Place: Los Angeles, CA.
FatTony, www.ridebmx.com, july 30th, 2008: This is the first time in X Games history that there has been a BMX street competition in the U.S. They tried out the street format contest in four countries earlier this year and it worked out, so they brought it to States. The format is as follows: Twelve riders compete for six spots in the finals. The first group of six in qualifying session one section of the course for seven minutes. Then the next six session the same section of the course for seven minutes. Then the groups move on the the other two sections of the course, having a jam at each section for seven minutes. The riding this evening at the Staples Center was pretty insane. The course is definitely “real street” and the riding was too. It honestly looked like a good representation of street riding today. It was no surprise that Garrett Reynolds qualified first since he won each of the other four X Games street contests (in Dubai, Mexico, Brazil, and China). Garrett did the most, most consistent, and hardest tricks at each section of the course and pretty much blew everyone else away.
Street Qualifying Results (Top 6 Advance To Finals)
1. Garrett Reynolds - 90.55
2. Van Homan - 89.66
3. Sean Sexton - 86.77
4. Brian Kachinsky - 86.66
5. Dakota Roche - 85.55
6. Seth Kimbrough - 85.22
7. Nathan Williams - 84.88
8. Brad Simms - 83.88
9. Aaron Ross - 83.55
10. Rob Wise - 83.55
11. Corey Martinez - 80.22
12. Josh Harrington - Did Not Finish
FINALS
Bart de Jong, www.fatbmx.com, august 2008: The X-Games kicked off with a real street competition. It was the first time that real street was on the program at the X-Games. Test cases were held in Mexico, Brasil and Dubai and it seemed to work there so why not get it on the main program in Los Angeles? The course looked real street. Not a lot of transition to be see but rails, gaps, ledges and a roof to jump off of. Some graffiti on the walls and a grey surface actually made it look pretty real. The intensity of street riding is high and with no mandatory helmets necessary it made for exciting faces on the big screen. Street is also closer to the spectators. They can imagine what is being done on the the smaller obstacles. Where Big Air is crazy, Real Street is realistic and the riders on the course knew how to make it work. The sessions on different parts of the course were awesome. In a time limited jam session it was up to the riders to show what they got before the buzzer went off. This makes for some snake sessions towards the end to get that one trick in that they want to pull. In practice I saw Garrett Reynolds crash. Damn, he's human after all I thought. Garrett is so consistent and good and claims to just ride and have fun. I actually believe him as there is no room for a complete run during the jam sessions that he could have practiced at home. It's just firing out trick after trick, one at a time and Garrett takes that to a whole different level. Van Homan got in contest mode and won a silver medal ten years after he entered his first ever X-Games event. He will be at the 2X4 shop signing autographs next week, and the week after that..... Sean Sexton couldn't believe picking up the third place medal and check of $10G that came with it. The X-Games have long been for the trickstars only but with adding real street it makes the X-Games a bit more legit. It is good to see a bigger field of BMX riders at the huge event too. The street riders deserve to be in the spotlight just as much.
FatTony, www.ridebmx.com, july 31st, 2008: Street finals just wrapped up here outside the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. The six riders that qualified from yesterday’s prelims rode amazing and put on a good show for the crowd. In big contests like this you tend to see pretty much the same things you saw in prelims. Qualifying is so difficult these days that riders have to throw out their hardest tricks just to secure their spot in the finals. So today we didn’t see a whole lot that we didn’t see yesterday. However, Van Homan did attempt a big grind to tailwhip off the top of the subway ledge and Garrett Reynolds landed a barspin to manual to barspin to icepick down the big ledge.
Results:
1.Garrett Reynolds / Toms River, N.J. / 91.33 /
2.Van Homan / Pennsville, N.J. / 90.44 /
3.Sean Sexton / Tempe, Ariz. / 88.88 /
4.Brian Kachinsky / Chicago, Ill. / 87.55 /
5.Dakota Roche / Huntington Beach, Calif. / 85.11 /
6.Nathan Williams / Hartselle, Ala. / 85.11
Van Homan. Photo by Mark Losey.
