Gwinnett County, GA (May 19, 2002) – Today was the final day of EXPN Invitational competition, and four more pro athletes were added to the X Games VIII roster. After three days of action sports competition at the first-ever ESPN X Games Skatepark, more than 12,000 spectators filtered in and out of the Park today to watch the world’s best. Over the weekend, Discover Mills X Games Skatepark attracted more than 22,400 fans. The EXPN Invitational, formerly known as B3 – Bikes, Boards and Blades, is a two-stop competition organized and televised by ESPN. The event featured more than 250 athletes from around the world competing in Aggressive In-Line Skating, Bicycle Stunt and Skateboarding. In addition to competing for medals and more than $200,000 in prize money, athletes were vying for an open invitation to X Games VIII, the world’s premier action sports competition, to be held August 15-19 in Philadelphia, Pa.

Today skaters and riders took to the park course and vert ramps one last time to try and grab the last spots for X Games VIII. Competitions that took place today were Bicycle Stunt Vert, Skateboarding Vert, Aggressive In-line Park and Bicycle Stunt Park. After this weekend’s qualifier, these following athletes will be making the trip to Philadelphia: John Parker, Jorge Gomez, Seth Kimbrough, Shane Yost, Carlos Pianowski, Dan Pageau, Chris Gentry.

An energetic crowd gathered today under ideal weather conditions for the Skateboarding Vert finals. The preliminary round was a perfect lead-in to the finals as 10 skaters qualified from the 30 skaters that entered the contest. Former native of Augusta, GA, Anthony Furlong turned in an impressive performance to finish in fourth place. With only two skaters left, Chris Gentry was tied for first place with both of the final two skaters left to ride. Andy Macdonald put together a magnificent run to take the lead over Gentry and Pierre-Luc Gagnon. The run was a combination of three variations of the 540 and three variations of a kickflip, locking him into first place giving him gold medals at both EXPN Invitational events. On his birthday, Chris Gentry, not only finished in third place but earned himself a spot in this Summer’s X Games VIII.

And today, finally, was the day for the Bicycle Stunt Vert contest to take place under clear skies and virtually no wind. Due to high winds and rainy weather Friday and Saturday, the Vert contest kept getting postponed. It was well worth the wait as the 10 riders who made it into the finals, gave the morning crowd something to cheer about. England’s Jamie Bestwick proved to the fans that he is truly the Vert Champion as he held nothing back. With his new signature move the “Fastplant Flair” in his pocket from the Texas qualifier, Bestwick attempted the trick here in Georgia, but fell a little too short. The fall didn’t affect his score as he walked away with another gold medal. Bicycle Stunt icon, Dave Mirra of Greenville, NC had huge double tailwhips and flairs and shared the podium with Bestwick--a mere eighth tenths of a point behind him. Because Bestwick and Mirra had already claimed their X Games VIII spots, John Parker who won bronze today, will join them in Philadelphia. This weekend was wrapped up this evening with the Bicycle Stunt Park final. Thirty riders lined up on the decks of the X Games Skatepark all vying for that one invite to the main event in August. The lucky recipient tonight was Harselle, Alabama’s Seth Kimbrough who won the silver. “I am so excited about going to Philadelphia,” said Kimbrough about his win. “I’ve ridden this Skatepark before and it totally fits my style. I felt really comfortable out there today.” Gold medal winner, Alistair Whitton of Chester, England, had a spot to X Games VIII from his 2nd place finish at last year’s X Games. Jay Miron of Port Coquitlam, Canada finished third.

The Aggressive In-line Park final was a battle down to the end for the invitation to X Games VIII. Going into the second round of the finals, four of the top five skaters were trying to win the spot to this summer’s main event. Holland’s Sven Boekhorst was in the lead all day and held on to win the gold but the real battle was for second place and the invitation. Brazil’s Carlos Pianowski put together a great second run to hold onto second place and earn the invitation to X Games VIII in Philly this summer.

The ESPN X Games Skatepark, located in suburban-Atlanta’s Discover Mills, is the first of its kind in the nation, with more to follow at Mills Corporation centers across the U.S. The park consists of 40,000 square feet of space decorated with X Games memorabilia; a skatepark consisting of ramps, halfpipes, bowls, etc. for public skating, BMX riding or in-line skating; a retail center stocked with action sports equipment, clothing and products from the industry's leading companies plus X Games merchandise, a large screen television for fans to enjoy X Games programming plus computer terminals for Internet access; a skaters and riders lounge; viewing area; and electronic games showcase.

