| Round 5, PlayStation® Pro, October 18-21, Orlando, Florida, Amway Arena. | |
| DIRT | |
| PRELIMS www.dewtour.com: After a short burst of rain interrupted the practice session before BMX Dirt Prelims on Friday afternoon, everyone was wondering if the weather would hold off long enough to run the Prelims without a hitch. The Dew Cup is on the line with five riders in contention, and a handful of other riders came to Orlando with new tricks, so everyone was anxious to get under way. As it turns out, the clouds held on to their cargo, the dirt jumpers let loose on the Dew Tour course, and Ryan Guettler made history. Ryan Nyquist, Cameron White, James Foster, Dennis Enarson, and Corey Bohan all had a shot at the Dew Cup coming into the PlayStation Pro. Unfortunately, Foster and Bohan failed to make it out of Prelims, so the tightest race remains between Nyquist and White. Here's a quick rundown of who'll be taking the stage for the last Dirt comp of the 2007 Dew Tour. 12. Diogo Canina: This guy is unpredictable and always goes for the big stuff, and he dropped his first triple tailwhip in Prelims. Look for opposite 360 tricks, and his opposite double tailwhip in Finals. 11. Cory Nastazio: Always a crowd favorite, "Nasty" has a long history of lighting up dirt-jumping comps anywhere and everywhere. With superman backflips, flip whips, front flips, and a wild signature style, he's tough to miss. 10. TJ Ellis: Most improved for '07. He's got big no-handed backflips and frontflips, and an array of variations he hasn't even brought out yet. Always a contender to place high. 9. Luke Parslow: This guy's style is all about going big. Huge, clean-as-a-whistle flip whips on the first set and plenty of other flip variations have put him on the podium before. 8. Allan Cooke: Allan doesn't do the latest whippity-flippity variations, but he stomps hard tricks as solid as can be, set after set. Expect double tailwhips, truckdrivers, and maybe even a 360 double whip from Allan - he's having knee reconstruction surgery on Wednesday, so anything goes. 7. Chris Doyle: One of the most stylish, consistent dirt jumpers of all time, Doyle has a quiver of awesome 360 variations on lock, including an untouchable 360 invert. Now that he's got the 720 as well, he'll be making Finals for years to come. 6. Ryan Nyquist: Nyquist played it fairly conservatively in Prelims, which for him means 360 variations on every jump capped with a 720. He'll definitely step it up in the Final, but he needs to stay close to Cam White in the results to maintain his lead for the Dew Cup, so he'll be doing everything he can to stay on two wheels. 5. Anthony Napolitan: Consistent no-handed frontflips, backflip variations, and 360 whips earned Napolitan the '06 Dirt Dew Cup, and even though he's out of the running for '07, he'll be looking to end the season with a bang. 4. Joey Marks: Whitesnake's got the signature double downside whip 360 in his bag, and is no stranger to kicking flipwhips over the first set. Will he finally stand on the podium in Orlando? 3. Cameron White: He unveiled the barspin to tailwhip backflip in Salt Lake City, and let another one fly here in Prelims just to show it wasn't a fluke. White's got a load of tricks to choose from when he's up on the deck, and a possible Dew Cup waiting for him at the end of Finals. Can he overtake Nyquist's lead tomorrow? 2. Dennis Enarson: Rookie sensation Dennis Enarson already has a Dew Tour Dirt win under his belt this year, and with consistent flip whips and triple whips, it's easy to see why. 1. Ryan Guettler: The two 720s in his first run were enough to put Guettler in the top Prelim spot, but he turned in another first-place trick sequence for run two, including the first-ever 1080 on Dirt. Guettler may be out of the running for the Dew Cup, but he definitely made himself the favorite for the victory in Orlando with that one. Check out Dirt Finals on Friday to see what happens. www.mirrabikeco.com: The Dirt field is so deep at the Dew AST in Orlando that it’s hard to make the finals. Pressure is on at these contests and sticking your tricks is what counts. Still, when you go on “save mode”, you’re not going to make it because the next guy might just bump you out of the top 12. Ryan Guettler is on top of things. He has been rolling the dice and it worked out in prelims scoring more than three solid points over second place finisher Dennis Enarson. www.ridebmx.com: The dirt prelims that just went down was absolutely nuts. Big highlights