| BMX Vert Best Trick Finals |
| Rank |
Athlete |
| 1. |
Jamie Bestwick |
| 2. |
Dave Mirra |
| 3. |
Chad Kagy |
| 4. |
Jay Miron |
| 5. |
Koji Kraft |
| 6. |
Tim Wood |
| 7. |
Dennis McCoy |
| 8. |
Kevin Robinson |
|
Rules/Scoring:
A 30-minute jam session. Judges record their impressions throughout the 30 minutes. The head judge declares the session over, and judges rank riders in order, based on originality, difficulty, style, height, use of the course and execution.
Quick: Which rider is having the Best Week Ever?
A little help: He recently became a dad. He's two-for-two in the gold medal category at X Games 11. And his name is two letters from being BestTrick.
In Saturday night's BMX Freestyle Vert Best Trick contest, Jamie Bestwick lived up to his name. He was fresh off winning his third Vert gold medal Thursday night and looked like he was riding on even fresher legs. It took him all of five minutes to drop into the BMX history books and ride off with a win.
In 2003, at a little-known event called the X Games Global Championships in San Antonio, Tex., Bestwick landed the first tailwhip flair. Saturday, in Best Trick, he doubled his gold medal count by doubling up his signature trick and landing the first double tailwhip flair. For all you BMX layfolk watching at home, that's a backflip 180 with two spins of the bike's backside. The trick earned him the first gold medal in the X Games newest event.
Before the 30-minute jam began, contest organizer Mat Hoffman said he'd dreamed of adding the event for years, and was thrilled it finally made the cut. "You guys are in for a treat," he said, looking out at the crowd. His theory: A Best Trick contest would allow riders to attempt new, progressive tricks without worrying about sticking an entire 90-second run. "A lot of history is going to go on tonight," he said. "I'm nervous, but excited." Dude called it.
Dave Mirra, just four hours removed from winning BMX Park and soaring his X Games medal ticker to 19, landed a skyscraper-high tailwhip flair and a smooth double tailwhip. He finished second in the inaugural contest. Medal 20 for the Miracle Man.
State College local Chad Kagy, who could wage his own campaign for that miracle-boy title, stuck a flatspin tailwhip over the channel early on in the contest. Less than two years ago, Kagy broke his neck attempting a double backflip at the Gravity Games and had surgery to fuse three vertebrae. Toward the end of the Best Trick session, Kagy gave the crowd quite a scare. On the second wall of his run, he attempted a triple tailwhip, the most-talked-about whisper trick headed into Saturday's contest, but crashed hard on the landing. He knocked himself out, laid on the flatbottom for a few minutes and then stood up and walked off the ramp unassisted. Rumor had it that Mirra would also try the trick—and that he had it dialed—but Kagy's was the only triple-tail attempt of the night
Kagy's neighbor and close friend Kevin Robinson, who has made no secret of his obsession with landing the double flair, knocked himself out of medal contention midway through the session. After coming up short on his first three attempts at the double—the same trick he tried several times during his Vert runs at the 2004 X Games—he overrotated on his next try and injured his shoulder. Visibly in pain, Robinson gave it one more go, but overrotated in almost identical fashion, landed on his injured shoulder and then retired for the night. He finished in 10th place, but not before making Hoffman, his sponsor-numero-uno, sound awfully clairvoyant.
The crowd was treated. History was made. The sport progressed. And the riders left room for improvement.
Notes
Vert legend Dennis "DMC" McCoy, who finished seventh in Best Trick, is the oldest BMX competitor at the X Games. (He's 38.)
