Monday, May 21

Crazy Freakin' Bikers Series - Round II - Vert

By Leigh Ramsdell

Day Two - Vert
Today's Vert contest is brought to you by Flair Emporium. That's right, if you want a flair, we have the flair for you: Regular, Opposite, No-handed, Inverted, Carved or Switch-handed. Get your flair today. Wowie!

Man, oh man, the Vert contest was crazy! Only 13 pros competed, so no qualifier was necessary. It was a 30-minute jam format. Coming from Chicago, Brain Dahl tore it up but hung up hard on a Candy-bar Lookback and only rode for five to seven minutes of the jam. Steve Nowak Feebled to Fakie and did a 540, which landed so squirrelly that he shouldn't have pulled it, but he did.

Flying high in the friendly skies.

John Bristol has a rad style, berm Slide Airs and Un-lookback things were my favorite. Even though Scott Wirch rides mostly Dirt, he showed us some Vert skills with some Flairs. I think he did three Flairs. Another Greenville pro, Josh Harrington, came out swinging with One-handed X-ups, Grinds to Barspin out and a Tailwhip. Tom Stober hasn't been to too many contests but made his presence known here. He was going really high, pulled a Flair and his first 540 over coping. It was about three to four feet out. Heck yeah, Tom! Jeremy Fanberg had Mike Laird on the deck as his coach. It must have helped because he pulled his first Flair and a Tailwhip so crazy I thought he was a goner, but he pulled it clean.

Stober was going large all day.

The biker in black, Rick Thorne, did tons of back-to-back variations, 540'ed, Tailwhipped and Flip Fakied to eighth place. Coming all the way from England, Carlo Griggs showed us that he still has it. He rode so smooth and fluent with No-handers, 40s and other variations. It was great to see him ride again. The Lip Lord, Jay Eggleston, went high, did back-to-back variations and 540s for fifth place.

Koji Kraft is a spaz on his bike. He did Tailwhip to X-up, a Saran Wrap, Rocket One-handers and so many other variations it made my head spin. He crashed so hard, I'm sure his head was spinning too. Kevin Robinson loves the Red Bull ramp and it showed. Among his variations and high 540s, he pulled off three Flairs back to back, then he did a No-handed Flair and then pulled a Switch-handed Flair for his first time. Good job, Kevin.

Koji may have crashed a few times but he still was able to go big.

Jamie Bestwick showed up at the contest at the very last minute. The first time he rolled in was his first run of the contest, but it looked like he'd been practicing all day. He did a Smith to Barspin out, Alley-oop double Peg Grab and more variations then I can name. He also did an Opposite Flair and an Inverted Flair that he carved so far I though he might just go off the side of the ramp. But he didn't. Jamie won, hands down.

Thank you for checking out our Vert contest and remember Flair Emporium for all of your flair needs. Thank you and good day.

Results

Stuntman Vert
1. Jamie Bestwick
2. Kevin Robinson
3. Koji Kraft
4. Carlo Griggs
5. Jay Eggleston
6. Jeremy Fanberg
7. Josh Harrington
8. Rick Thorne
9. Tom Stober
10. John Bristol
11. Scott Wirch
12. Steve Nowak
13. Brian Dahl

Stuntboy Vert
1. Jason Branham
2. Ben Snowdan
3. Matt Beringer
4. Walter Peringer
5. T.J. Stultz
6. Eric Tomczyk
7. Lucas Rea
8. Dan Clements