Fifteen-year-old
Brandon Semenuk discovered one of the pitfalls of rider-judged
slopestyle competitions today: someone may bleed all over
your scorecard. Semenuk was judging the Bike Magazine Monster
Park qualifying run with 11 other riders—half of the
competition—when he looked down on his scoresheet and
saw a spot of smeared blood. It could have come from Kyle
Ritchie, who cut his head earlier in the day and stood to
Semenuk’s right, or Joe Perrizo, to his right, whose
elbow was shredded raw. Many of the riders, it seemed, ended
the day with a new cut, scrape or bruise.
A few
riders managed to survive the carnage, however and make it
through to the finals. Darren Berrecloth advanced easily with
a big no-footed can off the course’s initial drop. Cam
McCaul threw an impressive series of tailwhips and Thomas
Vanderham sought out the course’s biggest moves and
spent as much time in the air as on the ground. Ben Boyko,
coming off a fourth-place finish at Crankworx, excited the
crowd with a combination of big airs and technical moves.
A contingent of the contest’s youngest riders also made
it through.
In all,
12 riders advanced to the finals, which will take place today,
August 20, at Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia (see complete
list of riders, and their scores, below). For the qualifying
round, the field was broken into two groups of 12. While one
group rode, the other judged. Riders were scored on style,
fluidity, amplitude and the tricks they pulled. Mountain bike
legend Andrew Shandro served as head judge and Mitchell Scott,
Bike’s editor at large, served as the event’s
emcee, calling out the action and reminding the crowd—on
several occasions—that it was his thirty-sixth birthday.
Soon after
qualifying ended, Nike 6.0 hosted a jump jam. With many of
the riders injured and tired after the qualifying round and
others trying to stay healthy for the finals, only three riders
entered the competition—Cam McCaul, Phil Sundbaum and
Steve Bafus. McCaul started the action early, tossing no-footed
cans, backflips and tailwhips. Sundbaum would throw his own
flips and tailwhips too, but Bafus snapped an axle just as
he was heating up. In the end, McCaul took first place, earning
$500 and ending a long day of intense competition.
Monster
Park Final Riders (with qualifying score)
Darren
Berrecloth 77.0
Ben Boyko 76.4
Thomas Vanderham 66.6
Cam McCaul 65.0
Brandon Semenuk 64.9
Dave Smutok 64.8
Adam Hauck 64.3
Wayne Goss 63.7
Paul Basagoitia 62.5
Jamie Goldman 60.0
Kurt Sorge 59.1
Carlo Diekmann 51.8
