A collection of usual suspects from Skateboarding, BMX and Inline are gathered in Grand Prairie, TX for the first annual EXPN Invitational. Invitations to the upcoming Summer X Games VIII are on the line in each sport and a total cash purse of over $200,000. There were qualifying competitions in Skateboard Park, BMX Flatland and BMX Vert today to determine who would get a chance to compete in the finals, all to be held tomorrow. To the surprise of everyone on hand it was a cold and rainy Texan day. The preliminary Inline Vert contest was called off due to rain and all 15 athletes will transfer to finals. Luckily, the weather god decided to cooperate and the courses dried in time for an action packed afternoon:
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| Where is all that Texas sunshine? |
Skateboard Park:
The field of athletes was stacked with top street and park skaters from around the world. The cold weather did not stop any one from laying it on the line for a spot in the finals. The athletes were able to session the extra large course for an hour before the first heat of qualifying was set to start. Heat one was full of top skaters including Pat Channita, Chris Senn and local favorite Wil Taylor. As usual, Senn took advantage of the whole course. Picking lines that no one else used, he was dropping jaws all around with a huge nollie kick-flip over the camel hump and technical rail slides all around. Chris came away from heat one in first place with a solid lead over San Diego resident Tyrone Olson and veteran skater Pat Channita. Pat skated well to advance to the finals and "is looking to change his run up for tomorrow."
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| Chris Senn throwing a big methdog over the quarterpipe transfer. |
Heat two was stacked with some of the best street skaters around. Seven of the ten that transferred to the finals were a product of heat two. Dayne Brummet started the heat off with a bang by sliding the rails with technical mastery. A series of technical skaters continued to earn spots in the finals, warming up the crowd as the morning chill finally wore off. Kyle Berard showed he has the skills despite what "Nurley" seems to think, killing the mini-ramp section of the course with enough style to earn him a top spot in the finals. Carlos de Andrade was on fire all day with huge nollies that somehow cleared the pyramid. He came away from the preliminary with a top score of 91.0, making him the first place qualifier for the finals. The finals will be action packed, tune in tomorrow for the details.
Click Here for the complete Park Qualifying Results.
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| Carlos de Andrade nollies over the big pyramid. |
BMX Vert:
The crew of 22 riders that started the day were forced to ride hard for a chance to make it to the 10-man final. This was only the second H.S.A. (Hoffman Sports Association) competition of the season and with a short hour of practice riders were trying some tricks that should have been saved for later in the event but they were forced to pull them out in the qualifying round. Jamie Bestwick put together the most solid run of the day by linking a big combination of corkscrew to 540 that wooed the crowd. Koji Kraft had an impressive first run that got a high enough score to leave him in third at the end of the day. Scott Wirch threw down an opposite flare which took everyone by surprise and combined with the rest of his run earned him the eighth place spot in the finals. Jimmy Walker scored a spot in the finals with some huge inverted airs before joining the crew of riders that came flying out of the ramp showing the crowd what it is like to ride with no brakes. Chad Kagy and Jay Enggleston both showed how deep each of their bag of tricks are with major combinations to transfer them into the finals. The bubble transfer 10-spot in the finals was called a tie by the judges resulting in an 11-man final.
Click Here for the complete Vert Qualifying Results.
BMX Flatland:
The 27 Flatland riders were the first athletes to resume practice after the morning rain delay. There was a solid field of riders including 5-time champion and X Games gold medallist Trevor Meyer. After some major bike changes during the off-season he had some trouble through the beginning of his run but pulled out an impressive pedaling dump-truck to finish second in the qualifying round. First place finisher, Nathan Penonzek had some long original linked tricks that placed him above the rest of the field. The remaining top ten had a good variety of front and back wheel tricks without too many faults securing a chance to compete in tomorrow's final.
Click Here for the complete Flat Qualifying Results.
Related Photos:
Photo Action From Day One
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