|
Thoughts on the qualifier, plus ** The main event starts below the intro *** |
Words and photos by Jay Sinclair
Right after I found out who was invited to the 2005 Crankworx Slopestyle contest, I was in the ears of the powers that be discussing the downfalls of invited rider competitions. I was also telling them how great it would be to have an open competition for qualifying. I do have to admit that some of the discussion was in my own interest to make it easier to get some of the nsmb team riders into notably one of the biggest freeride competitions of the season.
Most of the discussion, however, was aimed at trying to increase the talent pool of the current mountain bike professionals by letting up-and-coming riders prove themselves in the big show. I was stoked to hear that organizers decided to open up the event to all who wished to enter in 2006. For a mere $100, you could throw your hat in the ring with the best in the world to see how you stacked up. What could be better for an aspiring rider?
In the end, 87 entrants had registered and the entry fee had been added to the prize purse for the winner - the top performer would be taking home $7,500 for his talent and skill. The rider list was the who’s who of mountain biking talent, mixed with a ton of names I had never heard of. The biggest surprise was not who was on the list, but who was not. What I had though might happen did indeed take place.
A notable number of the top pros that had in the past received direct entry into the competition decided they would rather not compete against an open field for entry. Maybe I was on the money when I though the new school would push the old guard to step up their game or move over.
Andreu Lacondeguy, one of the Spanish brothers, throwing backflips on his way to qualifying for the finals
I walked into the Slopestyle qualifier expecting to see a showcase of new talent, pushing the pros to step up their game. I thought that most of the newer talent would be happy to make the big show on Saturday and would empty the trick bag trying to impress the judges, just to get in. This, however, was not the case and I have to say I was disappointed at the lack of inspiration from younger riders.
There were a lot of dead sailor airs and un-landed tricks. The latter might be attributed to a lack of understanding of how events like this are judged, but it seemed like very few riders brought enough game to move on. With the top 23 going to the finals, a lot of pros and even some new riders I thought were shoe-ins to qualify were left sitting on the sidelines.
When the name of qualifying riders was announced, there were a few riders that came out of nowhere to make the show. I was stoked to see some younger guys I have been watching make the finals, as well as some riders I had not heard of. Riders like Basagoita and Berrecloth are a staple on any freeride list, and notables like McCaul, Zink, Strait, and Watts were there as well. The big mountain styles of Vanderham and Simmons also got them an entry. But there were some new names as well. Andreu Lacondeguy and his brother Lluis are the new flavour in the freeride scene, and these kids kill it. Boyko and Kasprick were there as well, representing some of the amazing new-school talent being produced here in B.C. The coolest thing was seeing the names of riders like Ryan Meyer, Christopher Hatton, Mike Hopkins and local Whistler ripper Ross McMaster in the mix. |
 Englishman Lance McDermott doing a no-handed tuck on the way to the finals |
The list of people that didn’t make it, however, was thick. Cowan, Dyer, Goss, Holland, Perrizo, Kinrade, Big Berrecloth and many others didn’t make the show. It was indeed an interesting format.
 |
I was happy to see some new names in the finals with the big guns, but disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm shown by younger riders who were finally given a chance to put their money where their mouths were. I was also expecting more from riders I had seen throw down before. Maybe the pressure is a factor. Maybe the course was bigger than usual. Who knows? Your guess is as good as mine. If the format stays same next year, I'm sure the same the pros will once again have to pay close attention to the young guns if they want to ride on Saturday night. Good on Whistler and especially Seb Freemont for sticking his neck out there for the open format. We got a better show because of it, and had the added bonus of seeing new talent as well. |
And then it was time for the main event...
Words by Stuart Kernaghan, photos by David Ferguson, Stuart Kernaghan, and Derek Ulrich
2006 was the third year for the Crankworx event at the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, and expectations were running high. People were waiting to see if the competitors would be able to outdo last year’s performances, whether the people who deserved to win would actually did, and whether people would be crashing as hard as they did last year.
The festival had a new sponsor this year in Kokanee, and the beer makers spared no expense when it came to promoting Crankworx. Local radio, television, Internet, newspapers and magazines, were saturated and the word ‘Crankworx’ was everywhere. There were also new events on the roster for the weeklong orgy of bikes, including the Super D Competition, which combined downhill racing with uphill stretches. Riders from all over the continent – all over the world – were on the hill, giving it their all.
