Amigos y amigas, your top finishers in X Mex BMX Street:
GOLD: Sean Sexton SILVER: Garrett Reynolds BRONZE: Aaron Ross
Dave Lehl
Young-gun Garret Reynolds owned almost every feature on the course, but it was veteran Sean Sexton who pulled off the win in a tight BMX Street final.
First, a quick disclaimer: I've been sick as a dog (enfermo tan perro?) all day long and was practically hallucinating during the BMX Final. At one point I swear I saw Sean Sexton throw a flair on the Volcano. That really happened, as it turns out, but the wings and halo he sprouted shortly thereafter were likely a figment of my inflamed cerebellum.
Dave Lehl
Sexton throws a 360 barspin over the Volcano. Like buttah, kiiiid.
Regardless, the final was insane—a veritable "who's who" of BMX Street assassins laying down a frantic "what's what" of great tricks. Sean Sexton and Garret Reynolds were actually tied for gold when the dust finally settled, but the top spot went to Sexton on tie-breaker points from an earlier round (looks like that near-solo practice session he had on Thursday with Christian Balmaceda really paid off!). "Did I win?" he asked as the other riders gathered around the scoring monitor. "I'm confused."
Third place went to perennial podium standout Aaron Ross, who battled equipment failure after equipment failure and still killed it on other riders' bikes. Let's break it down a bit further.
Right from the get-go, in the gap and rail section, Garret Reynolds seemed destined for a victory. From his textbook icepicks on the small rail to his über-stylish 360s on the Shenzhen Gap, Reynolds made sure to add barspins to every trick possible. The judges appreciated the extra touch, especially when the New Jersey native would order up a double.
EXPN
What are friends for? Aaron's competitors fix his bike for him.
But for Reynolds, it wasn't meant to be. Sexton stole the show in the tranny section with park-style moves. His flair on the far bank was impressive, but shortly thereafter he landed another flair—this one out of nowhere—on the back of the volcano (and we thought it was a Street comp!). The Mexican fans went loco, of course, but not as loco as when he rode a hang-five from one side of the tranny deck to the other. Trick of the day for sure.
Dave Lehl
Nathan lofts a big no-hander over the rail—with tricks like these, he's sure to land an X Games podium spot at some point.
The award for "newcomer to watch" definitely goes to Nathan Williams, the top qualifier from the elimination round. Williams oozes style on his bike and doesn't balk when it's time to land big tricks like barspins over the rail to flat, Luc-E grinds to 180s on the rail, and a hop over to toothpick on the rail. Read his profile HERE.
There were highlights galor and forgetting about most of them, but seeing as I might be on my deathbed, I'll let you watch rather than read:
Garret has been the King of X lately with wins in Mexico, Dubai, Brazil and LA. Can he pull off another?
We've seen some stellar riding over the last few days, but the level of competition is about to skyrocket. Why? Because X Games gold medalist Garret Reynolds is officially en la casa. Garret is pre-qualified for tomorrow's final, but he arrived a day early (and possibly by accident). I say that because I ran into him last night at the hotel and he asked me what time things kick off today. I told him good news, pal—there isn't even a BMX practice scheduled until 5pm.
At X Mex 2007, Garret arrived at Mexico City's Benito Juárez International Airport to find that his bike had been mangled by baggage handlers. Luckily it arrived in one piece this year, so he'll probably ride even better (if that's possible) come Sunday. At any rate, I thought I'd post a video that shows Garret's mangled X Mex frame and teaches you how to paint one for yourself. Enjoy.
Como se dice "hot diggity damn" en Espanol? Today's BMX Street elims were muy, muy legit ... legitisimo, even. As head judge Mat Hoffman explained to me before things got underway, the format was two heats sessioning three distinct, separately judged sections. Scores would be averaged.
Dave Lehl
Hector Garcia didn't quite make the finals, but he garnered some of the loudest cheers from the local crews watching tonight's elims.
1) The first section was what Hoffman called the "flat-rail China gap," meaning the Shenzhen gap (10 feet across with a quarterpipe at one end and a steep roll-in at the other) and a small stair-set bracketed by ledges and a handrail in the middle. "We want to see a lot of back and forth here between the gap and the stairs," said Hoffman.
HIGHLIGHT: Brian Kachinsky transferred from the gap and nose-manualed the ledge. That's called "balance."
2) The second section was pure brick tranny. Designed after a spot in Düsseldorf, Germany, this consisted of three transitions and a 4-foot volcano (which we like to call "The Nipple") on one end. "In street riding, you find tranny all over the place," says Hoffman. "Everybody has tranny spots wherever they ride, and that's something that hasn't really been represented on a street course for competition. It makes for better flow."
HIGHLIGHT: Brad Simms proved why he's the bunny-hop king by jumping over the entire Volcano. Argentina's Christian Balmaceda, meanwhile, opted to loft a giant backflip over it.
Dave Lehl
Christian Balmaceda tosses a big tailwhip over the nipple (shorthand: he "whipped the nip").
3) The third section was the five-flat-five staircase with hubba ledges on each side and a handrail down the middle. It's gnarly and imposing, but the riders seemed unphased. "This is where guys can really go for the big trick," surmised Hoffman.
HIGHLIGHT: Nathan Williams had a sick Luc-E grind to 180 on the big rail at the buzzer.
Dave Lehl
Here's a shot of Nathan nose-manualing the ledge from the other direction. Imagine this, at twice the speed, transfering from the Shenzhen gap. Dizzam.
And finally, your top five finishers:
1) Nathan Williams
2) Dakota Roche
3) Brad Simms
4) Christian Balmaceda
5) Brian Kachinsky
See you at Sunday's main event, gents.
*BONUS SHOT: Runner-Up Daniel Rosales*
Dave Lehl
Mexican rider Daniel Rosales narrowly missed qualifying for finals (he finished in 6th; cut-off was 5th) but he certainly showed the Americans how fast BMX is coming up south of the border.
"These jokers don't know their graciases from their por favors!" - BK
With his blonde mane and blinding speed, Brian "BK Whopper" Kachinsky tends to stick out on any BMX Street course. EXPN caught up with the Chicago-based ripper right before he climbed onto the pedals and rolled into elims. He also speaks Spanish, though admittedly not as quickly or smoothly as he rides.
Are you always the fastest guy on the course?
[Laughs] I guess that's just part of the way I ride, especially when there's an obstacle I like or when I think I can do something big because of what's out there. I guess in the end this kind of Street course just makes me want to go really fast.
You were inspecting the double-set yesterday like a CSI agent. Why?
Yeah, it's funny, we rode that double-set a little over a month ago [at XG14] but I've ridden so many setups since then that it didn't really seem all that familiar. I've learned a few new tricks since then, so I was trying to figure out if they will work on this setup and with these dimensions—you know, just getting through the mental stuff.
How's your Espanol?
Well, I took it all through high school ... which, granted, was a while ago. But I'm happy because a lot of it is coming back. It was pretty cool yesterday—I was talking to some of the South American riders during the warm-up. I actually ended up talking to one guy for 20 minutes. I had to ask, "como se dice 'ledge'" or "como se dice 'rail'" about 20 times, of course, but it was still pretty cooll. I don't know too many dirty phrases though, so some of these American guys might be out of luck.
