They called the right names for the tricks and had no stupid questions. It made BMX look pretty damn cool. The Freeride footage looked great and we can't wait to see it on TV or on a DVD. The 2007 Red Bull Elevation in Whistler might have been the last one. Three years in a row it was and the 2007 version will go into the history books as the closest final between the 2005 and 2006 winners.
The course was demanding. 2 of the finalists had to ride a different bike because their own ride did not survive. Ryan Nyquist wasn't looking good in practice. He had a sprained wrist and was thinking about dropping out. Brian Foster took 8 Advils on Sunday so he could ride.
He had a blue ankle which he had taped in. The blue falcon was flying again but might not have passed the 2010 Olympic doping rules with all the pain killers he took. Gary Young had a gnarly crash on the last set and jumped oof mid-air. TJ Ellis cased the 15 feet high landing with his front wheel and took it hard. Allan Cook cased the step down in his final run but thought a little pedal would be enough to clear the 12 meter gap. Not only did he try to clear the distance, he went upside down on his attempt too. A horrible case resulted in some bruised ribs for the Merlion. James Foster had crashed many times and was limping whenever he was off the bike. On the bike he was killing it. Doyle had crashed in practice (on the last set) but looked fit for the finals. Dane Searls took serious hits but they got back up like it was nothing. Tough guy indeed.
Riders were pushing the limits. To do well in a field like this, you had to ride at your best. Adam Baker had fun and was stoked to make the finals. It didn't really work out for him on Sunday but he survived and was okay with that. Elevation might just be the only contest he's entering in 2007 and he sure picked the right one.Mike "Hucker" Clark has a new fan. It's me. He rides with a smile on his face and doesn't mind goofing around. He rode in some baby blue surfer shorts with no pads. Only for the last run he padded up and he pulled a double flip, attempted a frontflip and did another one of those bow legged backflips over the last set for the fun of it. At the bottom the smile was still on his face.
Dave Dillewaard is a ripper but even rippers with bags full of tricks have off-days. Canada day wasn't treating the Australian well and he did more than enough dead sailors over the last set that pissed him off. 2 runs were dropped but unfortunately Dillsy had more than 2 "bad" runs. 
Gary Young needed a few too many tries to get that 360 tailwhip pulled over the last big set. Gary did three sixties both ways with several variations and his no-footed cancans were stretched. The MacNeil rider is keeping the SD Dirtbros spirit alive and limped away after the comp. He gave what he had and got 9th for his efforts. 
What can you say about Dane Searls? The Australian is just 19 years old and in his second year of doing comps in Northern America. If you don't know who he is, you should remember the name because you'll be hearing more from him soon. Allan Cook keeps pushing it. He pulled that double tailwhip over a middle set on the top and did various flip variations over the giant set. The 25 years old Specialized rider finished 7th. He knows when to push it and does it at the right times. Good job Merlion!
TJ Ellis is keeping the TJ name up for sure. He'll replace the name TJ Lavin soon with the way he is riding. Definitely not scared this young man from Moreno Valley, California. Fronties, Indian seatgrabs, no-handed backies and tons more. Check the footage when it comes out and you'll be rewinding the disk with that remote when TJ is on the tube.
There was a three-way battle going on for third place. In the mix were Brian Foster, Chris Doyle and James Foster. Positions changed constantly during the finals with the lowest scores being dropped. With two good runs in the bank after 2 attempts, BF was looking for another good one so he had at least three decent runs. He delivered three more good runs and basically had no bad scratch. The FIT rider was one of the few riders that transferred from line to line and in the finals he did a huge table 360 transfer, a lazy superman one-hand and one-footed 360 table over the last set. It had been a while since the Blue Falcon had beat Chris Doyle but it happened in Whistler. 
Doyle rode on a different bike that had a shorter back end making his three-sixties a bit harder. You couldn't really tell though as his turndown and table top 3-s are the best in the business. Chris turndowned from line to line and also 3-whipped on his way down to the Canadian crowd. 5th for Doyle. 
Youngster James Foster was riding very well. He had taken a couple of hits in practice but when it mattered in the finals he made it count. The KHE rider even pulled a triple tailwhip on the step up set in the middle line and continued to bust tricks on the way down to the village. James made history at the first edition of the Red Bull Elevation contest in 2005 by pulling the first triple tailwhip on the final set, now he's doing them mid-run. James definitely deserved fourth place but it was close between him (87.2), BF (87.4) and Doyle (86.9). The battle for the win was between Ryan Nyquist and Corey Bohan. Both riders had won one edition of the Red Bull Elevation before and really wanted it bad. With place 3-5 being in the 87 point range, Ryan and Corey were in the 92 range.
Corey Bohan is dialled. I can't remember seeing him crash hard once all weekend. He has the style, has the tricks, rides smooth, spins opposite and goes a couple of feet higher than anybody else. Corey pulled a tailwhip to barspin on the top section and blasted incredible superman seatgrabs down in the village. 
Ryan Nyquist is one damn professional rider. He hurt his wrist, borrowed a bike, and still managed to pull all the tricks he wanted to do. That includes a barspin flip and an opposite 360-whip. It was close between Corey and Ryan and only 0.1 point was the difference. Advantage Nyquist. Ryan was obviously stoked to win the most prestigeous dirt contest of the year, especially considering the circumstances. Thanks goes out to Jay Miron and his crew and everyone at Red Bull for pulling off the awesome event. If Elevation 2008 is going to happen remains to be seen. It's hard to believe this great Dirt Jump event won't be on the calendar next year.
BdJ
Results Red Bull Elevation 2007:
1. Ryan Nyquist 92.1
2. Corey Bohan 92.0
3. Brian Foster 87.4
4. James Foster 87.2
5. Chris Doyle 86.9
6. TJ Ellis 86.6
7. Allan Cooke 86.0
8. Dane Searls 85.7
9. Gary Young 85.7
10. Dave Dillewaard 83.6
11. Mike “Hucker” Clark 83.1
12. Adam Baker 81.6
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.