Stellar Performances on the Final Day of Asian X Games 2002
By Sean Mulligan
EXPN.com
Feb. 03, 2002
The clouds threatened again today, but in the end the rains never came and the last day of the Asian X Games brought out some stellar performances. Crowds packed out the venue today to see the five finals as well as the pro demos.
The afternoon started off with the Bike competition on the vert ramp. With six of the riders dropping out, the ante was upped to make it to the podium. In the end it came down to a tenth of a point difference, but Japan's Seiji Saito came out on top, gaining an invite to the Summer X Games in Philly.
Through the two rounds Saito lit up the ramp with a 540, a superman and a large tailwhip. It looked as if he was setting up for a flair at the end of his second run, but he blew out his tire on his set-up wall.
Right behind Saito was Australian Rob Smith, whose first run, combined with a clean second one, would have been enough to win. Smith went for it on his second shot and came up a bit short, casing twice, costing him the gold.
Third place went to Shuji Ueyama who was going big all day but unfortunately he got caught up on both runs.
Next up was the Skateboard Park final and again it was a close battle. This time between Australians Darren Kaehne and Jeff Williams, with Kaehne just edging it out. Both riders were using the rails, throwing out smooth boardslides in both runs. Kaehne went at them switch, while Williams nollied up and rode out the flatbar.
Most of the competitors made good use of the entire course, hitting some nice transitions, Williams also threw out one of the best tricks of the day, going for a kickflip over the smaller tabletop, but he couldn't nail it down.
Third place Anslem Castaneda had his 360 flips dialed in though, throwing them easily. His kickflip to 50-50 down the flatbar was one of the only combo tricks of the night.
Just across the way, back on the vert ramp, it was the Yasutoko brothers show again, this time in Inline Vert Doubles.
The brothers dominated the competition, finishing well ahead of the Australian duo of Fogarty and Heslop. The highlight of the event actually took place after the competition was over. The Yashutokos had gone for simultaneous 1080's as they passed over each other, but both fell on the landing. After a monstrous ovation from the crowd, the duo went for it again, this time landing it perfectly, eliciting an even larger cheer from the packed stands.
Several hours later it was time for the brothers to take to the podium again, this time in the Inline park finals. On the park course it was Takeshi's turn to grab first, barely beating out Ian Brown. Eito Yashutoko placed third after a few stumbles through his runs.
Both Takeshi and Brown were having their way with the course, with Takeski going big all over and Brown throwing spins into and out of his grinds.
Possibly the biggest crowd pleasers of the night were the vert and park demos. Dave Mirra, Chris Senn, Sasha Steinhorst, Colin Mackay and several other skaters and bike riders took part in the jam session format. The vert competition was all about going big, with everyone taking part and getting the crowd fired up.
When everyone moved to the park to close out the Asian X Games for this year, things were turned up a notch. Mirra went off, throwing out backflips, a 360, a flair and several rail tricks. Sasha was next up and he ollied up the sub box to 50-50 the top rail then handplanted at the top of the vert wall. Colin Mackay and the other riders were going off as well, hitting big transfers and launching over the sub-box to the delight of the crowd.
As the bike demo came to an end, so did the 2002 Asian X Games in Malaysia. There was plenty of action over the four days, and with the announcement of the addition of Moto-X to the bill for next year, things are only going to continue to heat up.
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