Bestwick Bests His Buddies in BMX Vert Prelims

Jamie Bestwick is on a roll: He's won the last two Dew Tour BMX Vert events, and is currently leading in the overall Dew Tour points race. Tonight he kicked off the Toyota Challenge here in San Jose by blowing away the competition in the Vert prelims with a seemingly effortless first-run score of 92.5.

Chad Kagy and Simon Tabron took second and third, echoing their catch-up game in the overall Dew Tour points competition. Jimmy Walker placed fourth, but in some ways his fast, sketch-filled runs were more fun to watch than the leaders', with the crowd in the HP Pavillion gasping at every huge air and every near miss.

 

The big surprise of the night: Kevin Robinson, currently in third place overall, nearly missed the Toyota Challenge finals altogether when a first round crash left him in 19th place.

Coming into this event, Robinson wrote in his Lat34 blog that he has a score to settle with San Jose, where he ended up in the hospital with a minor coma last year. He squeaked up into 9th place after round two tonight, despite another fall at the end of his second run, bumping Dennis McCoy off the bubble and out of the finals. He's riding on an injured shoulder, and will be jinx-proofing his bike all night.