Press release, august 2008: The jam-packed crowd at the X Games Vert ramp watched Bestwick come back to win the BMX Freestyle Vert final for the second consecutive year after taking a fall. "I didn't think I had done enough to win," Bestwick said about his comeback. "I was relentless out there." Bestwick's persistence created a crowd uproar. "I felt good and was able to string together some great tricks," the Brit phenom stated. Some of Bestwick's intense combinations included an alley-oop downside, huge flairs and whips, and a series of impressive 540s. Chad Kagy proved that last night's win in BMX Freestyle Big Air was no mistake as he brought his technical tricks to the Vert ramp today. Kagy executed a difficult flair double whip, the first he's stuck all year, to help land him in the second place position. "You know you gotta step it up every year at the X Games or else you get left behind," Kagy said. X Games 14 is Kagy's 10th X Games appearance. Following close behind in third place was Australia's pride and joy, Steve McCann. McCann didn't start competing in Vert until 2007 but has quickly become a rising threat. "It's my first Vert medal ever. What could be better than doing it at the X Games?" McCann said. McCann landed an outstanding bar-spin tail whip as well as an alley-oop tail whip to secure the bronze.
Results:
1. Jamie Bestwick / Derbyshire, Great Britain / 111.00 /
2. Chad Kagy / Gilroy, Calif. / 105.00 /
3. Steve McCann / Melbourne, Australia / 103.00 /
4. Dennis McCoy / Kansas City, Mo. / 90.00 /
5. Jimmy Walker / Chicago, Ill. / 78.00 /
6. Kevin Robinson / East Providence, R.I. / 84.00 /
7. Coco Zurita / Santiago, Chile / 83.00 /
8. Zack Warden / St. Louis, Mo. / 82.00 /
9. Jay Eggleston / Denver, Colo. / 75.00 /
10. Simon Tabron / Newquay, Great Britain / 26.00
QUALIFYING
www.mirrabikeco.com, august 2008: Ryan Guettler is among the top 10 riders that advance to the finals beginning tomorrow (Saturday, August 2) at 1 p.m. PT. The Aussie adapted to the special course quickly and moved into the 4 spot after the qualifications were over. Mike Spinner and Dave Mirra were less fortunate and finished in 12th and 16th respectively.
X-Games 14 SuperPark qualification results:
1.Daniel Dhers / Caracas, Venezuela /
2.Gary Young / San Diego, Calif. /
3.Diogo Canina / Amparo, Brazil /
4.Ryan Guettler / Beenleigh, Australia /
5.Alistair Whiton / Chester, Great Britain /
6.Chase Hawk / Austin, Texas /
7.Rob Darden / Greenville, N.C. /
8.Corey Bohan / Brisbane, Australia /
9.Dennis Enarson / San Diego, Calif. /
10.Morgan Wade / Tyler, Texas /
11.Ryan Nyquist / Greenville, N. C /
12.Mike Spinner / Miami, Fla. /
13.Brian Foster / South Plainfield, N.J. /
14.Chris Doyle / Pittsburgh, Pa. /
15.Jamie Bestwick / Derbyshire, Great Britain /
16.Dave Mirra / Greenville, N.C. /
17.Chad Kagy / Gilroy, Calif. /
18.Steve McCann / Milbourne, Australia /
19.Dave Dillewaard / Redcliffe, Australia /
20.Josh Harrington / Greenville, N.C.
