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Today was a big one. It was the last day for the riders to qualify for tomorrow’s final event. Riders earn points for each day depending on how they place, and then those points are added up to get the top ten finalists. So you could say that today was pretty important and you would be correct, my friend. Let have a look at today’s recap, shall we?

There were a few guys that were on the bubble and today was the day to make it all happen. Dennis Enarson had some amazing tricks like the no-footed seat grab barspin and triple-whips, but a few falls kept him out of the finals. Austin Coleman was another guy in the running but a real hard slam in practice seemed to slow him down a bit. He still nailed a perfect downside-double-whip on one of the big quarterpipes. Today, Josh Perry made it into the top ten with a Pile Driver, which is a barspin, catch the bars, then do another barspin, and then do a tailwhip…all in a 360! But it still wasn’t enough to get into Sunday’s final.

Allan Cooke was also on the bubble and by doing some of the biggest transfers of the day and flowing the course whilst doing difficult tricks, he made it in. He also went down on one of those transfers trying to whip it. Time ran out, but then he did it anyways just for the hell of it. Oh yeah. A really cool trick to watch was Craig Mast’s 360-tailwhip-to-can-can. He stayed consistent all there days and made it into the finals no problem.

The top five guys were really close in placings. Hitting the number five spot, Andy Buckworth started off with a double-downside-whip-360 then went straight into one of the highest flairs of the day, plus lots of other things like a perfect decade air from the quarter to wedge while Catfish gave him cool sound effects. Andy also does a crazy backflip-handplant. The surprise of the day was Daniel Dhers getting fourth. Not that his runs weren’t great, it’s just a few boobles kept him out of first. He did bring a few new moves like a can-can one-handed-720. Ryan Guettler came out swinging in his first run with a stretched superman-flip in his first run and a double-backflip in his second. Flowing the whole course got him a well deserved 3rd.  The flair of the contest belongs to Diogo Canina. He traveled over the big wedge from quarter to quarter straight to trucking the big box jump one direction and 720ing it the other. Everything Diogo does is super-high and really good looking.

The man of day three was none other than Scotty Cranmer, armed with some 90s-era shin pads and big bag of tricks. When you start with a double-tailwhip-backflip you know you got a good thing going on. He also dominated the big box jump with three-whips, double-whips, and a front flip. Good job, Scotty. I can’t wait to see what the finals are going to bring tomorrow.

The hardest part of judging is pretty much all of it. You have 20 guys competing against each other, all with different styles and all with a huge bag of tricks. It’s pretty much anyone’s game. Clay Brown even told me the hardest part of judging today’s event was Rob Darden and Diogo Canina because they had similar runs. But they ended up with 3rd and 2nd, which was a huge jump from yesterday. Who won? You’ll have to wait to the end of this little story…or just jump to the bottom and see if you’re really impatient.

Another thing about contests is that not placing well does not necessarily mean you didn’t do great things on your bike. Sometimes things just don’t go as planned. One of the crowd’s favorite, 13-year-old Nicholi Rogatkin, had a few falls but nailed a flip-whip over the box! Did I mention he was 13? He’s frickin’ 13 and does flip-whips! Another standout was Chase Hawk. He’s not known for doing the craziest stunts, but man he can make bike riding look soooo good. His style is something most riders wish they had.

I may have jumped the gun telling you what place Rob and Diogo got because I usually wait until this part of the story for that. So I guess we’ll just talk about fifth and fourth. In fifth, Mike Spinner definitely had some of the hardest tricks like a 1080 and triple-whips, but not hitting more of the course hurt his score some. Garrett Reynolds does so much stuff back to back that it’s too hard to write notes during his run. I actually have carpel tunnel just trying to keep up. Thanks a lot, Garrett. He ended up with fourth. And the winner—again—was Daniel Dhers, who pretty much showed the Nike 6.0 HB BMX Pro course whose daddy it was. That’s just what happens when you do corked out, no-handed 720s, no-handed 360’s over the big box, and pretty much whatever he wants on any ramp at any time.

This contest format is something that hasn’t really been done before and the riders are now getting into the flow of it. I think you will see place changes like Rob and Diogo did today, hence the title of this story, “The Tides Have Turned.” What will tomorrow bring? I can’t really be sure exactly, but I do know another amazing contest will unfold.

The Cardinal team (Nate Moroshan, E-Man, and Boy) recently took a trip to Barcelona with Glenn PP Milligan and shot this edit. Click here to check it out. It's good. What did you think? What are your thoughts on Cardinal so far?

Whenever I show up to judge a contest I really have no idea what to expect. The Nike 6.0 HB BMX Pro was no exception. The course was a great layout full of hips, creative lines, and big transfers. All 20 riders were here to show off their best moves and try to make it into the finals on Sunday. Here’s a quick rundown of what went down—good and bad. 

Let’s start with the bad news first, shall we? The youngest rider of the contest (13), Nicholi Rogatkin, (who was voted in by fans online) took it the hardest after hanging up on a tailwhip-gone-wrong over one of the many hips. But like a young Genghis Khan he rose back up and rode his 2nd run like a true warrior. Rob Darden also did quite a disappearing act after landing a little crocked on a turndown-360 over the spine that shot him under the elevated mini ramp section. But some of the most entertaining almost mishaps were from Matt Sparks who some how defied the laws of gravity when he pulled a flair that he shouldn’t have and a barspin that he fumbled so much you thought it was a football play gone wrong—but he rolled away with a big ol’ smile on his face.

Some of the main highlights included Dennis Enarson blasting a flair at the eight-foot mark out of the ten-foot quarter. That’s it. No other highlights... Oh wait, we also saw 1080s and triple-tailwhips from Craig Mast and Mike Spinner. Ryan Guettler rode the entire course so well and threw down big moves including a stretched superman-backflip.

It’s always good to see an up-and-comer do great at a contest. That’s exactly what Andy Buckworth did with no-handed front-flips and a handplant-backflip. He has a great future ahead of him.

Garrett Reynolds is one of the best riders—period. When someone does some of the hardest tricks back to back on almost every ramp you can’t argue with that statement. It’s hard for me to take notes when that kid rides. The big man of the first day was Daniel Dhers. He’s another guy that does the hardest tricks out there like can-can 720’s, no-handed-360 over the big box jump, and a flair-whip. The crazy thing about Daniel was that he was in first before he took his last run with no one else to go, and he still bettered his first score!

Day one complete. Stay tuned for 3 more days from the Judges Tower.

SUNringlé just sent over which three Vital BMX members had the best name ideas for their new rims. Here are the results!

1. bmxflat99
2. ##Tristan##BMXR##
3. 401

Congrats to the winners!

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