Monday, April 1

Bartram Claims the Crown

Press Release

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA (March 30, 2002) - Eighteen of the top freestyle motocross riders in the nation were on hand in Indianapolis for the Mountain Dew National Championship of Freestyle Motocross, the first stop of the Vans Triple Crown of Freestyle Motocross. With names like Jones, Adoptante, Clowers, Bartram, Miller, and Vines, the competition was tough, but when the gun fight ended and the dust cleared, Kenny "the Cowboy" Bartram stood above all others and swept both nights of competition.

Friday night the finals started with the veteran Trevor Vines. Vines worked on his bike all afternoon and had to qualify through the last chance after using his first round run as his practice. Vines' 90.5 wasn't good enough to hold off Jake Windham from taking over the hotseat with a 91.0. Windham held off a challenge from Ronnie Renner, but couldn't hold off Tommy "the Tomcat" Clowers. Clowers bested Windham's score by a full point before Dustin Miller bested Clowers with a 93.3. Miller's run packed full of trick combinations to no-handed landers was tough to beat for any rider. The 2001 Vans Triple Crown (VTC) Champion, Clifford Adoptante and 2001 VTC runner-up Nate Adams aimed for Miller, but missed knocking him out of the hotseat each time. The only rider remaining with an opportunity to beat Miller was Kenny "the Cowboy" Bartram. Just as he has all season long on the IFMA tour, Bartram strung together a run that had every person in the arena on their feet. When Bartram's score of 93.4, the building erupted with the Cowboy hoisting the trophy from his first ever VTC victory.

"I've never won of these events. Dustin's run was really good and I knew it would be hard to beat. I thought I had a pretty good run and it was just good enough," said Bartram.

Saturday began with last year's VTC champion, Clifford Adoptante, stepping up and setting the bar high with a 91.7. Adoptante dodged a run by Drake McElroy but was knocked out by Nate Adams. Ronnie Renner and Trevor Vines made a run at Adams before Kenny "the Cowboy" Bartram once again got the attention of the crowd and judges to take the hotseat with a score of 92.5. Tommy Clowers and Dustin Miller made a run at Bartram, but he survived to sweep the weekend, take the point lead in the Vans Triple Crown Series and the IFMA Series while collecting his record seventeenth win of the IFMA tour.

"Two nights in a row. From never winning a Vans event to winning both last night and tonight, this is unbelievable," said Bartram while sitting in the hotseat with his trophy. "At the beginning of the season, I never thought this would happen. This is just awesome."

Weekend Results Top Five Friday and Saturday nights:

FRIDAY

Kenny Bartram - 93.4 Dustin Miller - 93.3 Nate Adams - 92.5 Tommy Clowers - 92.0 Jake Windham - 91.0

SATURDAY

Kenny Bartram - 92.5 Nate Adams - 92.2 Clifford Adoptante - 91.7 Tommy Clowers - 91.6 Ronnie Renner - 91.5