include Cam White pulling a barspin to flip-whip, and Ryan Guettler putting together a flawless run, ending with a 1080. Highlights: - TJ Lavin was the first rider to drop in this afternoon. After a great first three jumps, he went down hard on the last jump and suffered a compound fracture in is lower leg/ankle. No word on his current condition, but AST Dew Tour has a great medical staff, and we are sure TJ is in good hands. Best of luck to him. - The winner of the previous stop of this year's tour, James Foster couldn't put it together today and did not qualify. - Cameron White pulled a barspin to flip-whip. - Diogo Canina pulled a triple whip on the last set, a first for him in competition. - Ryan Guettler's second run went like this: 720, frontflip, (forgot, but something rad), 1080. Wow... Dirt prelims results: 1. Ryan Guettler - 95.67 2. Dennis Enarson - 92.33 3. Cameron White - 91.50 4. Joey Marks - 90.33 5. Anthony Napolitan - 90.00 6. Ryan Nyquist - 89.50 7. Chris Doyle - 89.00 8. Allan Cooke - 88.00 9. Luke Parslow - 87.83 10. TJ Ellis - 87.50 11. Cory Nastazio - 87.33 12. Diogo Canina - 87.33 FINALS www.dewtour.com: The scene was charged up going into the BMX Dirt Finals at the PlayStation® Pro on Saturday; the Dew Cup was on the line with Ryan Nyquist and Cameron White going head to head, and riders like Ryan Guettler and Anthony Napolitan were looking to deliver their best results of the season. The rains throughout the previous night softened up the jumps and slowed the course down, so everybody was fighting to make adjustments to the techniques they had mastered on the previous day. When the contest kicked off, nobody had any idea how it was going to play out. Several riders had trouble in the first round, with Cory Nastazio, Allan Cooke, and Chris Doyle failing to make it through the entire course. Nyquist made it through, but crashed on an opposite double truckdriver on the final set, putting the Dew Cup in jeopardy with Cam White's first run coming up. Luckily for Nyquist, White bobbled a flip whip and didn't make it over the second jump. Faring much better in the first round were Napolitan, who fired out a double tailwhip 360, and Guettler, who repeated his solid first-round qualifying run and took the lead. Also turning in solid first efforts were Diogo Canina with an opposite 360 lookback and a double tailwhip 360, TJ Ellis with a no-handed flip and turndown frontflip, and Luke Parslow with a x-up to turndown backflip and a tabletop frontflip. There were more problems in round two, but several riders were able to shine through with better runs. Doyle nailed his 360 turndown, 360 whip, and 720, and Nyquist kept the rubber down with 360 variations and a perfect 720. White put the highest-scoring run of the contest in the bank, pulling a flip whip, double tailwhip, truckdriver to x-up, and a frontflip. Napolitan had a good one going but crashed on a frontflip tailwhip on the last set, and Dennis Enarson pulled a high score with a flip whip, a barspin to no-hander, and a double tailwhip. Guettler came out hard in round two, launching a double flip on the first set but unfortunately missed the landing. He was forced to sit out his third run with a damaged bike and string of tweety birds circling his head. Luke Parslow was the only guy to have two clean runs in after the second round, knocking out a flip whip and a barspin to x-up flip. The pressure was on for Nyquist and White to bang out solid third runs to decide the Dew Cup, and Parslow was sitting nervously in the lead, hoping to break the second-place curse that's plagued him for most of his Dew Tour career. Cooke landed a full run with a one-footed x-up flip and a 360 whip, Doyle fired out more 360 variations, and Napolitan banked a relatively safe run, hoping for a place high in the standings once his scores were averaged. Nyquist bobbled the landing on a double truck and missed tricking the third set, but still managed to 720 the last set again, although he was looking to add a barspin this time. White went all in, gambling on the barspin to turndown flip he unveiled last month in Salt Lake City. He missed a pedal on the landing and had to abort the second set, which meant Nyquist was taking home the Dew Cup for the first time ever. Parslow had flown his parents in from Australia for this contest, so it was definitely fitting for him to win this one. He was immediately stormed by his friends and was overwhelmed that he had won. "I don't even know if it's real yet," he said. "The