| Date: july 18-23, 2000 Place: Providence, RI Sport organizer: Dennis McCoy. Number of on site spectators in 2000: 370,000 Flatlanders Kevin Jones, Chad Degroot, Trevor Meyer, Andrew Faris and Leif Valin were on site doing daily demos. | |
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Three days prior to arriving, Dennis McCoy tore his ACL and was unable to ride street or vert. John Parker knocked himself out during Vert Prelims practice and was also unable to compete. Chris Duncan pulled out of Dirt after injuring his ankles and Shaun Butler did the same after his first Prelim run. Rob Nolli and Ron Kimler took it easy in street as they tried to deal with their recent injuries. Ron rode with an injured shoulder and Nolli dealt with numerous stitches in his thigh from a double tailwhip gone wrong in Vert prelims. |
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| RIDING HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DIRT FINALS | |
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After qualifying in 3rd place, Cory Nastazio dropped to tenth in the finals, but not
from a lack of effort. He had what amounted to two throw out runs (early crashes in both), but
when he stayed on he rode like typical Nastazio .everything was big and tweaked. An x-up flip,
a good tailwhip, and a giant table flip over the big set stood out. He also tried a double flip
for his last trick and then tried another after the comp was over. Close but not quite. Todd Walkowiak qualified in the 10th spot and then moved up to 9th with consistent runs that included a tailwhip, superman seat grab, an old school no hander, and a nothing to clicked x-up. Josh Stricker transferred back and forth every run which was refreshing to see. Table 360's, lookdowns, no foot cancans, and old school no handers, all done higher and farther than most riders, earned him 8th place. Joey Garcia wasn't quite up to his usual standard, but still finished a respectable 7th place. He pulled the trick of the contest in my opinion when he did a gigantic tailwhip over the biggest set. Sixth place went to Ryan Nyquist who had a great first run with a barspin catch barspin 360, a double truck, and a tailwhip over the last set. He cased a landing early in his second run, but still managed a barspin flip at the end. After a solid third run, he bailed twice trying to 720 the first set in his final run. As a bonus, he threw in a barspin to no hand flip. Mike Parenti had solid runs in both prelims and finals and did the most tweaked no foot can can ever. Throw in a no foot can can 360, a clicked one handed x-up, a nothing to table and a double truck and you get 5th place. Mike Aitken has that extra pump thing going on and always did something huge over the big set to start his run. No foot can cans, table and lookback 360's, and giant lookdowns to x-up with a couple transfers here and there earned him 4th place cash. The Bronze medal went to semi-local Ryan Jordan. He did an old school no hander to barspin, back to back tailwhips, and a massive superman seat grab on the last set. I also recall a really stylish one handed table 360 and a tailwhip 360 to back tire ride to end things up. Chris Doyle was his usual smooth consistent self with enough difficult tricks thrown in to take the Silver. He's been riding great all year and the Gravity Games was no exception as he pulled a barspin to barspin back 360, a stretched pendulum and a super clicked lookdown 360. For his last trick he did another lookdown 360, but this time spun the bars on the way out. Gravity Games Gold went to TJ Lavin by a pretty big margin. At one point he did a 1 1/2 barspin (mistake?) only to flip them back on the step up and continue. Things just seemed to go his way. Every trick was high, tweaked, and smooth with lots of transferring back and forth and he used the big set every run not to mention the step up. Lavin pulled no foot can cans, a tailwhip, huge lookdowns to x-up, stretched superman seat grabs, a lookdown flip, and the biggest x-up 360 I've ever seen. The only glitch was a slight foot drag on a tailwhip 360 that ended his final run. I doubt he's complaining. |
2000 DIRT FINAL RESULTS Gold .TJ Lavin Silver .Chis Doyle Bronze .Ryan Jordan 4. Mike Aitken 5. Mike Parenti 6. Ryan Nyquist 7. Joey Garcia 8. Josh Stricker 9. Todd Walkowiak 10. Cory Nastazio 11. Scott Wirch 12. Dan P'Simer 13. Adam Aloise 14. Ronny Chalk 15. Brandon Pundai 16. Tim Hall 17. Mark Kehl * 18. Adam Munoz 19. Andre Ellison 20. Shaun Butler *Replaced injured Chris Duncan |
