Date: february 25-26, 1995
Place: Moreno Valley
The more seasoned riders however, ripped the 7ft spine which bent around like a boomerang to form a nice elbow on one side and loooong coping on the other. Some unreal lip tricks were spun and slid around the huge deck by McCoy, Miron, Rooftop and The Boy. The smaller 5ft mini had a steep rollin that led to a hip into an additional mini. Some insane action flew over the hip; Rick Thorne's attempted flair to headplant at the end of his run, which left him flat on the flat bottom, and Need-to-be's Ken Hale who sent an aborted bar-spinner off the ramp Dennis McCoy style into the helmet stand leaving table, chairs, and close bystanders completely annihilated, with several helmets running away like runaway bowling balls. The hip was the place to be. Beside the 5ft spine was the 11ft monster vert ramp. The flatland area worked out, but left much to be desired. Flatland qualifiers were supposed to be on Saturday, but due to the number of people who attended, it never really happened. Let's get serious, you need more than 2 competitors per class to hold a real flatland contest. So with that out of the way, the action turned to mini ramp. Some riders complained about the slippery masonite-coated decks, and other slipped and slid every possible lip trick on them.
Chris Lynch, Ride BMX UK june 1995: While Mike 'The Boy" Ocoboc found no complaints about the decks, he did oppose riding to the Offspring during one of his runs. There were several words about the DJ at the contest, but I won't get into that. During practice The Boy's icepick grinds were getting longer and faster, until his front end dropped a hit too quickly and sent him to the flat bottom faster than you can say Dirty Deeds. Mike managed to stay off the flat bottom for his run, however, and cleaned house. First place.
Stunt Men Mini
Chris Lynch, Ride BMX UK june 1995: While old school pros Dave Nourie, Voelker and Brian Blyther stood outside the fence and watched, the new school pros taught class. Stuart King, Standard mounted and straight from England, dropped in with something to prove. While riding pro for the first time, Stu spun truckdrivers over the spine, stalled nosepicks to half-barspins and contorted one-footers at about 6 feet out. Stuart had some good runs in practice, but things fell apart during his final run. A tailwhip to tyretap a bit too leaned, and a few more crashes held Stu to 5th. Stuart's final trick was a spine-tingling double busdriver attempt to blown rear wheel. Word to the Kingpin.
Jon Taylor, England's other pro rider, here, Dyno mounted and crazed, shot big 360s over the spine and came back to deliver some tall 540s on the opposite transition. Smooth flowing style and a perfect flair along with fast lip tricks earned a spot at 6th. Dave Miracle Boy Mirra newly Haro mounted and hungry, rode like a man possessed. With a nofoot can can over the elbow and tailwhipping everything in sight, Dave was the man to beat. Coming down from the opposite transition at about Mach 5, Dave launched into a FLAT tabled 360 that had to be at least 9 feet. A flip to back plant held Dave back a little, but not before he stretched a nothing over the spine that even Chad Herrington was proud of. Dave seemed to be taking it all the way, until bike problems left him out of the second run, which blew his points and dropped him to 8th. It sucked too, because Wonder Boy Mirra was having a rad run. Next time, Dave. Rob Nolli is the reason spine ramps were made. Tailwhips, flairs, and a tailtap to nosepick to FULL barspin on the spine made Rob king of the spine. Rob ripped it up for 4th. This was some of the best riding I'd ever seen, until...
Taj dropped in and busted out the burliest riding ever . Taj's balls-out go-for-it style was going off with HUGE transfers over the spine, tailwhips over the elbow and spine, and one of the hardest crashes I've ever seen. Dazed but unhurt, Taj went for it again with a 360 x-up over the spine that was more violent than a drive-by shooting. Taj has style that leaves his tricks so contorted I don't know how the hell he manages to pull out of it, leaving me cringe every time he left the coping. When the smoke cleared, Taj ended up with a 3rd. All this on Hoffman Bikes' new frame-appropriately named TAJ [Totally Awesome Jumper].