only other contest I've ever won was in New Zealand. I don't even know what to say!" It was a long time coming, both for Parslow's first Dew Tour win, and Nyquist's chase for the only BMX Dirt title he hadn't won yet: the overall BMX Dirt Dew Cup Champion. Bart de Jong, www.fatbmx.com: It has been a tough year for the dirt jumpers after seeing buddy Stephen Murray get paralyzed at one of the events earlier in the season. Riding in a pro dirt contest is hard enough for the head but adding Murray's unfortunate crash to this, it only makes it harder. Am I really going to try this new trick on these big sets today? Is it worth it? Can I just cruise through qualifying and go big in the finals? All questions that those riders up on the starting hill had to think about. The thing is, cruising through qualifying is not an option any more. You have to stick your tricks, make it through the sets and also you have to show some new moves. The competition is so close that if you fail to do either one, you're out. It was cool to see close friend and fellow Rockstar team rider Luke Parslow win the last stop. He must have put strength out of the situation and thought to himself: "This one's for you Stephen" before dropping in. Congrats to Luke and Stephen, Stay Strong! www.lat34.com: The X Games decided to remove BMX Dirt from its event this year -- something every BMX rider in the world thinks is a huge mistake. The AST Dew Tour realizes that few sports can be as exciting in 15 seconds as BMX Dirt is and this tour stop was no exception. Unfortunately, few sports are as dangerous as well, something that was also in full view at the PlayStation Pro. Going into the event Ryan Nyquist was in the lead for the overall Dew Cup thanks to a strong start with two wins to start the tour. But Nyquist had looked downright average since, with Ryan Guettler, Dennis Enarson, Cameron White and others flipping and whipping circles around him. Nyquist appeared to play it safe with three strong but easier runs (the average of the best two make up the final score) while Cameron White, his closest competitor in the Dew Cup race, was the one who had to win to make a difference. And you don't win unless you take chances -- something White did in two of his runs with poor results (he couldn't complete them). That left Nyquist in the clear for the Dew Cup, while a crazy battle took place for the PlayStation Pro Title. Ryan Guettler was pimped on the TV broadcast as being ready to deliver the highest-scoring run in BMX Dirt ever. Given his landing the first-ever 1080 on Dirt during the prelims, it seemed he could deliver. However, in his second run Guettler crashed while attempting a double-backflip -- a move that immediately brought back memories of Stephen Murray's fateful crash in Baltimore at the first Dew Tour stop. But thankfully while Guettler was knocked out, he regained consciousness and wasn't even taken to a hospital. He was even walking around by the time his third run would have taken place, though he was not allowed by medics to participate (and he ended up missing the BMX Park prelims later in the day). Guettler wasn't the only major injury -- TJ Lavin, who also provided commentary for NBC, had a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula in his left leg after crashing in the prelims -- unlike Guettler, Lavin was not knocked out and his screams could be heard as the medical staff worked on his for nearly 15 minutes before being taken to a local hospital. Oh, and Luke Parslow ended up winning the event -- his first Dew Tour win. www.ridebmx.com: The dirt jumps were giving people some problems today after the morning rain slowed them down. There were quite a few riders who bailed, crashed, and cased. However, a few guys made it through the set clean and were able to pull some bangers like 720s, a barspin to flip-whip, and a frontflip tailwhip. Highlights: - Cameron White pulled his barspin to flip-whip. But just like in qualifying, after pulling it, he couldn't clear the next set. - Anthony Napolitan pulled a frontflip tailwhip for the crowd after his third run. - Ryan Guettler pulled a "720 sandwich" as Catfish called it; 720 over the first and last set in his run. During Guettler's second run, he crashed hard on a double flip on the first set. www.mirrabikeco.com: Things didn’t go exactly Ryan Guettler’s way in the finals at the final stop of the 2007 Dew Tour. Guettler qualified on the number one spot after pulling the first ever 1080 jump on dirt as one of his moves. The Aussie ended up on 7th place on Saturday after missing a few of his hard moves. Dirt finals results: 1. Luke Parslow 2. Dennis Enarson 3. Anthony Napolitan 4. Chris Doyle 5. Ryan Nyquist 6. Cameron White 7. Ryan Guettler 8. Diogo Canina 9. TJ Ellis 10. Joey Marks 11. Allan Cooke 12. Cory Nastazio |
