bike, but unfortunately I was still supposed to be in a cast and my doctor told me not to even walk on my leg. I didn’t do much in practice and sent everything in the contest. I crashed on a 900 smashed my head and flew off the course into the sand. With a live broadcast going out to the web, and non stop action at the contest, riders threw down their best stuff. It’s hard to imagine what’s gunna go down in the next few days. Tomorrow the highly anticipated “high air” contest happens. Seeing riders boost in practice and qualifying has been crazy enough, so the comp is sure to be a lot of fun for the fans. Here are some highlights from the qualifiers:
Day 1 Qualifier: Brett Banasiewicz put together a run including a corked 720, frontflip on the driveway and a flair whip. Craig Mast came in 4th with an 810 transfer into the “shark-tank bowl” a front flip flair and a few other big tricks. Garrett Reynolds rode like his usual self, packing his run in with more tricks than anyone else at maximum speed. Brandon Dosch combined big tricks, speed, and height all into one crazy run including a 360 double whip, huge wedge to vertwall transfer and a 720. Jeremiah Smith won the day one qualifier, nailing a sick run with lots of technical tricks and bangers.
Day 2 Qualifier: Allan Cooke did one of the best flowing runs in the contest, hitting a bunch of original lines than nobody else had. Pat Casey really set the tone being the first guy to ride nailing a frontflip on the driveway, a flair whip, a decade, and a dipped 360 double whip. Mark Webb did a great run including a big 720, an alley oop flair, and finished it all off with a nice 900.
Mike Clark, rode his beach like nobody expected. Coming out from right here in Huntington Beach, he got so much crowd love from the fans including girls holding up signs saying Hucker is sexy and we heart Hucker. He started off HUGE with easily an 8 or 9 foot flair out of the biggest quarter in the park. Then went on to do a big front flip, 360 downside whip, easy 360 tailwhip and finished it off with the first ever handle bar ride in a BMX park contest, around the bowl. Dennis Ennarson won the Day 2 qualifying, doing a run that nobody could compete with. Super High on everything, huge tricks, perfect on everything. He did a flip whip on the box, a double whip and 360 tuck on the driveway and a few other sweet tricks.
Tomorrow the five top riders from last year will be added (Scotty Cranmer, Mike Spinner, Andy Buckworth, Daniel Dhers & Ryan Guettler) and we will have an amazing semifinal for sure.
Nicholi Rogatkin
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.