Transfers and big tricks were what the BMX park competition was all about this year. Last year things were a bit more on the tech side but with the riders getting their own course in 2002 things were more vert oriented and everything was big. In the end though only one vert rider placed in the top three,
Chad Kagy in third. Coming out on top was
Ryan Nyquist who rode away with his first X Games Park gold medal. Second went to
Alistair Whitton.
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| Nyquist got it done by going large. |
Ryan's first run was solid, but he broke his crank in the middle of it and had to grab
Allan Cooke's bike for the second round. It turned out to be a good thing though, because Ryan lit it up in his second run. Starting off with a double truckdriver off the launch jump, then throwing down a rocket no-hander and later lining up the spine for the 720 that he missed in the first run. It was the 720 that sealed the deal for him, although Alistair Whitton tried his best to get the win.
"I found some good lines on the course and I landed everything that I wanted to, so I am psyched. Allan's bike felt pretty good. Maybe I should have tried it during dirt jumping, then maybe I would have gotten the gold," said Nyquist after the win.
Whitton was up last and after placing second last year, he has been on a tear all year long, and it was obvious he wanted the gold. Showing off his great flow and style Alistair didn't need to go big. His eye for the course and his transfers were some of the best on the day. Decade Air transfer up to the deck? Solid. Backflip to the pyramid top and then a turndown back to the ground? That's some style right there and a great combination of tricks. Alistair had it dialed and needed to only land his last trick. He went for a handplant transfer from about a 9 foot vert wall, up across a 4 foot ledge to a blind drop to the quarterpipe on the other side. He had to eject though and slammed hard, ending his run and sending in the medical staff to take him off the course. Had he landed though, it would have been tough call for first. Definitely one of the best lines of the day.
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| Whitton, turndown on the vert wall. |
Because the course walls and jumps were so big there were some huge transfers all around and some very interesting lines.
Bruce Crisman had a great stretch going where he cruised around the back of the course, jumped up onto the large sub-box to manual. He held the manual for about 15 feet, hit a small drop down then manual to a rail and peg grind down that. Chad Kagy, in addition to nailing down a huge backflip tailwhip, had the largest transfer of the day, launching up 30 feet to the sub-box to manual and then barspin back down to the quarterpipe.
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| Kagy taps it on the spine. |
The trick of the day had to go to
Jay Miron, who killed it with a 360 double tailwhip over the pyramid. He never practiced it on the course and it only took him three tries to get it during his run and he was so close to getting it on the slams.
With the separation of the BMX and Skate park courses this year, things were a bit more interesting. Some of the riders were having a hard time dealing with all of the vert elements and big jumps in the "street" course. It did allow for a lot of new lines though and a good amount of creativity.
Related Photos:
BMX Park Gallery
