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10-10-10.
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As with all the Razor Exposed Tour stops, I showed up at the skatepark the day before the contest to see who was out getting some practice in. On practice day you can usually get a pretty good idea on who is taking the contest serious or not. It's a look that they have in their eyes. A driven, and determined look that you would have a hard time finding on the average person. While I can assure you that every rider who participates is there to have fun, others have also come to realize that these competitions are nothing to be taken lightly. I got comfortable upstairs and had a good view of the whole
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I showed up at Skatebarn West early on Sunday and quickly noticed the amount of beginners that were at the park. I had a quick meeting with Exposed Tour Coordinator Dave Ward and we decided that with 54 beginners registered, we would have to do a Jam format for them. The jam format is something that Myself and Dave have been trying to avoid for all the Exposed Tour Stops, but with 54 entrants, it couldn't be avoided today. I held a short meeting with my other two judges, Nick Darger and OG rider Cody Speake, and explained to them that we had a tough task ahead of us as we would be having to watch 10+ riders ride at the same time, and then choose 15 or less out of the 54 to ride in the Beginner Finals, which would be individual runs. After the meeting, the contest began.
Some of the more familiar riders that would be in the contest were Kevin Barker (1st place at Razor Exposed Stop number 1) Paxton Swygard (3rd place at Razor Exposed Stop number 3) Ian Freelich (2nd place at Razor Exposed Stop number 3) and Bayley Maxcey (1st place at Razor Exposed Stop number 3). All of these guys have an amazing amount of potential and them being there made for an exciting beginner division contest.
The Jam
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When the Finals got started we knew we had made the right decision as each rider that took their run performed extremely well. There was even one rider who caught us all off guard, and that was local Josiah Campbell. He was riding extremely smooth all day and put together some amazing runs. Josiah would go on to take 1st place followed by Ian Freelich who took 2nd and Bayley Maxcey in 3rd. I can honestly say that these three will be performing at the intermediate level soon enough. They all have an immense amount of talent when they are on their scooters. I'd like to also point out again that the Jam session is something we do try to avoid at the contest. A lot of people see it as unfair, but can you take the time to look at it this way? We had 54 beginners in the division, most of which did not register online, which we always encourage, and if we had done individual runs it would have taken over two hours. We did not “screw” or “push aside” the beginner division. Jam sessions have occurred in the past for Pro Divisions and Am Divisions of other contests. It is something we have to do in order to make sure the contest can run smoothly and finish before we run out of time at the skatepark. Please try and understand that.
As the beginner division came to an end, so did the job of judging for Cody Speake as he would be competing in the upcoming Intermediate division. As the 20 minute Intermediate
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Top Intermediate riders Corey Funk, Cameron Ward, and Lance Nelson were all scheduled to compete. As well as locals Brian Gemme, Callum Batty, and Casey Thorn, who had no plans of making this easy for them. The
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So there we were, everyone bracing for what was obviously going to be one of the craziest Pro Division contests in the history of the sport. As top contest riders, Dakota Schuetz, Raymond Warner, Capron Funk, and Tyler Bonner were all ready to ride, and all happened to be riding as good as I've ever seen. Other top riders Chris Gascoigne, Cory
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As the first runs were finishing up we had seen some insane runs from Capron, Raymond, and Cooper, as well as a few more guys. But nothing could prepare us for the runs Dakota and Tyler were about to throw down. Dakota would take his run first, and put down a textbook Kota run. Flawless riding, and making every trick look as effortless as a tailwhip on flat. I had never heard a crowd cheer as loud and look as excited as they were after Dakota's run. That is, until Tyler took his first run. Tyler knew he had to answer back, and he didn't just answer...he screamed out-loud. He dropped in with a ton of speed and started things off with a 720 barspin up the roll in, as the crowd cheered an almost deafening roar, it only fueled him even more. He would continue his first run throwing tricks that most riders could only ever dream of landing in a day, and he didn't fall once. As his run came to an end, and the cheers of the crowd died down...Myself and the other two judges exchanged looks of complete shock as to what we had just witnessed. Then it hit us, we still had the second runs coming up.
The seconds runs started and it seemed like everyone had fed off of Dakota and Tyler's incredible performances. Everyone was trying to take it up a notch, and most did. With the runs that Mike Montgomery, Capron, and Raymond, and a few others had just taken we knew that this could potentially be a close race to 1st place. Before long we were back at the two riders who had created an energy like I had never felt before at a contest with their first runs, Dakota Schuetz and Tyler Bonner.
