Bestwick Shows No Signs of Stopping

Aug 18 2006 / Portland The “retiree” easily qualifies first for the finals at the Vans Invitational
 

PHOTO GALLERY Check out BMX practice photos from Portland at the Dew Tour. VIEW GALLERY>

At the Vans Invitational BMX Prelims, Jamie Bestwick performed pretty well for someone who “retired” two weeks ago. Actually, he showed absolutely no signs of slowing down, and was the only rider of the day to score in the 90s, with a no handed 540, and his signature opposite fast plant flair. And of course he linked all of his tricks together seamlessly.
 
The other top qualifiers were no surprise, Simon Tabron threw down a run good enough for second the first time out, and Chad Kagy and Kevin Robinson were in there at 3rd and 4th respectively. Kagy, who is fresh off a victory at X Games, was very happy with his qualifying performance.
 
“Any time I qualify first, I don’t win,” Kagy said. “I don’t like to go last (in the finals), it just adds extra pressure.”
 
Kevin Robinson threw some solid tricks in his run for 4th, but then kept riding and was attempting 540 tailwhips after the buzzer sounded. It looked like it may be testing it out for the final, although he got knocked out for a few seconds on his second attempt.
 
Although the finals are shaping up to be a showdown between the tour leaders, one of the most exciting things about the 2006 Dew Tour is the younger riders who are coming into vert. In Denver, several of them got a chance to excel in the finals as many of the usual suspects were missing, and in Portland they had to work even harder to maintain their positions. 
 
One of the best examples of this was Chilean Francisco Zurita, who threw a double tailwhip in his second run that was enough to move him comfortably into the finals (even with everyone except John Parker in attendance.) The rest of his riding is smooth and solid, and if he continues to add tricks like that one, he will be one to watch in the near future. But the experience difference between the newer riders and the seasoned vets definitely shows. All of the riders in the competition can throw down some serious tricks, but the trick to Vert competition is more than that.
 
“Its not about the tricks you can do, it’s about if you can do them if you’re tired and at the end of your run,” Koji Kraft said. “It’s about pulling tricks back to back; if you do a bunch of crazy stuff and then end up just doing a bunch of set-up airs, nobody wants a blank wall.”
 
The BMX Vert finals are set to go down Friday night.