| RIDING HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE STREET FINALS | |
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Qualifying for the finals at an event like this, after qualifying to get there, is an accomplishment in itself. Tenth place is far from last and Van Homan is proof of that. He started out his first run with a crazy manual hop from 12 ft. up across a grind ledge into a small wedge bowl. Later he hopped sideways about 6 ft. from a ledge down to a handrail and then did the burliest trick of the comp by 360ing from the elevated mini, over the sub and into the mini below. Tom Haugen rode great yet again, nailing a perfect tailwhip tailtap on the sub, a barspin nosepick over the spine and his patented tailwhip 360 to x-up over the box. I also recall a barspin catch barspin air on the 1/4 pipe that for some reason he spun upwards instead of downwards for 9th place. Eight place went to Bruce Crisman who's been coming on strong as of late with lots of barspin and x-up stuff on the spine, 1/4 and box. He barspin hopped some good size gaps too, moving up two spots from prelims for 8th place. Finishing in 7th was Australian import Colin Mackay. He pulled a clean taliwhip 360 over the box, a barspin manual hipping into the sub, and a perfect barspin fufanu on the sub straight from a 360 over the spine. Jay Miron wasn't quite up to his usual standard of riding due to a few crashes that slowed up his run, but when he was flowing he rode as good as anyone. Pumping from the 6 ft. bowled corner he did a super fast grind the entire width of the wall ride, then hipped into the mini for a giant 360 over the spine. Later he flipped and truckdrivered the box and ended up in 6th place. Fifth place went to Allan Cooke with a clicked one foot x-up back flip over the box. He rode clean and flowed the course well and ended one run with a huge flip transfer from the box, over the grind ledge, and into a wedge. Back in the saddle again was your fourth place finalist Colin Winkelmann. His past injuries are just that, a thing of the past. A double barspin and a no handed flip over the box, a perfect flair on the mini, and a sprocket bash 180 to feeble down a ledge are just a sampling of what he pulled off. Mike Laird was so stoked to win the Bronze medal. Everyone else was stoked to watch him ride. A big no handed 360 and a 360 tailwhip over the box were both pulled clean as was a 360 over the sub into the elevated mini. After pulling a fufanu on top of the the wallride, he collected his thoughts and pulled a barspin to fufanu on the same wall to finish his run. Ryan Nyquist recovered fine from a late practice slam that chipped his tooth to take the Silver medal. He did lots of difficult box tricks including a 720, a tailwhip, and a barspin to no foot backflip. He also flipped and double trucked the spine and threw in some feeble and icepick grinds down some ledges. Dave Osato is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet and it seemed like a lot of people were rooting for him to take the win. He didn't disappoint. He threw in a trick over every obstacle in his path .tailwhip 270 over the hip, a big grind down the incline of the wallride, a 540 nosepick on the mini, and a tailwhip over the spine to name a few. He had a narrow lead after his first run and when he pulled a curved ledge manual to tailwhip out to start his second run, you just knew it was going to be his night. Chalk up a much deserved Gold medal for Dave. |
2000 STREET FINAL RESULTS Gold .Dave Osato $20.000 Silver .Ryan Nyquist Bronze .Mike Laird 4. Colin Winkelmann 5. Allan Cooke 6. Jay Miron 7. Colin Mackay 8. Bruce Crisman 9. Tom Haugen 10. Van Homan 11. Mike Ardelean 12. Chad Kagy 13. Mike Escamilla 14. Dave Mirra 15. Ruben Alcantara 16. Seth Kimbrough 17. Taj Mihelich 18. Troy McMurray * 19. Rob Nolli 20. Ron Kimler *Replaced injured Dennis McCoy |
| RIDING HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE VERT FINALS | |
| Ten seconds after Jay Eggleston coasted down one of the huge roll ins, you knew this contest was going to be special. I'll set the scene for you. It's July in downtown Providence at dusk with a massive crowd on hand. The sound system is turned up to 11, cranking out Agent Orange as Jay tweaks a giant invert followed by back to back no handers and a seriously clicked lookdown. The rest of his run was solid and considering that he qualified in tenth, you just knew everyone was going to go off.