But it was Slopestyle that most people was waiting for. Slopestyle, with its amazing wooden structures, jumps constructed with heavy earth-moving equipment, a semi trailer made into a stunt, and riders throwing down the sickest tricks imaginable. More than 15,000 people came to the base of the Fitzsimmons chair on Saturday evening to witness Slopestyle. For some, it was their third time at the show. Others had only heard about it. And because this is Whistler, there were tourists who stumbled onto it by accident. Regardless of how they got there, everyone was going to be witness to a spectacle of man and machine flying through the air. Hopefully with the greatest of ease, but if that wasn't the case, then so be it.
As Jay mentioned in his report above, competitors had to qualify for this year’s Slopestyle event. There were no easy entries, no golden handshakes, no love for sponsored pros. The riders had to go out and qualify. And that they did. A list of 23 names was drawn up on the Thursday night before the comp, but between then and Saturday night start time, there were a few … incidents. Three riders who had qualified got injured, and had to drop out. All of a sudden, the field was down to 20.
I arrived in Whistler on Friday night, just in time for the debauchery that was the Pist-n-Broke premiere of CKD. After many beers, a good movie, and what seemed like a ridiculously short sleep, Saturday rolled around. The skies were grey and blotchy at the beginning of the day, but by the afternoon they had cleared. Blue skies and puffy white clouds looked to be the order of the day for Slopestyle 2006. I even thought I was going to need suntan lotion to keep from getting fried. That thought lasted until I got on course, when the temperature suddenly dropped several degrees and I was forced to dig around my bag for more clothes.
The skies quickly darkened and the wind picked up. Flags were fluttering stiffly in the breeze, and the scant amount of loose dust on the course was carried across the hill. If you were prophetic about those sorts of things, you might have thought that the wind was blowing away the past and bringing with it a new crop of talent. If you weren’t, though, you would have just thought that the weather was kind of crappy, considering it was the end of July.
There was a lot of talk in the lift lines and behind the snowfence barriers of the course before the 5 p.m. kick-off about ‘the Spanish kids.’ They were protégés of Cedric Gracia, who wasn’t competing in Slopestyle this year. There was also lots of chatter about who was going to pull what stunt, on what apparatus. 720s, backflips, no-foot cans, it was all there. There was even talk of a front flip. And everybody seemed to have the inside scoop. There was a staggering amount of bullshit being bandied about.
And it was at that point that I felt like I’d come home to the Crankworx I knew from years gone by. Some things just never change, no matter who’s competing.
5 o’clock rolled around, and the place was packed. There was barely a square inch of dirt on the edge of the course, and people were pumped for the ball to drop. Announcing the event this year were Whistler local and freerider Richie Schley, long-time mountain bike commentator Brad Ewan, and CBC snowboard analyst Tara Teigen. Pardon? A snowboarding analyst? I can see choosing a woman to make the commentary more appealing, but really - are there no female mountain bikers who can talk into a mike for three hours? Anyway... This year’s Slopestyle course incorporated elements from the past two events, like the Octopus wooden structure at the top, the Giro trailer, the bridge to road gap, and the multi-level box (this year brought to you by Kokanee and in a new spot on the course). But there was also plenty of new craziness thanks to designers Richie Schley, John Cowan, and Jonathan 'CERVO' Mahec. |
 The Mavic start gate and Giro trailer, nearly obscured by Whistler dirt || Photo: David Ferguson |
The step-down gap starts on the hill above the blue tape in the centre-right of the pic.
The step-up gap starts where the group of photogs are standing on the right. || Photo: Stuart Kernaghan
In the middle of the course was the newly-painted Giro trailer, moved up from the bottom of the course where it had been last year.
 The Regurgitator and the road gap - new and old, side by side. || Photo: David Ferguson |
To the riders’ left was the road gap that Bearclaw threw the 360 from last year, and just beside that was a kicker called the Regurgitator that riders could use to launch the gap. If they chose to skip the gap, the boys could go onto the ramp for the gap, take a hard right and drop into a dirt jump line, with a series of single and double jumps. The jumps led into more doubles in the middle of the course, and then the SRAM C-wall and Race Face kicker / wallride on the left side of the course. If you went to the riders’ right, there was a kicker that led into the Kokanee box in the middle of the course. |
There were far more dirt jumps on the course than there were last year - nearly a dozen in the bottom half of the course alone, many of which were 7, 8, almost 10' high. From certain vantage points, the course looked like some sort of crazy urban warfare training centre.