Video from www.ridebmx.com |
| PARK | PRELIMS www.dewtour.com: The fact that the BMX Park Prelim event at the PlayStation® Pro was the last chance to make a Dew Tour final for 2007 was not lost on the riders, because things were wild from start to finish on Saturday night. Plenty of new tricks were thrown as everybody strived for their personal best for the season. Amateur Ricky Moseley kicked things off, riding for the first time with the pros after winning the Finals of the amateur Free Flow Tour earlier in the day, earning a spot in pro Prelims in the process. His double tailwhips, alley-oop flairs, and no-handed 360s made him look right at home. Since so many riders were on point, even guys who turned in stellar runs ended up outside of the qualifying twelve. Craig Mast landed in 13th with frontflips up one of the step-ups, Garrett Reynolds was after him with big 720s, Scott Wirch took 15th with a downside whip 360, and Dan Sieg landed a rare triple whip to place just behind Wirch. Marcus Tooker qualified with a 360 whip to barspin, Dave Mirra made it with a wild 720 and huge regular and opposite flairs, and Allan Cooke delivered an x-up flip up the step-up and a downside tailwhip transfer to earn his place. In fact, those three Greenville, North Carolina residents will be joined by their fellow Greenville homeboys Ryan Nyquist, JJosh Harrington, Diogo Canina, and Rob Darden in the Finals. Guess where the party's going to be next week? Nyquist had no trouble popping off double trucks over the long box and a barspin 720, despite being exhausted from competing in Dirt Finals earlier in the day. Canina was also in Dirt Finals, and brought his tailwhip flips to the Park course, as well. Darden did 720s like they were old hat, and Harrington blasted massive airs and an opposite double truckdriver. Steven McCann's not from Greenville, but his no-handed 720 and double tailwhip airs are killer in any city. Mike Spinner hit all the bases with a double whip 360 up the step-up, a 720 over the spine, a 540 tailwhip, and a turndown to x-up 720. He rode non-stop for his whole run, sending a message to Daniel Dhers that he's gunning for his title. Dennis Enarson sent another message, and it went something like, "I'm going to land the first triple tailwhip 360 ever at a Dew Tour event," which is exactly what he did. After nailing a solid first run that put in him the Finals, he came out for run two and nailed the triple whip three, blasted an unbelievably high flair, and just kept going. Scotty Cranmer also had his own first, spinning a turndown to x-up 360 flip that he's never done before in competition. It looked a little like he was wired with explosives that detonated as soon as he hit the lip of the box; he was all over the place, somehow landing right-side up. Scotty is one of many riders who ride with a mouthguard to keep from biting off their tongues or smashing out their teeth a couple times a week. Unfortunately, Scotty managed to bite clean through his mouthguard and his lower lip on a flat-bottom landing, but it won't be enough to keep him from riding - and ripping - in the Finals. Not surprisingly, Daniel Dhers took the top qualifying spot with his usual precision, somehow tossing a casual flatspin 720 up the step-up to shake things up a little. He's going to be tough to beat in tomorrow's Final, but the event is stacked with riders who have a shot at doing it. Even if they can't unseat the defending Dew Cup Champ, the action at the last Final of the 2007 Dew Tour is going to make history on its own. www.mirrabikeco.com: Mike Spinner and Dave Mirra qualified for the finals of the Park discipline at the Dew Tour finals in Orlando. Dave made it in on the 11th spot where Spinner did very well by finishing 2nd behind Mirraco boarded Daniel Dhers. FINALS www.ridebmx.com: Dennis Enarson started out both of his runs with perfect 360 triple whips. Mike Spinner pulled a perfect 1080 in both of his runs. He also did a 720 tailwhip, a 540 tailwhip, and a barrage of other spinning maneuvers. Daniel Dhers' first run was good enough for the win. He left no part of the course untouched and every time he was in the air, he was doing a wild combo. www.dewtour.com: www.lat34.com: Daniel Dhers has won the BMX Park finals at the PlayStation Pro in Orlando, the final stop of the AST Dew Tour. The win also gives Dhers the Dew Cup and the $75,000 payday that comes with that. Dhers edged Mike Spinner in a close final, winning by only half-a-point. Ryan Nyquist was in third-place, followed by the legendary Dave Mirra. www.mirrabikeco.com: 3 Mirraco bikes in the top four of the Park finals at the Dew Tour in Florida. Not too shabby. Although Daniel Dhers is not officially on the team, his bike of choice all season has been a Mirraco and we would like to say congrats on the contest win and 2007 Park title. Mike Spinner, 19, of Miami, Fla., completed two 1080s to finish a close second to Dhers with 94.17 points. Spinner also placed second overall in Dew Cup standings. Dave Mirra finished in fourth with a score of 90.33 Dhers, 22, executed a flawless first run that included a corked 720 turndown, one of his signature moves. He later completed a front flip over the spine, another Dhers original. The Venezuelan won with a final score of 94.67, securing the Dew Cup title for the second consecutive year. “Man, I feel awesome right now,” Dhers said. “Last year after the win, I was like, ‘am I really gonna be able to keep up?’ I just went home, practiced hard, and dialed all my tricks. I came here and I really wanted to take it again.” |
BMX Park Prelims: 1. Daniel Dhers 2. Mike Spinner 3. Ryan Nyquist 4. Scotty Cranmer 5. Josh Harrington 6. Steve McCann 7. Diogo Canina 8. Rob Darden 9. Allan Cooke 10. Dennis Enarson 11. Dave Mirra 12. Marcus Tooker 13th Mast, Craig 87.33 14th Reynolds, Garrett 87.17 15th Wirch, Scott 87.17 16th Sieg, Dan 87 17th Dillewaard, Dave 87 18th Kiraly, Kevin 86.83 19th Whitton, Alistair 86.83 20th Laird, Mike 86.17 21st Young, Gary 86 22nd Foster, James 86 23rd Hunt, Brian 85.5 24th Gerber, Zachary 85.33 25th Wade, Morgan 85.33 26th Warden, Zack 85 27th Perry, Joshua 84.67 28th Mackay, Colin 84.17 29th Wallace, Ben 83.83 30st Marks, Joey 80.67 31st Coleman, Austin 79 32nd Semling, Quinn 76 Park Final Results: 1st- Dhers, Daniel- 94.67 2nd- Spinner, Mike- 94.17 3rd- Nyquist, Ryan- 92.67 4th- Mirra, Dave- 90.33 5th- Enarson, Dennis- 89.67 6th- Canina, Diogo- 88.17 7th- McCann, Steven- 88.00 8th- Cooke, Allan- 87.50 9th- Darden, Rob- 86.50 10th- Tooker, Marcus- 85.00 11th- Harrington, Josh- 84.83 12th- Cranmer, Scotty- 83.50 Video from www.ridebmx.com |
| VERT | |
| PRELIMS www.dewtour.com: You would think that at this, the 5th stop of the AST Dew Tour, most riders would be in cruise mode, beat up after a long season of head-to-head riding. That's not the way these guys play it, though; BMX Vert Prelims in Orlando saw more than a few guys blasting higher than they have on the whole tour, making comebacks from prior injuries, and laying it down for the Orlando fans. This stop also marked the Finals for the Dew Tour's amateur Free Flow Tour. Denver's John Chin beat out his competitors for the chance to ride with the pros in Prelims, and he made it count with barspins and a big flair. Huge props and a ton of high fives go out to Chin; keep rippin'! Koji Kraft just missed the cut, but unveiled a massive carving flair, which is a relatively new move for him. Austin Coleman, who broke one foot and sprained an ankle at the last stop in Salt Lake City, was already back on his bike and hitting regular, opposite, and downside whips and a no-handed flair. Zack Warden was shredding, throwing barspin to turndowns, superman tailwhips, flairs, and a double tailwhip to make the cut in 10th. Jay Eggleston took a nasty fall on a turndown 540, but he pulled one in his first run and he'll be back for the Finals. John Parker did combo moves like barspin to can-can and a superman to Indian air, along with a no-handed 540. Kevin Robinson had a great second run, nailing a big one-handed superman, a tailwhip over the channel, a no-handed flair and huge 540s. Jimmy Walker finished just in front of Robinson with a flair over the channel, x-up to turndown, and a healthy serving of 540s. Dennis McCoy took 5th with a high-energy run consisting of a barspin 540, a can-can lookback, and a flair. Chad Kagy made his return to the Dew Tour after breaking his collarbone in August, looking strong with scissor-kick superman seatgrabs, big flairs, and a no-hander to barspin. Simon Tabron has put a little different style into his airs, snaking all over the ramp and dropping big hits like no-handed 540s and flairs over the channel. Steven McCann