The EXPN Invitational was free and open to the public. In addition to world-class competition, spectators also enjoyed the interactive village, which included a climbing wall, body airbrushing, athlete autograph signings and more.

The events will be televised on ESPN and ESPN2 beginning in July.

ESPN, the worldwide leader in action sports, first developed its X Games franchise in 1995. The X Games, Winter X Games, EXPN 2Day, Tony Hawk’s Gigantic Skatepark Tour and EXPN Invitational events are just some of the original action sports programming currently shown on ESPN and ESPN2.

Event schedules, results, on-going coverage, telecast schedule, photos and video of the EXPN Invitational can be found on www.expn.com.

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ATTN MEDIA: Photos from the entire weekend of competition (including today’s preliminaries) can be downloaded for editorial use on www.espneventmedia.com. Results are also available on the site.

Contact: Katie Moses, ESPN, 267-971-8250 or katie.moses@espn.com

RESULTS - Sunday, May 19, 2002 (Day Three)

BICYCLE STUNT PARK PRELIMINARY
1. Jay Miron, Port Coquitlam, Canada 89.00
2. Van Homan, Drexel Hill, PA 88.20
3. Alistair Whitton, Chester, England 87.20
4. Seth Kimbrough, Harselle, AL 85.40
5. Corey Martinez, Decatur, AL 85.00
6. Allan Cooke, Greenville, NC 84.40
7. Colin Mackay, Brisbane, Australia 84.00
8. Dave Mirra, Greenville, NC 84.00
9. Ryan Nyquist, Los Gatos, CA 83.40
10. Bruce Crisman, Tigard, OR 82.80

BICYCLE STUNT PARK FINAL
1. Alistair Whitton, Chester England 93.00
2. Seth Kimbrough, Harselle, AL 90.80
3. Jay Miron, Port Coquitlam, Canada 90.00
4. Ryan Nyquist, Los Gatos, CA 90.00
5. Bruce Crisman, Tigard, OR 88.20
6. Allan Cooke, Greenville, NC 87.40
7. Van Homan, Drexel Hill, PA 87.00
8. Colin Mackay, Brisbane, Australia 86.60
9. Corey Martinez, Decatur, AL 84.20
10. Dave Mirra, Greenville, NC 0.00

BICYCLE STUNT VERT FINAL
1. Jamie Bestwick, Aaronsburg, PA 94.80
2. Dave Mirra, Greenville, NC 94.00
3. John Parker, Gilbert, AZ 88.20
4. Kevin Robinson, E Providence, RI 87.40
5. Eduardo Terreros, Gexto, Spain 87.20
6. Jay Eggleston, Denver, CO 85.60
7. Koji Kraft, Chicago, IL 84.80
8. Jim Burgess, Tempe, AZ 83.40
9. Rick Thorne, Kansas City, MO 82.17
10. Simon Tabron, Bristol, United Kingdom 0.00

SKATEBOARDING VERT FINAL
1. Andy Macdonald, San Diego, CA 93.50
2. Pierre Luc-Gagnon, Montreal, Canada 91.00
3. Chris Gentry, Houston, TX 89.50
4. Anthony Furlong, Augusta, GA 87.75
5. Max Dufour, Montreal, Canada 87.25
6. Jesse Fritsch, State College, PA 84.00
7. Danny Mayer, Omaha, NE 82.00
8. Jake Brown, Oceanside, CA 79.75
9. Brian Patch, Bloomington, IN 77.50
10. Lincoln Ueda, Guarulhos, Brazil 73.75

AGGRESSIVE IN-LINE PARK FINAL
1. Sven Boekhorst, Den Bosch, Holland 86.25
2. Carlos Pianowski, Curitiba, Brazil 85.00
3. Jaren Grob, Orem, UT 80.75
4. Franky Morales, Miami Beach, FL 79.50
5. Sam Fogarty, Melbourne, Australia 78.50
6. Ryan Dawes, Plano, TX 77.75
7. Carl Hills, Salt Lake City, UT 76.25
8. Ian Brown, Woonona, Australia 71.00
9. Dominic Sagona, Escondido, CA 70.00
10. Louie Zamora, San Diego, CA 69.75    Send to a friend  | Submit your photo or video
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