Next up was OBG (one big German) Stefan Geisler. Stefan pulled off a huge tailwhip air and a perfect double barspin before moving his bars forward Chicago Style. After a quick fix he dropped back in for a barspin to barspin back, a big 540, and an alley oop tailwhip before the buzzer. Rick Thorne got his hands on some brand new Rancid for his run and then proceeded to use the roll in to start off with a big alley oop air. He did a super clean 540 only to slide out on a tailwhip. Not one to give up easily, he hopped backed on and pulled it clean to finish off his run. Next up was none other than the Condor himself, Mat Hoffman. Straight from the roll in he did a stretched no hander followed by a peg grab air, some crazy new peg grab no footer, a no hander one footer, and then an Indian air. All this was done way up there to Rancid's "Journey to the End." He followed with several more back to back variations before pulling a no handed 540 and coming real close on a double tailwhip. The run put him well into 1st place and turned everything up a notch. Local favorite Kevin Robinson was up next riding to Pennywise's "Brohym." He did a stretched alley oop no hander and a big 540, but had some bad luck on a no handed 540 and barely slid out on a flair. Jason Davies rode like Jason Davies, smooth and dialed going both ways and using all of the ramp. He did a nice barspin to x-up and a perfect 540, but somehow sketched out on a grind right at the end. It was a good run nonetheless. Simon Tabron rode to 7 Seconds' version of "99 Red Balloons" and proceeded to pull a barspin catch to barspin, a no handed 540, and yet another 900 before running into seat problems. He tried to cram in an extra 540 at the end but slid out, narrowly avoided getting shishkabobbed by his seat post. The Canadian Beast Jay Miron was up next, riding to his anthem .Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast." Hell and fire were sworn to be released as Jay did a big one hand one foot 540, followed by a well tweaked back to back superman to lookback to no foot can can sequence. He ended with a sizeable boomerang air and a right on the edge 540 tailtap moving him into 2nd place just behind Mat. Jamie Bestwick chose the same music as last year's comp (Face to Face) and this time rode even better. He did an alley oop lookdown to x-up, a double barpsin, a barspin to lookdown, and an alley oop peg grab to name just a few. After popping out to take a breather, he dropped in for an absolutely perfect and stretched no handed alley oop 540. It was obvious that this run would move him into the lead. Last up, riding to Social Distortion, was top qualifier Dave Mirra. After a big no hander he did some weird new barspin variation that I'd rather not try to describe and then carved a tailwhip air so far that it should be reclassified as a new trick. Throw in a double barspin to opposite air double barspin right into a flair and Dave was flowing like the MIssissippi. What truly set him apart though was his ability to work in tech lip tricks at speed (downside icepick and toothpick grinds and a one handed icepick grind) and then go back into airs without missing a beat. Nonstop insanity to the final buzzer put him into a much deserved first place. Eggleston, Geisler, Thorne, Davies, Tabron, and Robinson all went off in their second runs, with Kevin landing an insanely stretched no handed flair to Mat Hoffman hug. The crowd and TV cameras loved it. The top 4 riders all rode at levels high enough to win most comps, but as I said earlier, this comp was something special. Riding to Fugazi's KYEO, Mat Hoffman used the roll in to blast two giant set up airs into maybe the highest 540 I've seen in a contest. Oh yeah, it was a no hand one foot 540 by the way. He also pulled a no handed rocket air, a no hand to no foot 540, and an alley oop 540. Everyone was stoked. After a dialed first run, Jay Miron seemed dead set on doing an all big trick run for his second. I won $5 from Nyquist when Jay nailed his tailwhip 540. The double tailwhip and lookdown 540 didn't yield me any profit, but were still awesome to watch. The beast ended with a flair attempt gone wrong that knocked him a little silly, but the rest of his run was enough to ensure him of at least third place, a hair in front of Mat. Jamie Bestwick's second run was as good or better than his first and included an alley oop no hander, a scary suicide double barspin and a stretched super extended top side no foot can can. His final sequence included a no hand 540 into a flair, followed by a barspin air, a tailwhip, and a ghost ride. After his scores were averaged he earned at least a Silver depending on Dave's run. Dave Mirra seemed pretty determined that tonight was his night while somehow appearing relaxed and laid back at the same time. His first trick was a massively carved superman seat grab Indian air followed by a stretched no hander, a no foot can can and a perfect one handed tailwhip. After more fast and flowing tricks he ended his run with back to back flairs, trading in the ball and chain for a gold medal. |
2000 VERT FINAL RESULTS 1. Dave Mirra 2. Jamie Bestwick 3. Jay Miron |