FINALS
Bart de Jong, www.fatbmx.com, august 2008: New for 2008 was SuperPark. Designed differently to say the least. No space for a big box jump or a spine with proper run-up. It basically was a rad concrete skatepark but built out of wood. I wasn't sure if it would make for good TV. In qualifying it had some riders that did not find their way on the course as it either did not fit their riding style or they did not have enough practice on the course which had a cradle/full pipe section, 2 deep bowls (one with pool coping), tons of hips, some ramps and rollers on the top, a spine and much more. Having this set-up in your backyard would mean you have friends for the rest of your life. The field was cut into ten riders for the finals. This made a big difference. The riders who made it for the the final program all knew how to handle the SuperPark and were flowing like butter. It was enjoyable watching these guys ride and loads of different lines it made for some good action. One of the lines that was crazy was done by Alistair Whitton and Morgan Wade and as far as I remember Gary Young did it too. They jumped from the ramp on the top over a big section into the hip which was nuts! Gary Young is the master of the lines and ruled. He did make it to the top 5 Super Final. Chase Hawk was riding with an injured thumb from an earlier crash over the spine. He did well without pedaling once. True styler. Corey Bohan is another rider who is enjoyable to watch but he G-forced himself out of the top five. His barspin to manual on the sub box to tailwhip-in would have been sweet but the landings weren't smooth in Bohan's book. Enarson rode well but not well enough for a medal at X-Games 14. That double tailwhip on the wall took him too many attempts to pull off. Morgan Wade knew how to ride the thing but crashed a few too many times which kept his runs short. You see, after a 30 second introduction run the 10 minute jam started. When you crashed you were out and the next rider dropped in. Every run was scored and in the end three of them counted towards a final score with the highest and the lowest score being dropped. The more runs you had, the better the changes are that you had three good ones in there. Depending on the time that the riders too before dropping in and also the length of each rider's runs (maximum 30 seconds), it turned out that each rider had about 5 runs on the course of which 3 counted. If you only had two decent runs on the course it would seriously effect your final score. The top 5 riders who made it to the "Super Final" were Ryan Guettler, Diogo Canina, Daniel Dhers, Rob Darden and Gary Young. It was amazing how quick of a come-back Guettler made after his bad 1080 crash th previous weekend at the Dew Tour. A few teeth short he entered the X-Games and rolled the dice, the way Guettler does it. If it works, he finishes on top, if it does not work, he has to deal with a lower classification. After carving a bowl he tried a 1080 down a section but his rotation stopped around 900 and he had to bail out. His other original line was a frontflip over an island into the back of the spine. It took balls to do it but it resulted in two crashes that ended his runs that included double whips, flatties over the hips, no-handers anywhere, a 270 to opposite 540, his signature indian style flair and much more. 4th for Ryan. 5th went to Gary Young. He liked the course and it showed. It was right up his alley and the speed he created by pumping the ramps was amazing. He tried a new line in the finals a few too many times which did not work out for him. Too bad because he might have well stepped on the podium had he pulled it off. But that's the way it goes in competitions. If you play it safe, you might not even make it to the next round. To stand out you have to show something that nobody else is doing being it new tricks, new lines, and original riding. Rob Darden is on fire these days and knows how to ride a contest. His riding is solid and includes everything. Not necessary original tricks but he 720-s, double whips, flairs, double barspins his way around the course in a good style and keeps the rubber up. It was good to see him step on the podium to collect the bronze. Alternate rider number two (Diogo Canina) has had a good week. He won $ 6000,= USD at the ASA comp earlier in the week and then got to ride the SuperPark contest because some riders got injured. From the start Diogo looked great. He used the whole course and did his tricks big. His flairs went to the moon and back, he downside whipped, went upside down in the cradle and had good lines all over the SuperPark. When I posted that he won a gold medal at the ASA qualifying comp earlier in the week, his friends in Brazil thought he had won the X-Games. Well he grabbed silver at X-Games 14 in Los Angeles and was a happy dude. South America scored another medal with Venezuelan Daniel Dhers grabbing the gold. Daniel rode a lot in practice and to many people's surprise adapted to the SuperPark quickly. Daniel is simply dialled. He does not need a 15 meter run up to do a double whip over the spine or a flatspin 720. When you have your tricks wired like Daniel has, a split second is enough to throw these babies out. You know what tricks Daniel can do and he brought them to the SuperPark at the X-Games and walked away with the gold medal. He might not have flowed around the course like some other riders but with the tricks he showed there was no way around it; Gold for Daniel. We have not seen footage of the SuperPark contest on TV. I'd like to see how it looks and if it was a good idea to replace the boxjump and big spine. TV ratings are important for ESPN and their sponsors. SuperPark brought good riding but not too many revolutionary tricks that TV can repeat again and again. We'll have to see what happens. Maybe the park will end up in someone's backyard and we're sure some good sessions will happen then.
