The Florida heat is difficult to endure, the sun bakes your skin while the humidity leaves you clamoring for water and the solace of your air-conditioned hotel room. It came as no surprise that this contest was going to be an enduring task to ride in. The average daytime temperature was around 96 degrees. Add a full-face helmet and some pads, and youre not too far from heat stroke. Although it was hot, the riding remained top notch throughout the weekend, which again began with flatland.

Finishing out the top four was Ares Bike Company rider Takashi Ito. Takashi has an amazing control over both his front and back wheel links, and pulled tricks that would make no sense on paper had I written them down. Nonetheless, he qualified for the X-Games with this placing, as did the 3rd place finisher, Frances Alex Jumelin. Alex has been riding awesome in contests all year long, and his practice and perseverance is paying off. Alexs one problem is his addiction to the sun. He rarely wears a shirt because he loves to get red. Fortunately the good folks at ESPN made him don a shirt for the finals in an attempt to protect his skin but it was too little, too late. Chalk up one more sunburn for the French Fry.

Rob Nolli, Decade Jump: Rob has been on a roll lately and he wasn't about to let his home state crowd down/Dave Osato

Nabbing 2nd place was GTs Trevor Meyer. Trevor did his usual mix of front wheel mega spins and the incredibly turbined wheelchair of death link, but it was not enough to edge out Dig It rider Nathan Penonzek. Nathan rides with so much control, he introduces new tricks at every contest, which is tough since the last comp was only two weeks prior to this one. And amazingly, Nathan never lets the pressure get to him, instead he always seems to have fun. Is it possible that Nathan may edge out Trevor Meyer for the year end title? Time will tell, so keep your eyes peeled for the finals in Nashville next month. Keep in mind that Trevor has won that title every year for the past 6 years, so this is a big deal. Next up, the vert, no wait, the undervert comp.

Yes, the vert ramp was way under vert for qualifying. And it was dropping people like flies. Hang ups were the norm for qualifying. But the situation was remedied overnight prior to the finals, and they went like this..

Dave Mirra squeezed into 4th place with an amazing first run that had him in the lead for 1st, but his second run was cut short from the hang up curse. Still, no one rides vert like Dave. He is beyond smooth and goes oh so high. Dave may not be winning everything in sight this year, but its not for the lack of trying. He is still at the top of his game and constantly progressing. Watch out in San Francisco. 3rd place went to no other than GTs Jamie Bestwick. Jamie is one funny guy, and also rides with a flow that no one has been able to touch for some time now. Here he made good with high airs, both regular and opposite, and the ramp length carves that define his riding. And no, he didnt ride off the ramp into the banners this time.

2nd place went to Treks Simon Tabron, who had my favorite runs of the weekend. Simon pulled the best alley oop 540 ever done, and even did it over the channel. And if that wasn't enough, Simon pulled a perfect 900 to cap his runs off. Simon does not play around with his vert riding. He goes high, does the hardest tricks and does everything too smooth.

1st place, with enough tricks to edge past Simon, was The Condor, Mat Hoffman. This was Mats second vert win in May, and it was well deserved. Mat does every trick imaginable, and hits 11 feet on his first pump air. Here he pulled a no-hand to no-foot 540, a rocket barspin to barspin back, and a double tailwhip to finish it off. And he did all of this just after editing an hour-long TV show, attending a video game convention and running a bike company.

And then the crescendo of the weekend finally came street, mixed with heat and a small bag of injuries. Nothing too serious, so dont worry. The course was basically the same, just reversed and painted blue.

4th place went to K2s Dennis McCoy, who rode with a fury that would have won him 1st place had he finished off his second run, which was cut short by a 360 transfer crash. Still, the burly factor of his second run placed him in the 4th place spot. 3rd place went to the newly crowned owner of the tailwhip, GT rider Tom Haugen. Tom is the most tech and consistent rider Ive seen lately, and always a pleasure to watch ride. Here, Tom threw 360 tailwhips at will and even threw in x-ups at the end.

Nathan Penonzek, Front Wheel Flip/Trevor Meyer, Front Wheel Switch

2nd place went to the winner of the Louisville comp, Dave Osato. Dave had new tech tricks to throw down, including a manual to tailwhip bunnyhop, and also a feeble grind to downside tailwhip in. Dave is the perfect mix of tech and burly, with original tricks to boot. Unfortunately, a few dabs kept him in second, which left room for GT rider Rob Nolli to take home the win yet again.

Rob usually rides with an unmatched control over everything, but here he went off the chain, as Robbie Morales would say. Rob went insanely high off of every quarter, threw in a perfect decade air over the box, and even did a crazy tailwhip transfer over a 15-foot gap. When Rob wins, dinner is on him, so the GT team ate on Rob for the second time this month. Rob is a modern day superhero.

After the close of X Trials round one, everyone retreated back to the safety of air conditioning to prepare for round two next month in Nashville.

Vert Final
01. Mat Hoffman, Oklahoma City, OK 94.70
02. Simon Tabron, Liverpool, UK 93.40
03. Jamie Bestwick, Aaronsburg, PA 93.00
04. Dave Mirra, Greenville, NC 90.90
05. Dennis McCoy, Kansas City, MO 90.70
06. Stephan Geisler, Nuunberg, Germany 89.40
07. Jay Eggleston, Denver, CO 87.10
08. Jimmy Walker, Chicago, IL 86.70
09. John Parker, Mesa, AZ 85.50
10. Rick Thorne, Orange, CA 85.30

Flatland Final
01. Nathan Penonzek, Vancouver, Canada 94.00
02. Trevor Meyer, Chaska, MN 92.20
03. Takeshi Ito, Tokyo, Japan 91.40
04. Alex Jumelin, Paris, France 91.00
05. Effraim Catlow, Southsea 90.40
06. Daniel Rigby, Spruce Grove, Canada 90.20
07. Cory Stratychuk, Coquitlam, Canada 89.40
08. Andrew Faris, Sascatoon, Canada 89.20
09. Simon O'Brien, Erowal Bay, Australia 85.40
10. Chad Degroot, Green Bay, WI 83.60

Park Final
01. Rob Nolli, Orlando, FL 92.70
02. Dave Osato, Vancouver, Canada 90.40
03. Tom Haugen, Minneapolis, MN 89.60
04. Dennis McCoy, Kansas City, MO 89.20
05. Colin Mackay, Brisbane, Australia 88.50
06. Seth Kimbrough, Hartselle, AL 88.40
07. Jamie Bestwick, Aaronsburg, PA 88.30
08. Mike Laird, Virginia Beach, VA 88.10
09. Ron Kimler, West Lake, MI 87.70
10. Chad Kagy, Gilroy, CA 86.40