Place: SCRAP (Skateboards, Cycles, Rollerblade Action Park), Chicago, IL.
Matt selected the SCRAP. (Skateboards, Cycles, Rollerblade Action Park) Skatepark in Hoffman Estates, IL, for Chapter VI, the capper for '92's exciting B.S. contest series. Choosing a centralized location in the U.S. translated to a tremendous rider turnout and guys totally going off. B.S. skill categories include Soon To Be, Stuntboy and Stuntmen, and that holds true for Vert, Mini, Street and Flat.
SOON TO BE
Arthur Thompson was the least affected and took home to gold.
STUNTBOYS
Stunt Boys were about as hard to judge as it gets. The big comp was between points leader Chad Degroot and Gabe Weed. Gabe took the win for the day, while Chad took second and the Stuntboy flatland title for the year.
STUNTMEN
The talk of the day was around the lack of Chase Gouin at the contest. Again, the rumours flew .Chase broke his arm, Chase got deported, Chase didn't like Iowa and went home.
Dennis McCoy rolled out and took the two worst flatland bails most people had ever seen. He may not have the newest tricks, but still has the speed and the footwork. Fourth place and the Stuntmen year end title for DMC.
Steve Roy is from Canada. He busts the hard crap and pulls it. So much original stuff, too. Fire hydrant to death truck walk over. Third place.
Bill Nitschke proved his overall ability. Street, flatland, mini rampin' like it ain't no thing. Twisting, rolling and scuffing his way to second.
Jesse Puente came all the way from California to ride. There's no doubt about it, Jesse is innovative. He opts to do the harder tricks, rather than play it safe with a toned-down run. Uptight wheelies with his scuff foot over the bars. First place.
SOON TO BE FLATLAND: 1.Arthur Thompson 2.Chuck Amicone 3.Don Slepskie
STUNTBOYS FLAT: 1.Gabe Weed 2.Chad Degroot 3.Carl Potts 4.Mark Hilson
STUNTMEN FLAT: 1.Jesse Puente 2.Bill Nitschke 3.Steve Roy 4.Dennis McCoy
Jesse Puente.
SOON TO BE
To win Soon To Be vert you have to have lip tricks and air. Josh Heino had both, taking him to first place. Standouts included Eddie Rios footplant drop from the rail, and Jimmy Levan's manual to barspin to smith grind.
STUNTBOYS
Rick Maltese of Canada rode like a man on a mission. His mission: destroy. After destroying his bike on a 540 gone bad, he borrowed a friend's bike to finish his run. He pumped for speed and then went for a backflip that sheared the forks off his bike upon impact.
Joe Tecca got put on the sidelines with a broken leg, and Steve Swope knocked himself clean out on a 360 drop-in.
Keith Treanor gets better every time I see him. Icepicks, big airs, 540's and a feeble to 360 barspin. Fourth place.
Dave Brumlow rode his rusty old GT to third place. 540's, tweaked lookdowns, hard lip tricks, and all that.
Winner of Stuntboy Vert was none other than Jon Peacy. His halfpipe riding is characterized by back-to-back tricks and an absence of "feeler" airs. Combine this energetic style with nine foot airs, superman airs, no footed cancans, Canadian nosepicks, and framegrab 540's and the end result is Blue Ribbon all the way. Jon also announced that he will be turning Pro for '93.
STUNTMEN
From a spectator's point of view, it's insane. Four guys playing Russian bicycle roulette for a couple hundred dollars. Matt was out of the running for Stuntmen Vert glory, but in no way was the excitement level doomed.
Dennis McCoy was still riding off his jazz from the night before, so come Sunday he was pumped. He clocked an abundance of lip tricks with bar spins thrown in for good measure. Dennis also pulled a half-bar-spin 540 before careening off the side of the ramp, straight into a pile of bikes. He managed to get up and spin a 900 that almost succeeded, but he unfortunately washed out on landing.