The course, looking down to the village. Dirt jumps on the left and in the middle, Kokanee box in blue on the left. || Photo: David Ferguson
Everything funnelled into the Gap-O-Tron , a massive wooden structure that looked like it belonged in Dangerous Dan’s Flowshow rather than at Slopestyle. There was a wooden kicker that launched riders onto the first section, then a booter to launch them over a gap onto the second, and another booter to launch them over another gap onto the third. From there, it was a short roll along the platform, over a gap of several feet and then a drop of about 22' down to the tranny.
All hail the mighty Gap-O-Tron || Photo: Stuart Kernaghan
Why the Gap-O-Tron ? Because underneath the last platform was a Jumbotron TV screen that was showing riders' entire runs to spectators in the Village. The magic of modern technology...
Before the riders started, the Kokanee sasquatch mascot – Jordie Lunn in disguise – took a run down the course on his bike. The crowd was moderately impressed, especially when he hit the quarter pipe in the fur suit, but everybody perked up when the three Kokanee girls followed him down the course in their short shorts. Now that was a good way to start the event. You could tell that many of the photogs were caught unaware by this stunt, though, because there were more shots of the back of the girls than the front. That may have been precisely what Kokanee planned, however. Either way, nobody was complaining. |
 Sasq throwing a tabletop on course || Photo: David Ferguson |
In addition to holding open qualifiers for the event, organizers also changed the format. There wouldn’t be any head-to-head-to-head finales like the past. Each competitor would get two runs, scored out of 40 points. The top 12 competitors after those two runs would advance to the Super Final, where they would get another two runs. And that was it. The rider with the best score at the end of the Super Final would take home a cheque (or check, if you're American) for $7,500.
Slopestyle, take one
It's nearly impossible to talk about every stunt that every rider pulled in every run, so rather than even attempting that, this year I'm going to talk about stand-out moments during certain competitors' runs. and give you some scores. You can figure out what impressed the judges and what didn't from there.
That being said, the riders who qualified, from highest to lowest score, were:
- Andreu Lacondeguy, Spain
- Paul Basagoita, Minden, NV
- Darren Berrecloth, Qualicum Beach, B.C.
- Thomas Vanderham, North Vancouver, B.C.
- Cam McCaul, Aptos, CA
- Cam Zink, Dayton, NV
- Kyle Strait, Redlands, CA
- Lluis Lacondeguy , Spain
- Kurt Sorge, Nelson, B.C.
- Ben Boyko, North Vancouver, B.C.
- Pierre-Edouard Ferry, France
- Ross McMaster, Whistler, B.C.
- Chris Hatton, France
- Kyle Ebbett, Essex Junction, VT
- Kyle Mcdonald, Whistler, B.C.
- Lance McDermott, U.K.
- Garett Buehler, Nelson, B.C.
- Ryder Kasprick, Parksville, B.C.
- Greg Watts, Aptos, CA
- Ryan Meyer, Delta, B.C.
- Kelly Mcgarry, New Zealand
- Mike Hopkins, Rossland, B.C.
- Wade Simmons, North Vancouver, B.C.
Lluis Lacondeguy, Greg Watts, and Mike Hopkins didn't ride on Saturday night due to injuries, so it was up to the other 20 riders to wow the crowds. And they certainly gave it their best shot.
Riders went in reverse order, meaning the first man out of the gate was one of the biggest and most respected names in freeride: Wade Simmons. Unfortunately, Wade didn’t start off with a particularly good run and fell at the top of the course. He did, however, manage a no-hander off the Gap-O-Tron stunt at the end.
Wade Simmons going off the spine at the top of the course. Note the Octopus with big teeter on the
left side of the pic || Photo: DerekUlrich.com
Ryan Myer came next and threw an x-up at the top followed by a no-footer off one of the hip jumps, but he was slow down the course and didn’t have enough speed at the end to make it onto the Gap-O-Tron. Garett Buehler took a different line from the first two riders, choosing to hit the Octopus. He followed that up with some nice work on the course, including a 360 onto the Kokanee box and a tabletop off the Gap-O-Tron.
