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Pro Freestyle BMX Park The field of athletes assembled for today’s MSS pro BMX park competition was loaded with talent. Among the riders competing were X Games gold medalists, LG Action Sports World Tour winners, the 2003 MSS Overall Season champion and many of the current overall points leaders in the Dew Action Sports Tour. But before the contest had begun, fans and judges were already taking notice of a young rider who had never even won a contest. After finishing the preliminary qualifying round with the day’s top score, Garrett Reynolds, 15, of Toms River, NJ let everyone know his impressive riding during the warm-ups was no fluke. Multi-time MSS medalist Tom Haugen of Minneapolis seemed intent on winning today’s competition. Despite perfectly landing multiple tailwhip variations, Haugen, one of the most technical riders in the world, rode conservatively in his first run in an effort to post at least one solid score. An early crash the second time around unfortunately left Haugen to pin his hopes on his clean first run. Charging through the door left open by Haugen was L.A. rider Austin Coleman with a risky, but successful, second run that included a one-handed tailwhip transfer, a one-handed tailwhip air and a beautiful one-handed superman transfer. Haugen’s consistency and Coleman’s creativity and difficulty meant that Reynolds would have to take plenty of chances and land everything cleanly. The young rider had previously shown flashes of greatness, but contest-winning consistency had thus far eluded Reynolds. That’s no longer true. Reynolds delivered an incredible first run that featured plenty of big air, innovative lines, creative tricks and solid technicality, and he rode cleanly from start to finish to finally pull together his first pro victory and claim the MSS Sacramento gold medal. The silver medal went to Coleman with Haugen hanging on for the bronze. Pro BMX Vert Today’s MSS pro BMX vert contest pitted 15 of the world’s best riders against each other in one of the last open contests of the season before the LG Action Sports USA Championships in Los Angeles later this month. With invitations to the championship event at stake, riders stepped it up in a big way. Early in the competition, the quest for the top spot appeared to be a two-way battle between British BMX superstar Simon Tabron and 2003 MSS Overall Champion John Parker of State College, PA. After making it cleanly through the first 2/3 of his run, Parker was well on his way to snatching victory out of the hands of the favored Tabron. But a frightening fall from about 14 feet up literally and figuratively knocked Parker out of contention for the gold medal. A solid big-air run that featured multiple 540 variations netted Tabron his second MSS gold medal in as many events. Parker’s fall dropped him to third and forced him to settle for the bronze medal. Sneaking into the second podium spot with both opposite and regular flairs, numerous barspin combos and some of the highest airs of the day was Chicago rider Jimmy Walker. The Mobile Skatepark Series tour next travels to its final stop of 2005 in Los Angeles for the LG Action Sports USA Championships. MSS Pro BMX - Street Finals Sacramento, CA - September 5, 2005 Rider Hometown Age Run 1 Run 2 Score 1 Garrett Reynolds Toms River, NJ 15 93.25 86.75 93.25 Sponsors: Etnies, Red Bull, Nation BMX, Nihilism, Pyramid, Redline Bikes 2 Austin Coleman Los Angeles, CA 21 90.50 92.50 92.50 Sponsors: Giant Bicycles/WD-40, 43 Hardware 3 Tom Haugen Minneapolis, MN 29 92.00 83.25 92.00 Sponsors: Free Agent, UGP, EVS, SNAFU, Osiris 4 Mike Laird Greenville, NC 31 90.50 82.75 90.50 Sponsors: Vans Shoes, Evolution Bikes 5 Dave Dillewaard Brisbane, Australia 21 90.25 88.25 90.25 Sponsors: GT/Hyundai, Vans, Famous Stars and Straps 6 Scott Wirch Greenville, NC 26 90.00 86.75 90.00 Sponsors: Utopia Optics 7 Rob Darden Greenville, NC 24 89.75 89.25 89.75 Sponsors: Adio Footwear, S&M Bikes 8 Zack Warden Ofallon, IL 16 89.00 84.75 89.00 Sponsors: Inopia Footwear, Failure Bikes, Tree Bicycles 9 Ben Snowden Hornell, NY 25 85.50 83.75 85.50 Sponsors: X-Grindz, Atomic X, Bolle Sunglasses, Supercross Bikes, Alpinestars, Knight Bikes, Wax Brand 10 Jimmy Turner Granite City, IL 20 84.25 82.75 84.25 Sponsors: Ramp Riders Skatepark STL MO, Breese Bikes Granite City IL, Blackstar Productions *Ages and sponsors listed as of the time of the contest. MSS Pro BMX - Vert Finals Sacramento, CA - September 5, 2005 Rider Hometown Age Run 1 Run 2 Score 1 Simon Tabron Newquay, England 31 87.75 88.50 88.50 Sponsors: Mongoose/Hyundai, LG, Adidas, Ogio, Bell Helmets 2 Jimmy Walker Gilberts, IL 34 86.50 85.50 86.50 Sponsors: Enemy Clothing, SCRAP Skatepark, Organ Donor, Suey Dynamite 3 John Parker State College, PA 31 86.50 78.75 86.50 Sponsors: LG, Mad Croc Energy Gum, Paul Mitchell 4 Koji Kraft Addison, IL 22 84.25 83.50 84.25 Sponsors: Oakley, Nike, Tree Bikes, Scrap Skatepark 5 Mike Mancuso Winterville, NC 27 82.25 82.75 82.75 Sponsors: Vans, Sessions,KB, Drive, Arnette, Gold’s Gym, Lifetime BMX 6 Ben Snowden Hornell, NY 25 80.25 82.25 82.25 Sponsors: X-Grindz, Atomic X, Bolle Sunglasses, Supercross Bikes, Alpinestars, Knight Bikes, Wax Brand 7 Tom Haugen Minneapolis, MN 29 81.00 80.50 81.00 Sponsors: Free Agent, UGP, EVS, SNAFU, Osiris 8 Tom Stober Woodward, PA 30 77.50 81.00 81.00 Sponsors: LG,Schwinn, Team Blowin’ It 9 Jason Branham Chicago, IL 23 80.25 76.50 80.25 Sponsors: Scrap Skatepark 10 Jim Burgess Tempe, AZ 38 73.25 78.25 78.25 Sponsors: Sobe, Under Armour Pics by MSS