FatTony, www.ridebmx.com, august 2nd, 2008: Dave Mirra called it out when we interviewed him a few days ago on the deck of the ramp, and he was absolutely right. Daniel Dhers took home the gold medal here at X Games for the second year in a row. However, the two other medalists were a bit of a surprise, but well-deserved. For the Superpark final there were ten riders who each rode in a jam format similar to yesterday’s qualifying runs. Then the top five out of those ten rode in a “super final” so to speak for the podium spots. Daniel Dhers returned with his back to back tricks and combos and put on an amazing show for the crowd, scoring more than ten points higher than the next rider. Diogo Canina will take the silver medal back to Greenville, North Carolina after firing out fast lines and huge tricks and transfers. And another Greenville/The Unit local Rob Darden is bringing back some hardware to North Carolina after putting together solid runs mixed with technical combos and high airs.
Press release, august 2008: The action is swelling on the third day of X Games 14 as the BMX Freestyle SuperPark Finalists took to the distinctive course. The field started with 10 riders and was narrowed down to the top five in round one. The top five moved on to the final, but it was apparent from the get-go that Dhers was going to be the man to beat. Dhers showed up to the SuperPark this year already with an X Games gold medal in his pocket from last year's BMX Freestyle Park competition. Each rider was given three 30 second runs, each one judged separately. The rider at the end of the competition with the most points was the winner. After an overwhelmingly technical and exciting performance out of Dhers, including a 540 bar spin, it was clear that he had swept the competition. "I get to go to sleep happy tonight," Dhers said with a smile. "I've been wanting this gold medal for the past year and now I have it. It's as rewarding as winning the gold last year. It's always awesome to win a competition like the X Games." The astonishing medalist from the BMX Freestyle SuperPark final today was second place finisher Diogo Canina, who until last week was not even sure if he was going to make the trip out to the X Games from his home country of Brazil. "I didn't even think I was ready for this competition. Winning silver is like gold to me with a competition like the X Games," Canina proclaimed excitedly. "This past week here was the greatest week of my BMX career." Perhaps having the most fun on the SuperPark course was third place finisher Rob Darden. Darden utilized the entire course completing multiple transfers from the quarterpipe to the box set and rallying through the bowl corners at mock speed."I always liked to go fast as a kid," Darden grinned. "I felt like a kid in there. It was awesome."
www.mirrabikeco.com, august 2008: The SuperPark finals at the X-Games started with 10 people. 5 of them made it to the superfinal and Ryan Guettler was one of them. Making it this far is an accomplishment. Unfortunately for Ryan some of his wild moves did not work out the way he planned it. The 1080 into the deep end got stopped before he completed the third full rotation and the frontflip into the spine would have been sweet. Ryan ended up on place four, just missing out on the medals.