Dakota took his second run on a different scooter than his first run, the reason for that would be known in less than a minute. His run was starting off as good as his first, with everyone holding their
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So once again, it all came down to Tyler Bonner. Could he really do tricks better in his second run than the tricks he had just thrown down in his first run? The answer would come in 60 seconds. Tyler started his run aiming again for the roll in. When he hit it and threw
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The buzz of the Pro Division would carry into the best trick contest that takes place at the end of each Razor Exposed Tour stop, and is sponsored by us at Inside-Scooters with 100 dollars cash to the winner. Everyone was going for broke. Cary landed an insane
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Lastly, this contest to me is historic, well, because of what it was. The Razor Exposed Tour was the first of it's kind. No one has ever put together a contest Tour like this. Until Kimberly Funk and Dave Ward came along. They were not in this for profit, they didn't proclaim themselves as the Coordinators at each stop, nor were they looking for any fame from doing this. They did it for one reason, and that was to push and progress this sport, and take it to another level. Well guess what? They succeeded. I am honored to be able to say that I was appointed by them to be the Head Judge of such a Tour. Simply because I was able to be a part of something this big. It might have taken 10 years for something like this to happen, but we should all be appreciative to Kimberly and Dave that it did in fact happen. It happened because of them, and the collective efforts of all the companies who sponsored and helped at each stop. So to Kimberly Funk and Dave Ward I have just one thing to say. Thank You.
Will we have another Exposed Tour next year? Will it measure up to what the 2010 Razor Exposed Tour was? I couldn't tell you. But rest assure, if there is one, I will once again be at every Tour stop. If not as a Judge, then as the Head Writer for Inside-Scooters. To make sure you guys know how everything went down and are able to read it right here, on IS.
(All pictures were taken by Richard Robbins. Want to see more? Head to his website by clicking the following link.RobbinsPictures)
Written by Steven Tongson
That article was way to legit.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading stuff like this.
-Devon Garcia
hell yeah Devon im with you
ReplyDeleteThanks you guys.
ReplyDeletesteven i like your articles
ReplyDeletegreat article. really like reading ur long articles. and glad i could help :).
ReplyDeleteJames Gee
Vuuuuuuuurry nice. Bringin' it home for Eaglesport.
ReplyDeletefantastic article. razor has final stepped up to the plate with the Dew Tour for scooters. but have you heard of the newtons nation? if you think $100 for best trick was good have a look at their 2 grand purse for 1st place.
ReplyDeleteZach...please read the article more carefully. Razor did not Organize or Run this event..... It was done by Kimberly Funk and Dave Ward. She is the owner of Scooter Tees, and he is the owner of Dominator Scooter Accessories.
ReplyDeleteAlso..100 dollars is not all the Best Trick winners get. 100 dollars is what I hand over out of my pocket.
awesome article. so rad being able to read about all the stops on the exposed tour
ReplyDeleteUgh that article was long i feel like i just read harry potter...
ReplyDeleteI actually felt like I was there when I was reading this haha.Very well written Stephen.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for the footage to drop.
You didn't metion the guy who announced it??? Kingsly deffinately needs something bout him in here!!!!
ReplyDelete"anonymous" above me = kingsley hahah
ReplyDeleteLOL Matt, I totally thought the same thing hahaha.
ReplyDeleteThanks to everyone except Trick Darger, he can spray it.
BEST TRICK was BS!! no offence to mike or anything what he did was sick but ive seen Kc pull that befor people just dont hit the box backwards because they dont wanna get in a collision with people going down the rollin i just dont see how that beat a double back and that tranfer cary just didnt land but TURNDOWNED traveling wayy over to the right between a huge edge to hang up on and a wall to splat into landing in smaller tighter tranny that the k2 lip
ReplyDeleteYeah...I can see you're a little angry..thats sad =(
ReplyDeleteBest trick is about progression...not about landing a trick, that was landed 3 years ago...was landed at the previous Exposed tour stop for best trick....Was landed on Sunday in his run...and then thrown for Best trick again.
No one hit the box backwards on Sunday, and Mike went ahead and truckdrivered it. Carys trick was really close to winning also, and so was Stans.
Sorry if you're angry but your complaining really isn't going to change anything. It was cute though.
DOUBLE CHEESE BURGERS 4 LIFE
ReplyDeleteand for carys gap im pretty sure hes the only one in the world to hit that gap its never been done on anything but a skooter with cary mosbrucker on it thats progression at its best if u ask me
ReplyDeletewhat is kim's email?
ReplyDeletei think you guys forgot about us aussies when mentioning tyler being the best in our sport. he is a deadset shredder though...
ReplyDelete:P
man i wish i coulda gone
ReplyDeletenice article stephan
His name is steVEn you guys lol. STEVEN. no PH. Awesome article bro.
ReplyDeleteHahaha man...cmon guys! no PH
ReplyDeleteThanks Jordan.
tyler is effin G'd up from the feet up mr. Coe.
ReplyDeletebest "ALL AROUND RIDER" hands down.
im up myself
ReplyDelete