And the winner is... Mike Spinner. Congrats! Jared Souney © 2006 Lat34

Mike Spinner Makes BMX History and Wins Free Flow Tour Finals

There was just over a minute and a half left in the Free Flow Tour BMX Finals competition when Mike Spinner went for his first attempt on the 720 tail whip. Spinner made it through the spin, but fell on the landing and had to recupe for a moment on the top of the ramp again. With 40 seconds left he dropped in, took a straight air on the quarterpipe, and pedaled as fast as he could toward the tabletop. One perfect 720 tailwhip later Spinner rode his way into both BMX history and a spot in Orlando as he took gold in the Free Flow Tour Finals at the Vans Invitational in Portland, OR.

In a jam session format, the competition took the winner from each of the eight Free Flow Tour stops and split them up into two heats of four. The two highest scored riders in each heat continued into the finals which was another heat of four.

And then there was one. Spinner was obviously displaying the best riding of the competition, but riders such as Josh Perry and Adrian Vigil did put on a good display riding with some supermans, superman seatgrabs and tailwhip variations all over the place.

The Free Flow Tour Finals sufficiently blurred the lines between the am and pro levels of riding. The generally younger & probably more hungry riders are coming up and showing some of the pros how it's done. They are more than hot on their trail.  Spinner is going on to Orlando and could have a good shot at getting to the finals, especially if he continues to pull ground breaking tricks like he did today.

- Cody Allen