Dennis McCoy, Mongoose's answer to freestyle, could not be stopped. With tricks like bomb dropping from the railing of the 7 foot into the transition of the 5 foot mini into a 90 degree flair that left him standing on the deck with the biggest smile. From then on, Dennis ruled with DOUBLE truckdrivers, a spinal 270 busdriver to smith stall [the only one I've ever seen] and not one, but two 720 attempts which floated him to the flat bottom. Dennis also managed to spin the mandatory lip tricks like 900 manuals, tailwhip to tyretap, and busted a perfect flair. All this, and he didn't even take out one spectator. Talk to Ken Hale. Dennis is the man. Second.
The Canadian Beast Jay Miron didn't warm up with too much practice, but then again, he doesn't need to practice anyway. Jay rode with another new Hoffman frame, reportedly called 'The Punisher' to first place. Jay's run was flawless with the highest 360 over the spine I have ever seen and then another this time no footed. Nose wheelies the length of the decks, toothpick grinds, and bottom side icepick grinds filled op his lip routine, while BMX-style one-footed tabletops and a no-footed truck driver summed up the rest. Jay's run was smooth, fast and flowing, chalk up one more win to the Canadian Bacon.
STUNTMEN MINI: 1.Jay Miron 2.Dennis McCoy 3.Taj Mihelich 4.Stuart King 5.Rob Nolli 6.John Taylor 7.Rick Thorne
STUNTBOYS MINI: 1.Mike Ocoboc 2.Dave Osato 3.Mike Escamilla 4.Chris Hallman 5.Sandy Carson
NEED TO BE MINI: 1.Joey Garcia 2.Dom Mach 3.Darcy Saccucci
Sean Peters was spinning incredibly fast.
STUNTMEN FLAT: 1.Trevor Meyer 2.Phil Dolan 3.Chad DeGroot 4.Paul Osicka 5.Day Smith 6.Jay Miron 12.Dave Nourie
STUNTBOYS FLAT: 1.Aaron Behnke 2.David Hanson 3.Jake Duarte 4.Patrick Anderson 5.Adam Guild
Jay Miron did a perfect double barspin to no footer. He got bike flapped for trying a really high flair.
Dennis McCoy did a turndown to half barspin.
Chris Lynch, Ride BMX UK june 1995: The vert contest left the park with standing room only with more spectators than last year. Stuart King rode his Standard Lengthy to tailwhips and busdrivers to no-footers, a good flowing run for Stu to 5th this day. Not bad for a first time pro.
Dennis McCoy lofted his jive with the usual big tricks, as well as 540 barspins to one-handers. Dennis also had the trick of the weekend -lookdown to half-barspin attempted two times and both slammed hard. 4th.
Jay Miron, the man from the Northland, got the crowd going in his run riding consistent with high airs and a few variations until he was too punk for his new signature model frame -punished with rear wheel destruction. Goodbye bike number one. No problem. Jay borrowed Matt's bike and began to go off again with a high 540 and a mildly spinning tailwhip. All was going well for Jay until another slam put Matt 's bike out of commission as well. Oh Canada. Goodbye bike number two. Enter Stuart King with bike number three. Once again, the Canadian Crusher dropped in, this time on a Standard, to backflip, pull sweet lip tricks and finally, a crashed flair -all on a borrowed bike that wasn't even a Hoffman. Third place to the punisher. Jay rips. Just don't let him borrow your bike.
GT's John Parker was spotted pulling cross-footed feeble grinds on the mini Saturday, but Sunday was all air for John. The mandatory tailwhip and really high airs got the crowd going. A no-handed 540 and two 900 slams later, John came back with second. All this, and all on the name bike. Not bad for a boy who lives in the middle of nowhere.
The reigning king of vert for who-knows-how-long now, Matt Hoffman, kicked tailwhips, stretched limbs, and bunted long strings of back to back tricks for his run. A double barspin to no hander and a flagellating no-handed no-footed 540 put Matt on top. Matt also lofted a double tailwhip in perfect McCoy fashion [directly into my friend Manual Mike at the DJ table]. Watch out for falling freestylers. So Matt ended up on top, putting to rest any rumours that he's slowing down, showing again why he's still King Of Vert.
STUNTMEN VERT: 1.Mat Hoffman 2.John Parker 3.Jay Miron 4.Dennis McCoy 5.Stuart King
STUNTBOYS VERT: 1.Pat Denhe 2.Mike Ocoboc 3.Regis Gaudrot 4.Mike Chessnoe 5.Chuck D.
Mat Hoffman barspin.