over wearing a bucket on their head. If you think this is where the changes end, you're in for one more suprise. The course was divided in three sections:
-The A frame -The Euro gap
-The rail/ledge/stair section
15 riders entered the contest and they were divided in 3 groups of 5 riders. 10 of them would make it to the finals to form two groups of five. All in all this is not too strange but each group of five had 8 minutes to ride each part of the course.
The riders started off with the A frame, a section with rails without the stairs. Each group had an 8 minute session here and got scored by Head judge Big Island, Leigh Ramsdell and Paul de Jong. The next group got to work on the A-frame as soon as the first group was done, followed by the last group. This was part one of the street contest. The next 8 minute sessions
were had on the Euro gap which was more of a step-up type of deal and the last 33 1/3% of the score was give to the rider for their riding on the ledges, rails and stairs. You would have to be a well rounded street rider to make it to the next round. Being a rail expert alone wasn't enough and if you fancy transitioned ramps and spines, you were totally out of luck as none of the ramps that counted had any serious transition in them.
Invited but not making it to the next round were Britain's Ben Hennon and Robin Fenlon. Joint last and proud of it. Maybe not proud but both riders were happy to be in Dubai and that counted for all of the riders at the contest. Matt McLeod from South Africa rides dirt a lot and adapted to the course with dirt influence but the street hawks were here so he got stuck in 13th place. 12th was for 17 years old Maxime Charveron from France who entered his first big international street contest. Just missing out on making the finals was Holland's Mark Vos. 
Mark did well on the A-frame with shirtless fast speed barspin to icepick grinds but his other two scores gave him an average of 79.78 and the top ten were all in the 80-s range.Let's move straight to the finals here. Same procedure but with two groups of 5. Eight minute sessions at the three scetions of the course and with a decent price purse up for grabs, the street riders stepped it up. Greg Illingworth killed it in qualification and he woke up sore on finals day. After a bit of cruising around he was back to his old self and did better at each section (81.33 - 82.67 - 83.67) to finish 10th. South-African Greg was the only non-American in the finals.
Ian Schwartz found the cheap hotels rate at $ 160,= per night too outrageous and stayed in the athlete tent most of the time. When he got to the course you could see a very unique riding style which in part has to do with his freecoaster style riding. Ian goes fakie as much as he ride forward and was eyeing up a fakie to backwards bunny hop over a rail which would have been the craziest trick of the contest but it wasn't meant to be. Ian got 9th. 
Brian Kachinski can take a bail or two and he slammed more than the two times. But knowing Brian he gets up to start pedaling even faster if he needs to. Our "brother from another mother" was loving the street course. He normally has to search for a rail set in a park course but he found plenty in Dubai. A few too many bails left Brian in 8th. 
Nigel Sylvester is a name that you would never really expect at an X-games event but his 7th place result shows that he fit in well on this street course. The temperature in Dubai was a bit different from that of NYC at the moment but Nigel got to work and showed his skills. Barspins, 360-s to flat, truckdrivers. smith grinds, over to 50/50, 180 drops, hard 180-outs, the brakeless rider did it.
Kink's Sean Sexton wasn't riding a Kink all week. His bike got lost at the airlines and they were telling him wrong things until the final day. Axel Juergens' bike got him through qualifying and Sean was feeling good in the finals. His no-handed 180-s are awesome and so are his hang-5-s down the ledge and various other original moves. He's a pleasure to watch as he has it all: style, skill, tech, balls.San Diego local Gary Young wasn't having too much trouble with the heat and knowing Gary he was looking for original lines on the course. With the course being divided in three sections his ability to mix different ramps together was limited.
He did however icepick the snow-fenced rail on top of the Euro gap that noone had touched and also made a little wallride out of the Euro gap. Growing up riding with the Dirt bros has taught Gary to use every little obstacle and he was no stranger to any part of the course. 5th for Gary de Jong.
Brad Simms and Van Homan tied for third place. Their styles are different but each one of them showed bangers. Brad rode on the rails, icepicked up the rails and did giant 360 drops to flat. You almost start feeling sorry for the bike when he goes for another one. Van Homan did peg grinds on the A-frame to hop over the rail at the end with a barspin mixed in there. He also tailwhip jumped over said rail to flat which probably helped him win the tie-breaker for the third place check and a bronze medal at the Dubai-X. 
Aaron Ross was on fire and so was his bike. Neon orange with some neon green cranks. But it was allowed at the Dubai X and the crowd got into him. If you've seen the Grounded video you know what Aaron is capable of. Add a few months and you'll see that he has all the tricks dialed. Well, almost. Aaron looked like Ice Ice Baby when the contest was over. Icepacks everywhere to ease the bruising. Aaron slams a lot but he also does the biggest moves of the contest. That hang up on that 360 over the ledge to flat was nasty. After getting second in Mexico city, Aaron picked up another silver X-games medal in Dubai.
This leaves us with the winner: Garrett Reynolds and he deserved it. He must have crashed only once during the whole weekend and slammed his knee on his handlebars once when his chain broke. There's no need for him to wear pads if he keeps riding like that. His first move in the morning on the course was a peg grind UP the rail to barspin, like it was a bunny hop on the 4 inch curb. Garrett rode the A-frame section partly without a chain and still got second in that part and won the Euro gap and Stair set with a sifnificant difference. His average came out at 93.44 and after picking up the prize money his wallet didn't fit in his tight pants no more.
The new set up is different. The new set up is fresh. New faces and riding that's going on in the streets all over the world. Will you be invited to the next X-Games?BdJ
Final results X-Games Street Dubai:
1 Garrett Reynolds Toms River, NJ 93.44
2 Aaron Ross Corpus Christi, TX 92.78
3 Van Homan Pennsville, NJ 89.56
4 Brad Simms Indian Head, MD 89.56
5 Gary Young San Diego, CA 87.78
6 Sean Sexton Tempe, AZ 86.67
7 Nigel Sylvester Queens, NY 86.33
8 Brian Kachinsky Neenah, WI 85.78
9 Ian Schwartz Lancaster, OH 84.56
10 Greg Illingworth Johannesburg, South Africa 82.56
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