Results:
1. Daniel Dhers / Caracas, Venezuela / 101 /
2. Diogo Canina / Amparo, Brazil / 90 /
3. Rob Darden / Greenville, N.C. / 85/
4. Ryan Guettler / Beenleigh, Australia / 82/
5. Gary Young / San Diego, Calif. / 61 /
6. Chase Hawk / Austin, Texas / 81 /
7. Alistair Whitton / Chester, Great Britain / 79 /
8. Dennis Enarson / San Diego, Calif. / 75 /
9. Corey Bohan / Brisbane, Austrailia /60 /
10. Morgan Wade / Tyler, Texas / 59
Bart de Jong, www.fatbmx.com, july 2008: Man, the Big Air set-up is HUGE! It is placed inside the Home Depot Center and barely fits. Practice was going on today and Anthony Napolitan, Dave Mirra, Steve McCann, Rooftop and Morgan Wade were at it. Respect, respect, respect! Just dropping in would be nuts let alone jumping the big gap. Napolitan has frontflipped the small set, Mirra backflipped the huge set on the right and blasted a big air after that on the quarterpipe. Also looking good is Steve McCann whose invert on the quarter was insane. The height is measured by transponders underneath the bottom bracket making it fair and accurate. Morgan Wade supermanned to gap and will be ready for the event. Chad Kagy hurt his knee and it's not sure if he will make it. Knowing him he'll do anything to climb on that ramp later this week. We'll keep you posted from Los Angeles, the City of Angels, earthquakes and Big Airs.
FINALS
Bart de Jong, www.fatbmx.com, august 2008: When I entered the Home Depot Center (HDC) I did not believe what I saw. I felt like I had shrunk to the size of Minimi or something else that is really small. The Big Air set up was unbelievably huge. I had seen photos and videos of it but that doesn't do it justice. The roll-in was massive and lead to two 70 feet gaps (21 meters) with a 50 feet (15 meters) gap in the middle. The take offs were the size of freestyle motocross jumps and the landing was even bigger than the trucks these FMX-guys are usually using. The quaterpipe that followed was simply insane. I wonder how many trees had to be killed to build it. It was impressive to say the least.
7 riders made it in this year with Rooftop being the alternate. He admitted that jumping the gap for the first time was scary. He wasn't feeling it but he had to do it as there was no choice as soon as you rolled in from the top of the granstands. In practice Rooftop was doing the world's highest icepick grinds, and peg stalls. You'd be scared too up there. Allan Cooke, Dave Mirra, Anthony Napolitan, Morgan Wade, Steve McCann, Kevin Robinson and Chad Kagy actually got to ride in the competition. With a packed HDP the show was going to be insane. I had sweatty hands when it started and I wasn't the only one. 4 jumps each and the best run counted. This gave some roof for safe runs and time to try something out. Steve McCann rolled the dice and tried to 720 the first jump. It did not work out for him. He was also riding in the SuperPark competition and Vert contest so he had two more changes on getting a medal at the X-Games. Anthony Napolitan pulled a no-handed frontflip on the first jump which was insane and Morgan Wade's Superman seatgrab was just unbelievable. He even had time to check out the crowd in mid-air. I hope you got to experience that particular jump, my hands are getting sweatty again just thinking about it. Allan Cooke had some solid runs going on over the huge 70 feet gap. He lacked a bit of vert skills (compared to the top three guys) to be a serious threat but respect to him and all of the guys who climbed back on top of that ramp time after time. The Big Air event is right up Kevin Robinson's alley. The current High Air world record holder has put some work in on the big ramp and it showed. His no-handed 360-s over the gap ware insane. Slow rotation with two hands waving in the air. It seemed like it lasted forever. Kevin sure has them no-handed flairs in his pocket and showed a few of them. In his last attempt KRob went for a double flair but used the quarterpipe as a giant slide. It was good to see he was alive. How he got out of that one is still a mystery. Two riders left; Dave Mirra and Chad Kagy. They were battling for the gold. It was unbelievable what Mirra was showing. You can never count him out. After not making it to the finals in SuperPark earlier that day, some people had already written him off on the BMX bike and placed him in the Subaru which would be his only chance to win another X-Games medal. The Mirracle man proved them wrong. Like most of these riders Dave had not gotten much time to practice on this type of set-up. With Rally training and SuperPark practice going on at the same time Dave had to choose his time wisely. Big Air was also held before the finals of the two other events and with the chances of getting injured you would agree with Dave Mirra taking it easy on the giant set-up. But Dave does not settle for anything less than gold and worked his way to a very solid run. He no-handed-three-sixtied the 50 footer, followed by an amazing flair on the quarterpipe. The crowd went nuts and Dave was stoked. But he had planned for one more that he saved for last. The Aligator wrestler came out again on the 50 footer followed but a flairwhip at 11 feet high on the quarterpipe. He rolled out of that one with one foot on the pedals waving to the crowd. The Home Depot Center exploded. This put Dave in the Gold Medal spot with only one rider to go. Chad Kagy rolled in from the left side of the roll-in to get maximum speed for the 70 footer. He flairwhipped it perfectly and then blasted the smoothest flairwhip at 17 feet high on that giant QP. It was mental. When the scores came in it put Kagy on first place, Dave in second and KRob in third. Much respect to all riders for putting on a great show. I'd never seen anything like it. Well impressed.
