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Clawworx 2007 Slopestyle Report |
Story by Ed Snyder / Photos by Ed Snyder, Geoff Gudavicius, and David Ferguson
The biggest names in slopestyle took in a bit of island time over the Canadian August long weekend. The traveling circus took its show on the road to Mount Washington, home hill of one Mr. Darren Berrecloth (a.k.a. "Claw"). Berrecloth hatched a plan to create an event that was strictly "for riders, by riders" a few years ago in an effort to see his fellow athletes listened to in the event creation process and well compensated for their efforts while having some serious fun. That vision became reality again and it was bigger than ever thanks to the new partnership with bike magazine. In the past bike ran Monster Park in West Virginia and Michigan - an event the Claw won three years in a row. This year they decided to combine forces with Darren and Mount Washington and help forge the most unique contest possible.
The Bearclaw Invitational is Claw's show through and through. He is everywhere leading up to and during the event. His stamp is obvious on everything from the marketing and course (which he helped shape) to the party following the event. He even helped to arrange accommodations for journalists making the trek to cover the event. He's a renaissance man in that regard and this event would not go anywhere without the substantial efforts of its namesake.
The man with the plan - Darren Berrecloth - airs over his loyal subjects.
|| Photo: David Ferguson
It's also an invitational: no open qualifying or sponsor's exemptions here. The cast of riders is straight out of Darren's address book and he wouldn't have it any other way. From his point of view Berrecloth wanted the make the gnarliest course ever and invite people he felt totally comfortable with to ride it. After seeing the carnage at Kokanee Crankworx the week before it is hard to argue with his approach, or the results. Serious crashes weren't a major factor. Nobody was taken off the hill in an ambulance and the only rider unable to continue due to a crash was Cam Zink (who took a hard shot in practice on Friday that left his spleen worse for wear).
This event comes at a turning point in the mountain biking calendar, sitting at the end of the competition season. Many riders are beat up from the long grind of contests that stretches back to early spring. Many are shifting their focus to finishing off video segments in the August sun before Interbike lands in September. In short, there are a lot of reasons for riders to bag out on this event… but this year they didn't. Everyone was excited and loose. Photographers smiled about the prospect of braving the dust and the bugs for great shots, the course builders put in long hours making sure the run was as perfect as they could make it and riders on the outside of the invite list begged for the chance to be included. This is fun event and that emphasis resonated through the whole weekend. That's why the best in the world were on hand and loving every minute of it.
The course, carved out of the excellent Mount Washington dirt, was steep and technical at the top, opening to a set of flowing dirt jumps below. It was a braided configuration that split several times in to identical halves that always came back together. The major features were; a pair of hitching posts to clear at the top followed by some elevated wallrides, a large jump box with a dirt-lipped drop on top that sat directly in the center of the course, two large logs imbedded in the ground at 30 degree angles and topped with planking to make free-standing jumps, a large pair of dirt gaps at the bottom and a quarter pipe topped with a wall ride to finish off the course. Everything flowed well together and the riders loved the bottom section. Despite its size, the course encouraged riders to lay out their best tricks with smooth takeoffs and effortless transitions. If a line wasn't right, Berrecloth was in the bobcat and digging away instantly to make it right. "For riders, by riders" is more than just a notion at this event. Berrecloth puts his money where his mouth is.
The Bearclaw Invitational course primed and ready for ripping. || Photo: Ed Snyder
The competition itself reflected the emphasis on limiting rider's exposure this late in the season. The full twenty riders would get two runs each, and the highest single run score would take all the marbles. With more than $16,000 up for grabs in prize money, each run had major significance. A solid crowd lined the course and they were greeted by perfect sunny summer conditions topped off by a light breeze. Lots of families turned out for the show and the riders obliged them by signing almost every autograph requested. The start was set for 3 p.m. and the riders had been dialling in their lines all morning. It was time to see who brought their "A-game" and would lay claim to bragging rights… and the $7000 first prize to back them up.
Kyle McDonald rode his hot streak form the week before (that saw him make the Crankworx superfinal) in to Mt. Washington. He led off the proceedings with no hander off the top drop but got caught up heading over the hitching post and ran down the transition minus his bike. After collecting his steed and a little momentum the Whistler ripper pulled off another no hander, a motowhip and a superman on the bottom of the course to get his legs back under him. Jaime Goldman followed and managed an x-up, no-foot can and a superman of his own, but the riders continued to look edgy, tentative and a little uneasy.