came to Orlando with another couple of feet tacked on to his airs, and did some scary flairs and double tailwhips at unbelievable height. It still wasn't enough to unseat Jamie Bestwick, however, who took his customary top spot with one of the most dialed runs ever. Hitting banger tricks at least ten feet above the ramp and doing it smoothly is how you win a vert contest, and nobody can do it better than Bestwick. A carving opposite no-hander, barspin to turndown, no-handed 540, superman seatgrab, downside tailwhip, and a perfect flair put him into the pole position going into tomorrow's Final event. McCann proved that he put some extra time in to try to catch Bestwick, and Tabron's definitely not going to take it easy on him either; tune in Friday night to see who rides away with the Dew Cup. FINALS www.dewtour.com: If you're looking for something mundane and predictable, you'd best avoid the Dew Tour altogether, because you just never know what's going to go down at these contests. Jamie Bestwick was leading overall points coming into Orlando, he qualified in first place in Prelims, and he was tearing it up throughout practice. However, upon dropping in for his first run and pumping for his first air (which typically hits the 12-foot range), a critical part on his bike broke, sending him flailing through the air. Believe it or not, that was just one of several surprises to go down during Vert Finals. It was definitely not your average contest. Zack Warden was first up, leading the barrage of surprises with a brand-new trick, a perfect barspin to downside tailwhip. He hit another in his second run and followed it with another new one: a bikeflip on Vert. Warden definitely had a hell of a night, and the kid's only 18. He's certainly got more coming. Kevin Robinson came out swinging, lofting a no-handed flair over the channel, a switch-handed 540, an opposite flair, and a 540 tailwhip. He dropped in for run two and - surprise! He attempted a double flair, which he's kept on the back burner for a couple of months. He came so close, but couldn't quite get the tires down in time. Jimmy Walker continues to crank up the trick count in his runs, throwing flair and 540 variations on every wall. John Parker did back to back 540s and regular, opposite, downside, and double tailwhips, so it's safe to say he's got the tailwhip bases covered. Jay Eggleston keeps cranking high 540s and no-handed one-footers, and generally blasting some of the highest airs of the day. Dennis McCoy had a great start, hitting a flair, a big 540, barspin to x-up, and a candybar, but took a nasty slam on a double barspin. Not the way you want to end your season, but DMC is one tough cookie, so he'll be back. Simon Tabron hammered out some hot ones in his first run, spinning a huge alley-oop 540 over the channel to kick things off, following with invert and no-handed 540s, an invert flair over the channel, and a big 900. Steven McCann managed to top that in his second run by dropping a couple of his new tricks, the barspin to tailwhip and 540 tailwhip, the first time he's done them in competition. Add in a no-handed flair and a double tailwhip, and you've got the makings for a 3rd place podium finish. Chad Kagy broke his collarbone back in August, and it was a particularly nasty crash, so he's been taking his time getting back up to speed. He dropped in for points in Salt Lake last month, but this was his first Dew Tour event where he would be riding at close to 100% since the injury. Most people assumed he'd be holding back a little, but after a crash cut his first run short, he charged full-throttle into run two. He nailed his patented scissor-kick superman seatgrab and threw a barspin superman seatgrab over the channel, and didn't hesitate to drop one of his real bangers, the flatspin 540 tailwhip. He took the lead after run two. As we mentioned before, Bestwick fell victim to a mechanical failure in his first run, so he'd be dealing with extra pressure to do well in his last run, along with a nagging suspicion of the rest of the parts on his bike. He's a true champ, however, and threw out a turndown to no-hander, a barspin to turndown, a turndown flair, 540 invert, and a brand-new downside whip to table. He tied Kagy's high score, so the low scores were compared for the tie-breaker, putting Kagy in first, Bestwick in second, and the BMX Vert Dew Cup officially in Jamie's hands. Dew Tour BMX Vert is officially a wrap for 2007, with Bestwick taking his third Dew Cup in a row, and a