Monday, May 21

Crazy Freakin' Bikers Series - Round II - Flatland

By Brian Tunney

Day One - Flatland
Flatland in the desertlike conditions of the Real Ride Skatepark was a struggle for most riders, due to a combination of the heat, dry wind and an overly dusty parking lot. FRO (Flatland Rider's Organization) proprietor Mutt swept his hardest and earned a good sunburn because of it, so a big thanks goes out to the dogg known as Mutt for making the lot somewhat more bearable for the riders who entered. Here's a quick rundown of the top 10 finalists in the worldly class known as pro Flatland.

Tenth place went to Japan's Akio Kotani. Akio rode well in his first United States pro appearance, throwing down a bevy of moves for his fellow screaming Japanese flatland posse. Ninth place went to Colorado Springs' own Aaron Frost, riding for London Bikes. Aaron threw down some difficult brakeless combos. Hopefully, we'll see Aaron at some B3 events in the future pulling more of his awesome rolling style. Eighth place went to Brian Tunney. He really should not have qualified. He sucks. I wish he would take a bath too.

Brian Tunney using all of the bike.

Seventh place went to another Japanese rider, Hara Shinichiro, riding the shiniest bike of the contest. Hara threw down some good pinky squeak combos and also got the Japanese posse on their toes and screaming. Sixth place went to Adam Pintek, in his first pro outing. Adam has a unique approach to his riding and his bike setup, especially. His bike has no cranks, only two pegs through the bottom bracket shell. So he can't stamp down on his pedals to ride away from a trick. He's got to create enough momentum to be able to glide away out of his tricks. He does this by throwing boomerangs and megaspins into the end of his combos, and he does it well. In my opinion, I thought Adam had the most unique style of the comp. Good job, Adam!

Fifth place went to yet another Japanese rider, Takashi Ito. Takashi's tricks are way too difficult to write down. I can only tell you that he rules flat and that he smokes cigarettes after his runs. Find some videos of Takashi to witness his riding. You won't be sorry.

Fourth place went to HB rider Art Thomason, who already left town to do a show for the 'Got Milk' campaign. Art is a swell guy to share a hotel room with, as he doesn't snore and doesn't party all night. He rode just as good as he always does, with that trademark Art consistency.

Third place went to another Japanese rider, Horisake Moriya. Horisake, unfortunately, did not do the Hang 5 Bunnyhop, but he did do all the other insane moves that can't be explained here. Wait for the CFB show to see more of Horisake. He rules.

Second place went to semi-local Stephen Cerra, doing it for Dig-IT, Axion and Odyssey. This was Stephen's best contest outing to date, pulling the No-footed Tomahawk Glide, the Knee-on-the-seat Megaspin and a slew of other original moves. I think keeping a rag in his pocket to wipe away the dust from his tires every minute helped him out a little also.

And in first place, yet again, was that Canadian wonder boy we've all come to know and love, Nathan Penonzek. Nathan did it again, linking everything with consistency, style and originality. Nathan arrived at the contest in his semi-new Volkswagen Vanagon, and his battery died while he was leaving, so now he has money to buy a new one with this latest win. It looks like we've got another year-end title for Nathan as well. Tune into ESPN for some action from this contest and check out www.hsacentral.com to find out airdates and much more. See you at Woodward.

Nathan shows that it is all about control.

Results

Stuntman Flat
1. Nathan Penonzek
2. Stephan Cerra
3. Hiroya Morizaki
4. Art Thomason
5. Takashi Ito
6. Adam Pintek
7. Shinichiro Hara
8. Brian Tunney
9. Aaron Frost
10. Akio Kotani

Stuntboy Flat
1. Genyo Nimomya
2. Scott Weaver
3. Edward Boniol
4. Ryan Sanchez
5. Trent Field
6. James McGraw
7. Travis Collier
8. Manuel Brada
9. Matt St. Gelais
10. Jason Pitshke