and riders actually got the chance to ride the course without being in fear for their personal safety, things definitely got bumped up a notch. Colin Winklemann had great qualifying runs, but kinda looked lost in the finals. He still managed to flair transfer from tranny to wedge, and he did cool 180 sprocket stalls on a pretty steep handrail. Rob Nolli rode like a man possessed. He did fully clicked lookdown flips on the box, wallride to tailwhip on the wall, nosepicked and x-up transferred the sub-rail, bunnyhop tailwhip gap into the wedge... Rob's good. Bruce Crismann rode the park course like it was a joke. Everything he did on it was awesome but looked effortless. He found "Real Street" lines where other riders just saw a skatepark obstacle. But somehow it wasn't enough to qualify. Two words- Alistar Whitton. Man is this guy good! He blew everyone away with his aggressive style, difficult tricks and his fully clicked lookdown flair to a wedge hip didn't hurt either. Dave Osato was a tailwhippin' machine. Most notable out of all his whips was the tailwhip 180º on the wedge and the straight up tailwhip bunnyhop to end his run on the ground! He also 360º nosepicked the subrail and did a transfer to manual to feeble on a ledge at the back of the big sub. Punk ass. Colin MacKay doesn't get the credit he deserves. This guy is good. Dialed might be a better word. He did tough tech tricks everywhere, including the sub-rail. Tom Haugen purposely left out some of his big tailwhip and barspin tricks so he wouldn't get judged down for doing too much of the toughest technically advanced moves out there. Apparently it worked, cause he brought home third place. Don't think he didn't get his share of tailwhips in though. Tailwhip bunnyhop in on the wedge, 360º to deck to tailwhip over the box, THE BEST TAILWHIP 360º EVER DONE ON A SPINE (he nosed in his landing!) straight to a 540º tailwhip tailtap that he did dab his foot on... and that is just the tailwhip stuff. Nyquist rode to the worst music ever. Motley Crue's Kick Start My Heart had us bleeding out our ears by the time his runs were over. On the course he raged at speed through a barrage of 720ºs, double barspin flips, double truck over the spine straight to fufanu on the sub rail. Nyquist rode great and landed in second. Almost as dominant on the street course this weekend as on the vert, Dave Mirra let loose runs that flowed through difficult tricks that never seemed to run out or even slow down. Bomb-drop barspin, tail-tap jump-over on the subrail, no-handed 3s, icepick to taildrop on the big sub, fufanu the other big sub... Mira won hands down. STUNTMEN PARK 1.Dave Mirra (Haro) 2.Ryan Nyquist (Haro) 3.Tom Haugen (GT) 4.Jay Miron (MacNeil) 5.Dave Osato (Schwinn) 6.Alistair Whitton (MacNeil) 7.Rob Nolli (GT) 8.Colin MacKay (Mountain Dew) 9.Colin Winkleman (DK/1-800-COLLECT) 10.Van Homan (Schwinn) 11.Chad Kagy 12.Bruce Crisman 13.Mike Escamilla 14.Cory Martinez 15.Ron Kimler 16.Ruben Alcantara 17.Rob Darden 18.Troy McMurray 19.Markus Wilke 20.John Heaton 21.Dennis McCoy 22.Allan Cooke 23.Steve McCann 24.Chris Shelkopf 25.Mike Ardelean 26.Ryan Jordan 27.Chris Doyle 28.Adam Aloise 29.John Bethers 30.Robbie Morales |