with their best run counting as their overall score. Unfortunately, Dennis Enarson injured himself during yesterday's semi-final, which ultimately reduced the field to nine. Between the hubba ledges, rails and replica China Banks, there was no shortage of solid obstacles to showcase their abilities. With every round of riders taking their runs we saw the competiton get stepped up. In the first round last year's defending champion Garrett Reynolds came out hot to intimidate the field. Reynolds kicked off his run with a banger most would save till the end, a double truckdriver down the big set - allowing the bars to spin twice while turning a 360 is anything but simple. However, the rest of the riders were showing their confidence on the course, too.
Dan Lacey pulled over tooth grinds on every rail in his past, namely the large hand rail and the bump bar. Stevie Churchill showcased his bunny hop height with a bunny hop 360 tailwhip off the manual pad and went on to pull a 360 turndown later in his run. Bruno Hoffmann hit the big hubba with a feeble to manual. Dakota Roche took his turn and hopped straight up onto the hubba into a manual across the flat then nose manualed down. During the final round of runs Devon Smillie took a double peg up the handrail landed it to manual and then hit a smith down the hubba and hopped it to manual at the end. Churchill made his return to the stairs and throw a 360 tailwhip down the set. However, when it came down for the final rider to take his it was all eyes on Chad Kerley as he qualified first the day prior.
Kerley came into his final run with a score to settle with himself after a few tough runs earlier. Kerley came right into it with a 180 into a manual on the pad then spun a 180 barspin out straight into a feeble tailwhip on the picnic table and went on to nose manual up the long pad to 180 out. Then, toward the end of his run Kerley laid down a giant 540 down the stairs after having trouble with it in his first two runs. "I just tried to keep the ball moving and focus on the stuff that came next and it worked out for, said Kerley following his final run. "The nose 180 bar up the ledge I did in practice but never in a run so it was good to pull that!”
But when the final score came in it was Reynolds all over again claiming the top spot after displaying to the crowds exactly why he is referenced as one of the most technical guys doing it. “It feels good to take first place," said Reynolds with a bit of shock. "I seriously thought right in the end Kerley was gonna take it. He totally held his run together but I don’t know, he put it on the judges and somehow I got it, so I’m psyched.”
With Reynolds taking all and Kerley in second it was Lacey that rounded off the podium - very fitting considering he took all in the BMX Street Best Trick in at the Beach Championships in Ocean City, Maryland. “I’m blown away to take third, when you’re up against all these rad dudes you want to just tried to go in there with a level head and just tried to enjoy yourself. Cause if you try hard, you’ll just stress about it you just wind yourself up," said Lacey stoked on his final placement. "So I just went out there and rode with all my homies, so it’s sick to be in
the top three.” Results 1st Place – Garrett Reynolds 2nd Place – Chad Kerley 3rd Place – Dan Lacey 4th Place - Stevie Churchill 5th Place - Bruno Hoffmann 6th Place - Devon Smillie 7th Place - Sean Sexton 8th Place - Dakota Roche 9th Place - Jeremiah Smith 10th Place - Dennis Enarson
By Allisports
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.