Dave Mirra held his own as far as trick difficulty went, but he had a hefty slam that may have kept him from scoring higher. Still, he pulled a switch-handed 540 and went for his first backflip on vert. Dennis and Dave tied for first and the prize money was equally divided between the two. However, according to the Bicycle Stunts rulebook, they had to arm-wrestle to decide who got the firstplace plaque. Dave cheated so Dennis got the plaque.
Kevin Robinson was the rookie pro who rode impressively with high airs, a chicken hook drop-in, a close shot at a 900 and a fourth-place Stuntmen Vert debut.
Jay Miron pulled a perfect backflip in practice. Yes, he flipped, rolled down the transition, across the flat, and turned around. After that display of bike control, he was overheard saying that he wasn't going to flip in his run, just to see if he could win without the flip. After his first run, my money was on Jay to take the win. Back to back everything, a one footed 540 to late no-footer, airs either way, and all the lip tricks. A crashed 900 knocked him out and cut his run short. He still went for a flip before the little birdies had even stopped circling his head. After he came to, Jay had no recollection of the flip, his run, or anything else for that matter. Third place to Jay.
SOON TO BE VERT: 1.Josh Heino 2.Eddie Rios 3.Mike Kaisen
STUNTBOYS VERT: 1.Jon Peacy 2.Eric Maltese 3.David Brumlow 4.Keith Treanor
STUNTMEN VERT: 1-Dennis McCoy 2-Dave Mirra (tie) 3-Jay Miron 4-Kevin Robinson
STUNTBOYS
Standard's Joe Hurlburt was doing nosepick transfers over the spine, spinning his bars on reentry. He was also man (or Boy) enough for backward to forward grinds with his bars crossed up.
Standard's Jamie Spritzer came close to pulling three backflip twists in his runs.
Hoffman Bikes' Psycho actually attempted a backflip transfer from the mini to the jumpbox--one lengthy canyon to clear! He didn't pull it, but the crowd was screaming bloody murder by the end of his runs.
The 2B death metal rocker Leigh Ramsdell rode with fire in his eyes. 360's over the spine with a 180 barspin thrown in. Fourth place.
Kentucky's Pat Miller rode the mini like a ten foot half getting more air than most. He was pulling about six feet of air over the spine and came really close to pulling a 720 over it. He took second place.
S&M's Dave Clymer did five foot no handers over the spine, smith grinds over the spine, 540's the other way, and a big footplant on the wall. First place to Clymer.
The year end points went to Jon Peacy.
STUNTMEN
Stuntmen Mini Ramps was one tough class. Bob Kohl put himself out of the game Friday with a double flip attempt. Others who you might assume would enter were either hurt, just didn't ride, or went home.
Mike 'Bubba' Krnaich came to the finals a lean, mean, fighting machine. Gone are the days of 'Bubba'. Maybe he's the new Buff. Wall rides from the transition wall over the deck and into the mini ramp, tailwhips over the spine, 720, and 360 tailwhip attempts over the spine.
Mark Atkins came all the way from England, he's a really good guy and a heck of a rider to boot. 360's over the spine, tailwhip nosepicks, and a 360 air to rock n roll to revert.
Bill Nitschke doesn't know when to quit. Most people would be happy with second in pro flat. He has to go out and get a strong fourth in mini ramp too. Pedal to pedal nosepick tailwhips, icepick to toothpick, nosewheelies, toothpick to fakie over the spine, and a perfect backfiip flyout.
Jay Miron came out like he always does .on fire and in perfect control. Framestand 360 tyretaps over the spine, nose-wheelies both ways, six foot airs over me spine, nosepick tailwhips, and all done back to back. Third place.
Dave Mirra did all thee usual. No footed 360's, rocket x-up 360's, grind transfers over the spine, and airs so high over the spine he was almost hitting his head on some sort of air ventway above the spine. A big second for Dave.
When Dennis McCoy is on, he is on. 360 manuals to 360 barspins, 900 manuals, framestand nosepicks, and the trick of the mini ramp contest: he twisted up two backflips over the spine to fakie. Both times, he landed 50/50 on the spine and simply foot-planted in like it was no big deal. Respect goes out to Dennis on that one. First place for the comp. Jay took the year end title back to Canada.