multitude of new tricks going down throughout the course of the season. Now the riders will be off to hibernate in secret training sessions throughout the winter, returning next June to make the '08 Dew Tour even crazier. www.ridebmx.com: At the end of the first rounds, things were looking just about as most people had predicted. Simon Tabron and Steven McCann were sitting in the top two spots with Jamie Bestwick left to ride in the first round. The crowd roared with anticipation for him to drop in. He sprinted across the deck. He dropped in. Then...WHAM! His crank snapped on his first pump of the opposite wall and he was ejected into the air. And that put an abrupt end to Jamie's first run. However, he was back warming up in no time, and it didn't look like the horrible luck got the best of him. Jamie was the last to ride in the final round, and this time he had a flawless run that landed him in 2nd place for the contest, which was enough for the overall Dew Tour win this year. That means Bestwick has won the Dew Cup three years in a row! It was a dramatic end to the final stop of this year's AST Dew Tour, but instead of blabbering about it, we are putting together a video of all the wild action so you can see it for yourself! Jamie Bestwick, www.jamiebestwick.com, october 2007: What a drama filled night it was on finals night - the 10 best guys in the world battle it out for the top spot and the chase for the Dew Cup would come to an end. Well, what was supposed to be a steady first run turned out to be a complete nightmare. I pedalled across that ramp as fast as I could, all I was thinking about was boosting the other side and hitting as big of an invert as possible, then my foot just got smahed into the floor, and all I saw was the deck of the ramp from about 8 or 9 feet out.(Talk about staring death in the face!) As I was coming back down head first I saw the coping and just tried to grab a hold of it, but I was a mile off. After hitting just about every body part on the deck I then bounced my way down the ramp. I remember lying there and thinking, “Did that just happen?” Of all the times my bike could have chose to have an off day tonight was not the night! So I asked the officials if I was still good for a 1st run do over, as I thought I had a time out for mechanical breakdowns - this decision took about 10 minutes, then a big NO came back! You’ve got a second run and thats it… OK nice one! My Etnies Tm John Povah fixed my bike quick sharp and someone lent me their cranks for my last run. That someone was Koji Craft and I had seen him land on the floor a few times that week from some big flairs that he screwed up, so not much to worry about there …..(Only joking Koji)!! Anyway it took me a while to get used to the new cranks, but I managed to get a decent 2nd run together which beat my 1st run score of 80, but not enough for the win, as scores were tied until they used the 1st run scores - but it was enough for me to take the Dew Cup for the 3rd year in a row! As you can imagine I went crazy once the scores came in, it was something I had wanted to acheive this year and my goal had been accomplished. Briliant! A massive thank you to John Povah and Koji Kraft for getting my bike up and running and to everyone that rode that night, it was a great end to a great year. A big shout out to Simon Tabron who rode great all year and made me step up my riding, and Stevie MCcann has been amazing! The future of vert riding is upon us and my Good friend Jimmy Walker, to whom I will always be endepted to! Jay Eggleston, www.go211.com, Mon, 22 Oct 2007: I got 9th place in the vert finals at the final stop of ths AST Dew Tour a few days ago. This was my worst finish of the year but I managed to place 7th in the year end rankings. Two crashes, one in prelims and one in the finals, did not help out my placing. It was a good year overall for me on the Dew Tour and I am glad to have had an injury free season, allowing me to compete at all 5 stops. |
Vert prelims results: 1. Jamie Bestwick - 93.33 2. Simon Babron - 92.50 3. Steven McCann - 91.67 4. Chad Kagy - 90.00 5. Dennis McCoy 89.83 6. Jimmy Walker - 89.67 7. Kevin Robinson - 89.17 8. John Parker - 88.33 9. Jay Eggleston - 88.17 10. Zack Warden - 86.67 Vert finals results: 1. Chad Kagy - 92.67 2. Jamie Bestwick - 92.67 3. Steven McCann - 92.35 4. Simon Tabron - 92.17 5. Kevin Robinson - 90.35 6. Jimmy Walker - 88.33 7. John Parker - 87.35 8. Zack Warden - 87.00 9. Jay Eggleston - 86.33 10. Dennis McCoy - 82.87 |