Carlo Griggs, Blyther, Hoffman and more in... 2001(!) 4K by Mavro

Nov 20, 2024

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 127 times

I'd previously posted these 2 comps separately, and (incorrectly dated 2003). So here's a better, higher quality upload. The Ontario LG Comp is first, featuring the infamous Eduardo Torres slam. Brian Blyther stole the show here in front of his hometown.

The next week (I believe, it was on the same miniDV tape:), was the CFB stop at Real Ride in Perris, California. Stoked to see Carlo Griggs ride in person, and he did not disappoint.

Mavro 2024

PS: Thanks to www.23mag.com, there is an archived description written by Scott McElwaney of pretty much everything I was able to capture that day- other than the arm-wrestling tie breaker.

Scott McElwaney, www.ridebmx.com:
"The Red Bull ramp was towering over the parking lot intimidating more than one seasoned pro.
The ramp took quite a bit of getting used to and the wind through the Perris Valley wasn't helping matters.
The CFB organizers decided it would be best to run vert finals in an open jam format for both Amateurs and Pros.
Doing this amped the riders up so much that it turned into a veritable huck-fest.
Everytime a rider dropped in you could count on something crazy happening. Flairs, flips, and barrel rolls were included in almost every run.
Vert had a lot of great riding including the return of English enigma, Carlo Griggs, to competition.
Carlo rode smooth and effortlessly while using the entire ramp. He was going high and spinning 540's, tailwhips and doing the craziest rocket airs where he left his feet on his pegs until the last possible moment when he would go back to his pedals !
Jamie Bestwick showed off with some barrel roll variations that nabbed him a first place finish. Jamie was also going really high, I mean really high. No-handed 540. Lookdown flair. Opposite airs. Opposite flair.
For second place, Kevin Robinson did a no-handed flair and almost pulled three back-to-back barrel rolls.
Koji Kraft was going off like a firecracker.
Koji managed to stay on his bike until time was almost out before taking a hard one to the head.
This kid needs to take care of himself; his head has been rattled so much lately he's going to need a new prescription for his glasses soon. A well-deserved third place went to Koji.
Josh Harrington is having a good first year in the Pro vert class. Double barspin.
At the end of the contest it was just Rick Thorne left on the deck.
Rick was bound and determined to pull a backflip to fakie. I
t never worked out for him, although he did make the rollback into the opposite transition once.
In the end Kevin Robinson had to tackle Rick to keep him from going on.

That was just one thing that showed how CFBs are relaxed events.
Another was how the Hoffman crew decided a tie-breaker between Jeremy Fanberg and Tom Stober arm wrestling.
That's right, a table and two chairs were pulled into the flat bottom of the vert ramp and the two had to battle it out. Of course, this didn't work because every rider jumped in and started pulling on their arms. But it was good for some comic relief!"