Well a couple of the EXPN crew were lucky enough to make the trip to lovely Bristol Connecticut to cover one of the last events leading up to the summer X Games; the X Trials. The summer series of B3 and X Trials comes to a close in the very same town that boasts the largest sports media giant in the world and our much more accepted sister company, ESPN.com. Now I know what you corporate bashers out there are saying right now, about how the X Games are too corporate and it’s ruining the sports, but there’s nothing quite like Bristol in the summer. And let’s face it, without the X Games, some of those paychecks pros are getting these days probably wouldn’t be quite as big.

The X Trials are being held at a place called Lake Compounce Theme Park which is a funny way of saying: a really weird place to have a roller coaster. Actually the place is pretty cool albeit an unlikely location. It is apparently the oldest theme park in the U.S. dating back to 1846 and boasts the Boulder Dash, the world's only mountainside wood roller coaster, and Garfield’s cool new hangout (whatever that means). We weren’t much interested in any of the regular attractions though, we came to see some tough riding and skating. So after a sobering shower and a cold breakfast it was off to see the event. The agenda for the day was a bunch of practices, a couple of preliminary rounds and one BMX final. Try to contain yourself.

BMX Vert Preliminaries:
If there was a word I could use to describe the BMX vert preliminaries today it would be treacherous. The winds were a bit too blustery and a few of the guys got a bit rattled. 2001 X Games gold medal winner Jamie Bestwick got worked on the ramp after he floated a bit on one of his airs. After a quick middle finger to the coping, Jamie spent the rest of the day with an injured elbow. Tom Stober tried to out do Bestwick by taking one of the nastiest falls I’d ever seen a few runs later. Tom went face first into the middle of the pipe, I thought he was dead. After ten minutes of dead silence, EMT assistance and a few prayers, Tom walked away looking pretty good. BMX guys take the worst falls.

The Spanish fly, Eduardo Terreros was throwing down some big tricks today. On one of his runs he hit multiple impressive 540’s and a huge tailwhip that got the small crowd pumped. Josh Harrington was rocking out to Ozzy as he was throwing down some big tail whips interspersed with a barspin to back, and some really inspiring riding. This kid is really coming into his own. Simon Tabron had one of the better runs of the afternoon throwing down for the Lake Compounce visitors after hitting a 540 no hander and a ton of technical tricks. Buff guy Kevin Robinson was rocking some Bob Seger as he threw down to huge 540’s nearly back to back and then landed a flair that looked way too easy. He probably had the best run of the day in my mind.

Skateboarding Park Preliminaries:
I missed the first round of skaters but it didn’t matter because the second round was where it was at. The session went like this: Frank Hirata, Steve Berra, Dan Pegeau, Dayne Brummett, Ryan Wilburn, Omar Hassan and Pat Channita. These guys were going off. Some of the highlights:

Frank Hirata skated so smooth and technical hitting (among other tricks) a switch 360 flip to fakie on the bank, he 50-50’d this huge double rail, and nailed a big feeble grind down a pretty massive rail. Overall he was the man. Steve Berra kickflipped the sh$t out of the park course today. He kickflipped fakie over the centerpiece, kickflipped backside over the pyramid hip, he threw down a half-cab kickflip that was sick, and a killed big 50-50 on the middle rail. Wife Juliette Lewis would be proud. Omar Hassan always rocks whatever he’s skating, today was no different. Hassan killed an arsenal of boardslides, feebles, and heelflips on the park course that would make your knees weak. Pat Channita was super aggressive as well kickflipping the three-foot bank rail like it was a curb. Look out for the skateboarding park final to blow up tomorrow.

BMX Flatland:

The flatland practice, preliminaries and final all happened today and we got our fill of this amazing event. Some highlights: York Uno and Ryoji Yamamoto really put together a couple of killer sessions today. Uno was riding with no brakes and he never seemed to be out of control, spinning and balancing his way around his bike and the Flatland course to some Jurassic Five beats. Yamamoto didn’t have a perfect run but he really impressed the crowd with some technical spins, peg maneuvering and balance tricks. This guy had one of the smoothest styles out there today. The two strongest riders out there today definitely were Martti Kuoppa and Matt Wilhelm. These two guys are always battling for the number one and two positions in the finals. Kuoppa threw down his usual balance act and spin magic while Wilhelm nailed a couple of tricks that still have my head spinning. Wilhelm did a trick called a Tornado spin (going no-handed in part of it), generally jumped all over his bike from peg to peg, and was one of the most aggressive riders out there. The real deal was Phil Dolan though. Phil took down the two heavyweights with a sick array of technical tricks and a balancing act on a bicycle that was amazing. Phil rode away with the Flatland Finals first prize.

Check back tomorrow night and we’ll have the second day’s events recapped for you. On schedule for tomorrow are the BMX Vert final, the Skateboarding Park final, and the In-line Vert finals. Look out for some killer photo galleries and maybe an interview or two as well.

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