Jared Souney © Lat34

Who Needs Finals? The Prelims Rocked!

Saturday’s BMX Park Prelims at the Toyota Challenge in San Jose were no ordinary Prelims. In fact, if this is the way Prelims are going to be, the Dew Tour organizers may as well just skip to the Finals. Every rider came out swinging like it was their last contest ever. At the end of it all 8 of the 12 finalists had tying scores.

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34 riders duked it out for 2 ½ hours at the HP Pavilion indoor Park course. Scotty Cranmer, Daniel Dhers and Ryan Nyquist were the top three finalists to move on to Sunday’s Finals. Cranmer threw down two unbelievable runs that would have won just about any Finals contest on the planet. He pulled a front flip up the giant step-up on the left side of the course, turned around and did a big tail whip back down it. His second run was all about double whips. He pulled more than half a dozen variations including a double whip to tail tap on the mini ramp, over the table top, and up the giant step-up.

Daniel Dhers kicked it into high gear with two stunning runs. No-foot tailwhips over the table top, no-hand flairs on the quarter pipes – you name it, Dhers did it – enough for him to beat out hometown favorite Ryan Nyquist. Nyquist had a rough time with BMX Dirt Finals Friday night, but was able to redeem himself in Park Prelims with a 3rd place finish. 

Austin Coleman was on fire putting together the performance of his life. The other riders looked on in awe as Coleman ripped up the course going bigger than most anyone else. The ear-to-ear smile on Coleman’s face said it all after he pulled off a huge no-handed flair on the quarter pipe, the first he’s ever attempted in competition. Could his new music choice of Prince have something to do with it? We’ll let you decide.

Steven McCann, Alistair Whitton, Gary Young, Garret Reynolds, Allan Cooke, Colin Mackay, Morgan Wade and Dave Dillewaard all made it into Sunday’s Park Finals. Ryan Guettler put out two ambitious runs that ultimately weren’t enough to get him into the Finals. But, considering he won BMX Dirt Friday he should be feeling pretty good about himself. Guettler also failed to reach Park Finals at the last stop of the Dew Tour in Portland. Chad Kagy had a pretty powerful first run that judges scored low, and followed it with a mediocre second run that kept him out of the Finals.

While he didn’t make it to Finals, Marcus Tooker threw out one of the best tricks of the Prelims that had everyone pulling out their hair. He sped up to the tabletop in the center of the course and launched a huge 360 whip for the textbooks and still had enough time to add a barspin at the end.

If this is the kind of performance these guys are throwing down in Prelims, the fireworks are sure to go off at Sunday’s Finals. Tune back in tomorrow.