Greg Watts, Ross McMaster, and Jordie Lunn continued the trend, posting up and down runs with a few highlights that failed to get the crowd on its feet. Geoff Gulevich pinned together a nice first run that brought the energy level up but still didn't knock the top off the pot. Kurt Sorge followed and again, ran cleanly with some solid execution, but no thrillers. The first rider to grab a noticeable reaction from the hordes along the tape was Kyle Strait who tossed a big tail whip on the last drop, in what turned out to be a nice piece of foreshadowing for later in the day.
Thomas Vanderham was looking to make some noise after missing the Crankworx super finals and took a page out of Strait's playbook, saving a sizeable indian air for the last drop and then gapped off the wall ride to finish his run. At this point things were still pretty calm but Alex Prochazka and Andreu Lacondeguy were next in line and both had been turning it up a notch all summer. Pro added the backflip you always know is coming in his run to a nice tuck no-hander. Lacondeguy poured gas on the fire by tossing his backflip on the top section of the course. On the bottom he nailed a wild tailwhip before losing on massive superman to table try over the next jump. He was up fairly quickly as was the energy level of the crowd. Crankworx champ Ben Boyko was at the top of the course and things were starting to get interesting.
Lacondeguy needs to apply for his pilot's license if he keeps pulling these. || Photo: Geoff Gudavicius
Boyko straight-lined most of the course and actually skipped the hitching posts altogether. He arrived at the competition on Saturday and his lack of practice looked to be working against him. Darren Berrecloth started his run and the crowd came to their feet as they often do when he appears. You just get the feeling that something big is going to happen when Claw is on course. You can sense the level of possibility rising. Not wanting to disappoint, Berrecloth pinned his run and went for a 360 over the last jump, but over-rotated for the second straight week and went down.
That left Whistler phenom Brandon Semenuk, Spokane Washington's Joe Perizzo and Cam McCaul with runs remaining in the first heat. Semenuk has been riding really well as of late and he raised his profile with a podium finish at Crankworx. He delivered another solid performance including a one-hander one-footer and a nice indian air that showed off the confidence he's been building with his bigger tricks. Perizzo had been swinging solid backflips in practice so the crowd was pumped, but he crashed coming off the box when he cased he landing to the right. That would leave him on the outside looking in after round one.
Joe Perizzo's run didn't work out like he planned, but he ended up taking in the action from a unique perspective at the end of he course. || Photo:
Ed Snyder
Cam McCaul loves a bright spotlight and he took full advantage of being the last rider in heat number one. Knowing exactly what his competition had accomplished he set off to erase their efforts in the minds of the judges. The Aptos California rider is in class by himself when he's having fun and "feeling it" on the bike. He can rip off a succession of the most difficult tricks out there and look fluid doing it. That is a rare combination in an athlete and it was on full display as he absolutely hammered his opening pass. Listing off the tricks (bar spin, tailwhip, backflip, backflip, tailwhip) hardly does it justice. It had to be seen to be believed. It was head and shoulders above the other first heat runs and the crowd responded in kind; knowing there was a better than average chance they were looking at the day's eventual winner.
McCaul goes ballistic over the big box under the watchful eye of recently resurfaced
freeride legend Brett Tippee. || Photo: David Ferguson
With the first round in the books and the judges scrambling to quantify McCaul's opus on dirt, the riders made their way back to the top of the course. They faced a choice of going all-out to try and dislodge McCaul from the top of the podium, hitting a big trick or two an seeing where it landed them, or just cruising and saving it for another day. Kyle McDonald went for it but fell twice in his second run. Jamie Goldman cased and ran out of speed at the bottom. Ross McMaster rebounded nicely from his first run and fired off a great combination of tricks.
Kyle Strait definitely pressed the "all out" button on his second run and capped it with a big helping of personal redemption. Strait crashed hard at Crankworx going for the double tailwhip in his second run of the superfinals. Staring down the last big hit on this day he went for it again… and landed it. I wrote "podium run" in my notes after that. Landing big tricks in big situations makes a rider stand out in the minds of the judges.
Strait sent the double tailwhip for the second straight week; with decidedly different results this time around. || Photo: David Ferguson
Andrew Taylor, Vanderham, and Gulevich all bettered their first efforts but couldn't hope to touch McCaul's masterwork on this day. Lunn and Sorge cruised through their second shots while the younger McCaul (Tyler) went for big tailwhip that didn't connect. Alex Pro took his shot with a pair of no-handers and his signature backflip but it wasn't enough. The red-hot Spaniard, Lacondeguy was next through the gate. Looking for a solid result he backflipped the upper transfer but bailed on a typically huge tailwhip try lower on the course. He's been tremendous over the summer, but ultimately it wouldn't be his day.