SOON TO BE MINI: 1-John Shaw 2.Colin Winkleman 3.Paul Lave
STUNTBOYS MINI: 1-Dave Clymer 2-Pat Miller 3-Jeff Craun 4-Leigh Ramsdell
STUNTMEN MINI: 1-Dennis McCoy 2-Dave Mirra 3-Jay Miron 4-Bill Nitschke
STUNTBOYS
Jon Peacy of GT was one of the most entertaining riders to watch as he worked the park. He wasted no time in his runs by pedaling as fast as he could at every obstacle on the street course. Jon didn't do a flip in any of his runs, but then again he didn't need to. Style for days and first in Stuntboy Street.
Dave Clymer was tearing it up racer style with everyjumping variation known to mankind. He spiced up his runs with his newfound freestyle expertise and rode without abandon, finding lines no-one else saw, he bomb dropped from the vert ramp into a six foot quarter, then did a bunnyhop to wallride off the deck of the vert ramp and into the transition wall. Dave went for one of the nuttier tricks of the weekend when he attempted a no handed flyout from the quarter to the deck of the half. His spoils of war: second place, Stuntboy Street.
Jamie Spritzer of the Standard Army racked up enough insane manoovs for the well deserved third.
STUNTMEN
By the time the Stuntmen were ready for their runs, the crowd thought it had seen every trick possible. Since so many people have started doing backflips, the pros were forced to take it to another level. The pros do them higher, farther and throw in variations for good measure. The Stuntmen street comp was definitely some of the best riding of all time.
Early in practice, people knew something was up when Dave Mirra effortlessly sailed six feet over the jumpbox in a perfect backflip. This turned out to be only a warm-up loop for his run: Flawless flips, no-footed cancan 360s, nothings, no-footed flip, eight feet high and a bevy of advanced tricks thrown together in three polished runs. No one was surprised when Dave was announced the ruler of Stuntmen Street.
The B.S. Finals marked the return of Bob Kohl with a vengeance: Huge backflip airs, bar spin jumps and 360s, fully clicked lookback loops, one-footed flips, a 360 to 180 barspin and then a flip with his bars backwards. Leave it to Bob! Satisfied with nothing short of insanity, he pumped down from a burly wall ride and went for the unthinkable-a double backflip over the box. The crowd ignited and Bob's bike disintegrated, but he wasn't finished yet. He borrowed a bike and tried another dub-and came fairly close to pulling it! A big second.
Jay Miron and Dennis McCoy were both riding flawlessly. Both of them pulled smooth backflips over the spine. In practice, Jay took an unexpected bomb drop from the sub ramp, landing on his helmet after about an eight-foot fall. After taking a breather, Jay did some of the highest jumps of the weekend and a no-foot to no foot cancan 360's while DMC produced the most cutting-edge deckwork of the weekend; decade abubacas, decade tail taps and a spot-on abubaca on a two-inch rail on top of one of the quarterpipes. Third and fourth, respectively.
Mike Kranich (Bully American) and Rob Nolli were the only Stuntmen not to do flips in their runs. Mike made up for it by tailwhipping over everything possible. Rob is as smooth as silk, does the biggest tailwhips, barspin jumps, nothings, and a perfect 720. He was the only pro to pull a 720. Bill Nitschke caused a few double takes by showing up on a Homeless bike instead of a Standard. His highlights included a tailwhip 360 nosepick over the spine, an abubaca on the rather large wall behind the five foot quarter and, of course, a backflip over the box.
SOON TO BE STREET RESULTS 1.Ron Smith 2.Matt Bischoff 3.Brandon Bower
STUNTBOYS STREET RESULTS 1.Jon Peacy 2.Dave Clymer 3.Jamie Spritzer 4.Troy Brookshire
STUNTMEN STREET RESULTS 1-Dave Mirra 2-Bob Kohl 3-Jay Miron 4-Dennis McCoy
Jamie Spritzer.
Bob Kohl, One footed backflip.