Australian rider Tim Wood threw the second 900 of the night, a super-high, textbook version of the trick. He finished sixth. (DMC" threw the first.)
| Men's Vert Best Trick Finals |
| Rank |
Athlete |
| 1. |
Bob Burnquist |
| 2. |
Colin McKay |
| 3. |
Pierre-Luc Gagnon |
| 4. |
Sandro Dias |
| 5. |
Rune Glifberg |
| 6. |
Shaun White |
| 7. |
Bucky Lasek |
| 8. |
Jake Brown | |
Rules/Scoring:
A 45-minute jam session. Judges record their impressions throughout. When the session is over, the judges rank skaters in order, based on originality, difficulty, style, height and execution
After snagging a silver medal (his first X Games medal) in Skateboard Vert Friday, Shaun White seemed more than hungry to capture an X Games gold in Saturday's Skateboard Best Trick event. During practice before the event, he repeatedly tried 720s, keeping the trick he really wanted to land under wraps. And when the clock started ticking, he spun his first of more than 50 minutes worth of 1080 attempts.
White may have been the center of attention (and No, he did not land the 1080), but Bob Burnquist hit the big trick of the day, a blunt fakie on the extension and a new trick that Tony Hawk has dubbed the "gnar jar," a frontside 540 nosegrab tail tap. Burnquist landed the trick one time several months ago at the YMCA in Encinitas. Hitting it at X earned him a gold medal.
 |
|
Do you realize this is about 86 feet of vert that Rune Glifberg is disastering? That's like El Cap. Whoa, man, whoa. |
"I just wanted to do something that no one's seen before," said Burquist. "I saw Sandro do it backside and I wanted to do it frontside. I am really stoked about this medal. I haven't gotten one of these since 2001 and it feels good to be rewarded creatively and because I was rewarded for the originality aspect."
Sandro Dias, the 2004 winner, landed a 900 over the channel early in the contest, but skateboarding has progressed so far that a 900 is no longer even worth a step on the podium. Sandro ended up in fourth after missing several attempts at an alley-oop 900.
Colin McKay picked up the silver medal with his switch stance big flip (360 body varial, 540 board spin kickflip)—a trick he says he's landed only once before. McKay says he is a huge fan of the Best Trick contest: "When we are all just out skating on a normal day, this Best Trick contest is what our sessions are like."
Although the riders did not have to contend with White's 1080—he came close to landing it about four times—they did have to skate against the nine. But in the end, the three medalist were rewarded for their fresher, more tech approach. "Like Bob said, its pretty good they judged on originality," said Pierre Luc Gagnon, who won the bronze medal with a nollie 540 heelflip indy and switch frontside 360 heelflip slob grab.
 |
|
Lights, camera, Flying Pippi--er, um, Tomato tries for a 1080 for the cajillionth time. |
"I thought he would have done a fakie 900 to fakie!"—Colin McKay on Shaun White's 1080 attempt
"I wasn't trying to take time from the other riders, I wanted to sit back and let Shaun try his 1080 and Bucky go for his nollie flip 540."—PLG on why he chilled out after landing his nollie heelflip indy 540.
"What PLG did last night is really hard, because you are doing so many tricks in one run. But in Best Trick we are going for harder tricks, but I think all gold medals are very valid."—Bob Burnquist on the validity of gold medals.
"I knew the blunt wasn't going to win, that was more a confidence thing for the crowd."—Bob Burnuist on the blunt fakie he landed early on.
"To claim a 1080 is really tough because you set yourself up for something tough, but you gotta give it to him ... he said he was gonna try it and he came pretty close."—Bob Burnquist on White's 1080 attempts.
"Medal or not, we're still going to the party tonight."—Colin McKay to Bob Burnquist during press time.
 |
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"I will not, repeat, will not give in to the crispy goodness of a chicken Chalupa from Taco Bell. I am Burnquist. I roar." |
Rune Glifberg was one of only three riders (with Bob and PLG) to land more than one trick. Despite bruised ribs and a morning full of Big Air qualifiers, Glifberg broke off a kickflip back lipslide and a scary-as-hell-to-watch disaster up on the vert extension.
Although he didn't land it, Jake Brown was trying nosegrind to nollie heelfip out on the concrete bench, a move that, for sure, would have torn the roof off the place.