Race Face UFC III - The finals

Again this year a plane ticket is being couriered to rural B.C. to bring one rider to Monterey while the other finalist will probably just jump  in a car (or a moto?).  Wayne Goss defeated Chris Quintero to move on while Carlin Dunne advanced by getting more votes than Ian Duncan.  Goss gave us the most well-rounded display of talent of all the videos and Dunne just plain went bigger than anyone else.

Vote Tallys:

Wayne Goss + Carlin Dunne 2275
Wayne Goss + Ian Duncan 1389
Chris Quintero + Carlin Dunne 1134
Chris Quintero + Ian Duncan 413

So the battle between Canada and the U.S. and between hardtails and big bikes has yet to be decided.  If you are making the trip to Sea Otter you can witness the announcement live - otherwise you'll have to tune in to nsmb.com or keep watching raceface.com to see when the results arrive.

This week we get a chance to see the lifestyle videos for each of the finalists and you'll notice a very different approach to the task by the two riders.


Wayne Goss age 19 - Fernie, B.C.
Rather than trying to show us how cool he is by performing some moves out of Jackass, Wayne Goss literally cruises through the lifestyle portion of his video.  He hops on a cruiser (ladies of course) and sails around the local skatepark - much of the time rolling backwards. We learn that Wayne is happy to just be riding, whether it's with the local rockstars or someone just starting out.  Damnit - on top of being freakishly talented he, like Matt Hunter from last year, seems to be a great kid as well.  The purist in me loves the fact that his entire video is on a hardtail.  In an age where excess rules Wayne Goss' small town vibe seems to roll us back to a simpler time, while his riding pushes us into the 21st century.  A worthy finalist indeed.


Carlin Dunne - age 20 Santa Barbara, CA
Carlin Dunne uses his lifestyle clip to display his motorcycle pedigree.  I found his voice hard to hear but I think he said he's been riding motocross since he was "a little kid" and that he started racing road courses on a motorcycle at 13, turning pro at 15.  He reiterates that he has been riding mountain bikes for a year and a half.  I wonder how that learning curve would look on a graph; going from not being a rider to doing some of the largest moves anyone is doing on  a bicycle in a mere18 months?  Does he love it though?  Obviously something about bikes without motors has captivated Carlin or he wouldn't have made the commitment to enter this contest.

Once again we are faced with a choice that will help the fledgling sport of freeride mountain biking navigate towards maturity.  With your mouse you get to decide what matters to you.  Ultimately we are asking ourselves what makes a great rider - and what do we are striving towards on our bikes as individual riders. 

Wayne Goss does go big in his clip (huge when you consider he's on a hardtail) but it's pretty clear that his tech moves put him into the finals.  Without a tailwhip, a barspin and some masterful manuals it's unlikely he would have made it this far.  Conversely Carlin Dunne shows us some park riding, including a turbine smooth 360, but his show stoppers, and what advanced him to the finals, were his monster moves.  

The divisions aren't clear-cut but there are distinctions to be made between style and size, between versatility and the wow factor.  You could say that Goss' riding pushes freeride toward bmx and skate influences while, not surprisingly, Dunne moves mtb towards moto.

And now you get to decide where we are headed.