Lance McDermott liked the idea of spinning and tried his own tailwhip off the step-up gap but it didn’t work so well and he hit the dirt. Rather than letting that get him down, Lance threw a solid flair on the quarter pipe and pushed back up the hill to get enough speed. What for? A wicked front flip on one of the big dirt jumps in the middle of the course, and a no-hander off the box. The B.C. contingent was well represented this year, so it wasn’t surprising that those boys were throwing down large. Ryder Kasprick threw a massive no-foot can on his first run, followed by a tailwhip. Kyle Ebbett made a bee-line for the dirt jump line beside the road gap, throwing a massive backflip on one of the doubles. |
 How many pieces of flair? Just one this time. || Photo: David Ferguson |
Chris Hatton stepped things up a notch as the first competitor to hit the Giro trailer, cruising along the top before launching off the right side, doing a 360 off the hip on the side of the big step-up, sailing along the SRAM wall, throwing a 360 off the box, and laying down a bit of style between the gaps on the Gap-O-Tron. It was definitely an impressive combination of tricks.
Ross McMaster wanted to put on a show for the local Whistler crowd, and he certainly made the effort with a backflip in the dirt jumps and a 360 off the box, but unfortunately he stacked. Frenchman Pierre-Edouard Ferry felt more at home in the forest than in the wide-open spaces at the top of the courses, and after hitting the teeter on the Octopus, headed back into the trees, throwing a suicide no-hander off the Regurgitator and another no-hander off the kicker onto the Gap-O-Tron.
 Superman? No, Strait imitating the Man of Steel. || Photo: David Ferguson |
UFC winner Kurt Sorge showed that he still had the moves that helped him win that comp, with a huge Superman and a no-hander off the Gap-O-Tron. Perennial favourite Kyle Strait went huge with a Superman can off the step-up. More importantly (for Kyle's body, at least) he didn't have any wicked ejections from the bike like he did last year. When it was Zink’s turn, he used the same giant pile of earth to launch a backflip. After coming fourth in more competitions than he or anyone else wanted to count, Cam McCaul came out of the gate with a take-no-prisoners approach. He threw a barspin, no-foot can off the step-up, followed by a Superman seat grab and bar spin off the Gap-O-Tron. That got the crowd’s attention. Maybe McCaul was destined for more than another fourth place... |
Rocky rider and big air king Thomas Vanderham threw down an absolutely massive moto whip off the step-up. He sailed through the rest of the course, going large off the kicker on the far left side and nailing the Race Face wall, finishing with a no-hander on one of the dirt jumps and an x-up off the Gap-O-Tron. Many people had their eye on Darren ‘Bearclaw’ Berrecloth, who could and should have won last year’s event, before this year's comp started. He'd won the Adidas Slopestyle event in Saalbach, Austria a few weeks earlier, and undoubtedly would have liked to add a Crankworx victory to his list of accomplishments. The Claw got the ball rolling with a Superman seat grab off the step-down road gap on the right side of the course. That was the only major trick he threw, though, and it looked as though he wasn’t really charging like some of the other competitors were. |
The Claw throwing the Superman seat grab on the massive step-down at the top of the course || Photo: David Ferguson
Next up was Paul Bas, winner of the first two Crankworx Slopestyle events. Paul looked like he was serious about picking up his third trophy, and dropped the hammer from the get-go, going huge from the top with an x-up off the step-down, a backflip off the step-up, a 360 tailwhip off the quarter pipe, a 360 off the box, and a sweet x-up off the Gap-O-Tron. The fans in attendance were suitably - and justifiably - impressed.
 Andreu Lacondeguy whipping off the quarter pipe || Photo: David Ferguson |
Andreu Lacondeguy, the younger of the two ‘Spanish kids’, Cedric’s protégé, and the top qualifier, had the honour of going last. He cruised the upper part of the course, flying over the step-up and launching a smooth 360 tailwhip off the quarter pipe and a backflip beside the box. And with that, the first run was over. 12 world-class riders with 12 runs with varying degrees of skill and difficult made for 12 different scores - with more that 18 points separating first and last places. McCaul was first with a score of 30.6, Andreu Lacondeguy was second with 30.3, and Paul Bas was third with 29.5. Wade was second-last on the list with a 12.4. If the first run was any indication of things to come, spectators weren't in any danger of getting a rehash of last year's event. Not by a long shot. |
Want to find out what happened next?
Take me to Part 2, where things really go off!
