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05/16/2008
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The Crankworx Slopestyle Expression Session
Part 2 of the report
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Words by Stuart Kernaghan
Photos by David Ferguson, Jay Sinclair, and Stuart Kernaghan
If riders chose the other line from the top, heading to their left, they hit
a couple of smaller wooden drops before winding it up for the massive ramp and
road gap.
Busting one huge-ass move off the road gap || Photo: Stuart Kernaghan
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Both lines came back together at the double-wide box, formerly known
as the Green Monster, but now sporting an urban camo motif.
Riders coming from the teeter were about evenly split between the lower,
right side of the box and higher, left side.
Most of the guys who hit the drop launched off a hip jump at the bottom
left of the box.
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Didn't this used to be green? Cameron Zink chucking
a 360 off the box... ||
Photo: Jay Sinclair |
Matching wall ride and box - very Martha Stewart ||
Rider: Corey Derpak **
Photo:
Jay Sinclair |
From there riders could either head to the classic Whistler wall ride
on the left, straight ahead over a couple of smaller dirt jumps and then
a rather sizeable double, or to the right for dirt jumps and a quarter
pipe.
There were also a couple of wooden kickers scattered on the lower half
of the course for riders to take advantage of, and that many of them did,
sailing through the air and letting fly with whatever they could manage.
Can cans were popular, but people were also pulling backflips off anything
that had a lip - to varying degrees of success.
But the crowd ate it all up and came back for more, and the riders just
kept going bigger as the evening wore on.
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All three lines funnelled into the final stunt: a step-up to some scaffolding
with a little (and I do mean little) plywood kicker onto a dirt tranny that
ran out all the way down to the finish line.
Catching some air off the scaffolding. The tranny was
super-smooth, but rock hard. || Photo: Stuart Kernaghan |
The drop was somewhere around 10 to 15' from the scaffolding to the tranny,
depending on where you were landing.
The first few riders out of the gate were a little tentative in comparison
to what was to come, but it didn't take long before people were going large
on stunts built especially for the comp.
Lots of people were throwing serious tricks right from
the start of the course ||
Rider: Andrew Neethling ** Photo: David Ferguson |
Backflips turned out to be the trick du jour, and people were launching
them off the double right at the top of the course.
From there, things just went off. Suicide no-handers, bar spins, 360s, nose
wheelies, can cans, heel clickers, manuals, x-ups - you name it and riders
were
doing it. Guys were combining elements in the same run, and using just about
everything they could to get in the air and blow everybody's minds.
Cedric Gracia showing that much of the course was hands-optional
|| Photo: Jay Sinclair |
The first group of 25 riders had two runs to make it into the second round,
with only the top eight advancing. Riders didn't have to take a second run if
they felt their first was good enough, but almost everyone did.
It was almost like some people had slippery pedals -
their feet just didn't stay
on them ||
Rider: Super T Klassen
** Photo: David Ferguson |
After a total of 45 runs down the hill, the judges picked their top eight.
Cedric Gracia, Kirt Voreis, Richie Schley, Cameron Zink, Cameron McCaul,
Kyle Strait, Timo Pritzel, and Paul Basagoitia answered the call.
McCaul came out on top, with Timo and Paul tied for second.
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Things went from pretty crazy during the first round to out-of-this-world,
blow-your-mind, un-freaking-believable for the second.
It was as though some riders were spending as much time above the course,
flying through the air, as they were on it.
People were standing on the side of the course, slapping the person beside
them and asking, "Did he just do that? Did we actually see him backflip
onto the scaffolding?"
Or a backflip into a tailwhip? Or a suicide no-hander off that wicked
road gap?
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People were getting into the spirit of the event, some
more than others. || Photo: Jay Sinclair |
At times, the only way you could believe what you'd just seen was to look at the
digi cam screen - if you were lucky enough to have one. You thought your eyes
must have been deceiving you, because there is no way anyone could have done a
[insert trick here] on a bike.
But they had. And they kept on doing them. It's hard to say who started the
game of one-upsmanship, but most of the riders got into it once the hammer dropped.
Exiting the 360 off the hip jump, sans bike || Photo:
Stuart Kernaghan |
Kyle Strait did a backflip onto the scaffolding.
Paul did a tailwhip off of it.
Timo did a massive backflip on the double leading up to the scaffolding.
Cedric had organizers clear the crowd away before
he hit the double beside the road gap - because he wanted to go that
big.
Not surprisingly, there was a fair bit of carnage on the course, and
more than one rider was lost in a cloud of dust.
Zink did a 360 off the box and a backflip on the double leading up to
the quarter pipe, but ate it hard and had to chill for a few before starting
up again.
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Strait did another backflip on to the scaffolding, but caught the lip on the
way up and ditched the bike going off the backside. Luckily, he managed to walk
away from the crash.
Cameron Zink's backflip into dirt cloud, just before the
quarter pipe || Photo: David Ferguson |
The trick of the night had to go to Paul Basagoitia, though. Paul hucked a
backflip onto the scaffolding, and in spite of a seriously sketchy landing on
the top, threw a tailwhip off the back. And stuck it.
The crowd went absolutely wild, and deservedly so. It was an amazing trick
from a 17-year-old who - if word on the street is to be believed - hadn't been
on a mountain bike since the Sea Otter Classic event back in April.
I
want Part 3 - now!
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