As the remaining big guns lined up, McCaul had to be smiling with a great run in the books and the last word in case anybody was able to one-up him. Boyko was the next to try and dropped a sweet 360 off the box but then came up short on the dirt jumps, ending his bid. Berrecloth knew he had one shot for the big cheque. He came out focused and stylish but for the second time in two days he blew a tire on a landing. Coming hard off the drop in the middle of the course his rear tire let go with a sound like a gunshot. . Despite the fact that it wasn't the real thing, it might as well have been; as it put a round through his chance at the podium.
Whistler's Brandon Semenuk has been letting it fly this season. || Photo: Geoff Gudavicius
Semenuk was the last man with a shot at knocking off McCaul. Brandon's been great lately but he lacks the firepower to hang with McCaul when the latter is hitting on all cylinders. Unafraid, Semenuk unleashed his burliest tricks and in the process sewed up second place. McCaul, knowing he'd bested all challengers took a smooth, easy cruise down the course, finishing of with one last indian air before being mobbed at the finish line.
As the judges worked out who followed McCaul to the podium and took home the big bucks, the course workers installed two log posts and readied a near vertical hit for a unique contest. This "big air" test was just like the ones you see freestyle motocross riders compete in. One big jump leads riders between the posts that support a thin plastic crossbar. The idea is simple; clear the bar and move on. Each rider gets two shots to clear the bar. If they fail they are out. The bar is raised until only one rider is left standing.
It seemed a bit contrived at the beginning, more like a diversion to let the judges have some time to work out their score cards. But that magic, fun atmosphere of the event rubbed off on this contest as well and the riders really went for it. It took four or five practice runs for the riders to gauge the jump. It seemed as though the contest would be a short one as riders only got about five feet of air initially. Then Vanderham started looking to show the kids how it was done and busted out roughly nine feet of air. From that point it was on, as the natural competitiveness took over and the riders sessioned the jump hard and adding amplitude with every pass.
NSMB.com photog David "Fergs" Ferguson captures the early action in the Bearclaw Invitational big air contest. || Photo: Ed Snyder
The contest got underway in earnest and some riders who weren't on the slopestyle list got in to the act as well, adding to that backyard session feel with riders all pushing each other. Santa Cruz local Alex Reveles shot four feet over the initial setting (with no practice runs!) drawing a whoop from the assemble cast. As the bar moved up and riders got knocked out it was slopestyle favourite Cam McCaul who upped the ante by backflipping over the high jump bar! Although he didn't land it the crowd went nuts and other riders got in to the act, throwing tricks as they cleared insane heights.
The bar moved steadily upward and after about 20 minutes it came down to a mano a mano duel between veterans. Vanderham versus Berrecloth, Air Force versus the Claw. The bar was at fifteen feet over the lip and both riders were pedaling furiously in to the face of the jump to get enough air. After successful runs the bar was raised yet again to fifteen and half feet. Both riders missed once and reset at the top of the run. Vanderham clipped the bar again and it was down to one shot for the Claw to claim the title. Streaking in to the jump he launched a veritable moon shot over the bar and the title was his. Unable to claim the slopestyle title, Berrecloth never the less managed to get his name on the books for the day and did so with style. In retrospect this contest added a definite degree of fun and fan-friendliness to an already amazing day.
Bearclaw pushing low-earth orbit for the win in the big air shootout. || Photo: David Ferguson
As the slopestyle winners were announced there were no surprises. Kyle Strait's double tailwhip earned him personal redemption and the third spot. Semenuk's strong runs and smooth tricks moved him up another notch from his third place Crankworx finish to second overall on this day. McCaul's first round statement run was more than enough to grab him the top spot, his fellow riders' respect, and a big check worth $7000.
All in all it was great event a huge success for everyone involved. The fans got a first-rate show and unparalleled access to some the sport's greatest talents and ambassadors. The riders got a course tailored to their liking and a shot at a serious payday for just two competition runs on the day. Mount Washington got to show off its strengths and Bike magazine saw the profile of their annual slopestyle contest increased through and association with one of the sport's biggest names. It was banner event to close out the contest season and I for one can't wait to see what Claw cooks up next year.
- Ed Snyder
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