FatTony, www.ridebmx.com, august 1st, 2008: During the Big Air finals just now here inside the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, Catfish told the stadium that he felt like a 13 year old kid at a BMX demo seeing BMX for the first time. Well kids, he hit the nail on the head with that statement. History was made and goosebumps were raised as Dave Mirra did not one, but two 360 no-handed backflips, Chad Kagy and Dave Mirra both did flair whips, Kevin Robinson did a no-handed 360 and no-handed 540, and Anthony Napolitan attempted the world’s first backflip triple tailwhip. Things started off a little slow while the riders worked out the cobwebs and built up the tension. But then in the third of four rounds Dave Mirra did a 360 no-handed backflip over the 50 foot jump followed by a high flair on the quarter and shook things up. Chad Kagy Followed that with a flip whip over the 70-footer then nailed the flatspin 540 tailwhip on the quarter. From there it was complete madness.
Press release, august 2008: There was no holding back from the competitors in tonight's BMX Big Air final as the riders progressively stepped up the difficulty and height after each run and pushed each other's limits. It all came down to the wire during the final of four runs. Mirra was holding the top position with a score of 94.66 from a no-handed 360 backflip over the 50 foot gap to a lofty, flair whip on the quarterpipe, but was knocked down to second place when Kagy dropped into the ramp for his final run just moments later. All eyes in the stadium turned to Kagy as he launched off the gap jump into a back flip tail whip and then layed out a boosted flair whip on the quarterpipe, earning a score of 96.00 and clenching the gold medal. Kagy may have won the gold, but his respect went to Mirra. "Mirra surprised the heck out of me. Good job, Dave. He was motivated to do this the right way and it pushed me." Trailing in third place behind Kagy and Mirra was former two-time BMX Big Air Champion Kevin Robinson who put up a good fight with a solid no-handed 360 into a no-handed 540 on the quarterpipe. "I can go home happy with a bronze because I landed my new tricks in my second run," said previous champion, Robinson. "The double flair in my last run didn't work, but I'm so happy for Chad for his well deserved win tonight."
www.mirrabikeco.com, august 2008: BMX history was in the making tonight at the Big Air event over at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles as the 7 invited riders stepped onto the roll-in of the Big Air ramp set-up. With the “short” gap being 50 feet long and the long gap being 70 feet is was going to make for some serious entertainment before they his the giant quarterpipe at the end. Dave Mirra was one of the invited riders and the most decorated X-Games athlete added another medal to his extensive list of accomplishments. Dave performed his 360 no-handed backflip over the 50-footer and followed that up with an awesome 11 feet high tailwhip flair on the quarterpipe. Serious madness.
Results:
1. Chad Kagy / Gilroy, Calif. / 96.00 /
2. Dave Mirra / Greenville, N.C. / 94.66 /
3. Kevin Robinson / East Providence, R.I. / 91.00 /
4. Steve McCann / Melbourne, Australia / 90.00 /
5. Allan Cooke / Greenville, N.C. / 89.00 /
6. Morgan Wade / Tyler, Texas / 86.66 /
7. Anthony Napolitan / Youngstown, Ohio / 85.00