Cowan’s Jump Jam Gets Territorial

In its fourth year, Cowan's Jump Jam now draws a nice crowd of riders and spectators Photo: DJ

Dirt jump king and proud papa John Cowan Photo: Kathy Sessler

Santa Cruz's Kirt Vories sticks it in the trees Photo: Kathy Sessler

John Cowan may be watching a little too much Survivor. Instead of the relaxed atmosphere of past gatherings, Cowan’s fourth-annual Jump Jam pitted riders from different regions of the world against one another.

The three main teams included contingents of riders from Aptos (including Cam McCaul, Jamie Goldman and Greg Watts), Southern California and Germany (Carlo Dieckmann, Timo Pritzel). They weren’t competing so much for prizes or pride, but rather just some bragging rights. And even with the territorial format, the jam has always been about bringing riders together and having a good time, even if some of them come from halfway around the world.

Cowan’s compound outside Escondido, California, is home to a huge set of tight and technical dirt jumps that have been the site of countless video and photo shoots. According to Kathy Sessler, team manager for the Santa Cruz Syndicate, which counts Goldman and Vories among its riders, “The riders were throwing sick moves, but nothing too big went down as the jumps are very technical.”

Vories and Paul Basagoitia (both competing on the winning SoCal Team) were the only riders to pull 360s on one of the more technical jumps at the top of the course. Goldman tossed big backflips on the last jump, Brian Lopes threw in some nice 360s and McCaul threw bar spins off almost everything. His younger brother Tyler, only 17, impressed his peers when he tailwhipped the last jump.

When the jumping was over, the riders ate, drank and collected a few prizes. But mostly they just relaxed and shared stories with their friends. They also voted Cam McCaul the best rider of the day. “I must say there was a bit of bloodshed and filthy dirty riders at dusk to take their prizes, and everyone had a great time,” Sessler said.