Friday - 7:30pm
It was a throw back to the beginning and a story bookending. Add to that wildly enthusiastic fans and you have a recipe for a bestseller called the Guthrie, Oklahoma stop on the Rush of Adrenaline tour.
The Lazy E Arena was transformed by the IFMA track worker from a rodeo ring to a fantastic freestyle landscape. And the real treat? It was all dirt. Three two sided landings with a dirt 8 foot takeoff in between. Add four metal launching ramps and you can only wish you were one of the lucky fans here tonight.
The field featured eleven of the top riders on the tour, but it was an Oklahoma native who made it a story bookending. Cody Elkins from Weatherford rode his all black Suzuki to the top score of 92.0 in the Ogio Round One Qualifier. Oklahoma City’s Bryan Dowdy nudged next to him with a 91.0.
The Torco Second Round Qualifier saw the scores climb high with Las Vegas “High Roller” Ben Venya edging close with a 91.5 and JJ Romans flipping his way to a 91.7. But at the end of Qualifying, Elkins was sitting on top and hoping to sit in the Maxey Cycles Hot Seat in the Finals.
Would the spoiler be Brody Wilson? He had won in Charleston, won in Columbus, but would he win here tonight? It looked like the stars were aligning for Wilson with his Dosomethingamazing.com Head to head win. While Wilson’s 90.0 meant that he had to ride first in the Finals, he scored a 92. Wilson took his place in the Hot Seat and would not let go.
Dowdy scraped out a 90.25, Ben Venya kicked it up to a 91.0 and JJ Romans scored 91.2. But no one could knock Wilson off the Hot Seat. Then there was one. The last one… Cody Elkins. The pressure of the home crowd could have distracted him. Instead Elkins fed off the screams and cheers. The 6 foot, one inch tall rider pulled out front of the bike tricks like a Starfish, hit the back side and kicked it out the side. But it was upside down, three times over that sent the crowd and the judges over the edge. Notching a 94.0 Elkins basked in the adoration of his fans and the respect of the other riders as his took his place on the Hot Seat.
Geoff Aaron dazzled the fans with his extraordinary talents of balance, concentration and skill. The 10 time Trials Champion expanded the Red Bull Playground far beyond his typical obstacles. Aaron worked the entire track with roll backs, pivot turns and finishing with two massive “splatters”. Oh, and he decided to involve a real live person, yours truly. But that’s a story for another day.
Speaking of a story for another day, we get to do it all over again tomorrow. If you are anywhere nearby, get to the Lazy E arena now. You could be part of the next chapter in this extraordinary story.
Qualifying Scores
Adam Cousino 80.0
Jason Rowe 82.0
Doug Cossey 83.0
Casey Higgins 84.0
Shawn Connors 86.0
Derek Cook 89.5
Brody Wilson 90.0
Bryan Dowdy 91.0
Ben Venya 91.5
JJ Romans 91.7
Cody Elkins 92.0
Finals
Bryan Dowdy 90.25
Ben Venya 91.0
JJ Romans 91.2
Brody Wilson 92.0
Cody Elkins 94.0
Saturday - 7:30pm
While it was still a throwback track, the question is…was it another storybook ending? It had the making of it. The Lazy E Arena had every Oklahoma freestyle fan packed in possible. And they were rocking the place. The competition was tight, right down to the same two finalists.
Weatherford Oklahoma’s Cody Elkins set the same stage as last night, scoring the benchmark 92.0 in the Ogio First Round Qualifiers. And Piedmont Oklahoma’s Bryan Dowdy rose rapidly in the rankings, scoring the number two qualifying position with 91.0. Derek cook almost made it a three way dance of Oklahoma riders, but his 89.0 was a point beyond Ben Veyna’s even 90.0 in the Torco Second Round Qualifier. The man who almost spoiled the Elkins party last night, Brody Wilson rounded out the top 5 with an 89.5 as the last man riding in the Qualifying Rounds.
In some ways, the real story of this weekend was the phenomenal track that the fans saw the rider tear up. The Live Nation track builders carved hundreds of thousands of pounds of red Oklahoma dirt into a mountainscape of jumps and landing. Imagine a selection of the biggest Rocky Mountain peaks with motorcycle flying over top and you’ll have a picture of what the fans witnessed in this stop on the Rush of Adrenaline tour.
As the fans anxiously awaited the judges to write another magical ending in the Finals, they were treated to twice the fun. The head to head competition gave way to a Doubles contest, with rivals JJ Romans and Brody Wilson put aside their individualism and aligned their styles to pull out the win. Whipping the fans into a frenzy was the Dosomethingamazing.com Big Whip Contest, with Cody Elkins setting the stage for that Finals storybook ending with a crowd judged win.
Even Geoff Aaron doubled up his fun by involving a track worker in addition to your friendly neighborhood announcer in his extraordinary demonstration of trials riding skills. After his balanced, bunny hopped and wheelied his way around the arena, he “splattered” his way to the top of the Red Bull Mototrials playground twice - launching his fuel injected Honda Montessa 15 feet to the top of the obstacle trailer.
Cook felt the pressure as the first rider out in the Finals and racked up an 88.0. But Derek enjoyed the benefit of being first out as he sat on the Racer X Hot Seat. Wilson was out next. In a nearly flawless demonstration of trick variety, extension and difficulty, Wilson jumped ahead with a 94.0 and jumped onto the Hot Seat. On a bike borrowed from Cook, Bryan Dowdy moved ahead of his friend by .5 of a point. But 88.5 did not dislodge Wilson from his position on the Hot Seat. Ben Veyna again packed many trick combinations, but it was the lack of a backflip that may have resulted in his score of 91.0. Wilson remained on the Hot Seat and the scene was set for the same storybook ending as last night.
The last rider out was Cody Elkins. You could see it in his eyes that he felt the pressure to repeat. Many family and friends stood screaming the stands with the rest of the fans as Elkins took it upside down one, two and three times. Working the front and sides of his black Suzuki, Elkins dug down deep. After 90 seconds it was the moment of truth. But a storybook ending was not in the script with the judges awarding Elkins a 93.5.
Wilson accepted the trophy, shook Elkins hand and then strapped his helmet on. Rather than remaining on the Hot Seat as was his right, Wilson decided to add to the reward for the fans. All 11 freestylers and Geoff Aaron performed an amazing encore. So perhaps it really was a most happy ending after all.
Qualifying
Adam Cousino 84.0
Doug Cossey 85.0
Casey Higgins 86.5
Shawn Connor 87.5
Jason Rowe 88.0
JJ Romans 88.5
Derek Cook 89.0
Brody Wilson 89.5
Ben Veyna 90.0
Bryan Dowdy 91.0
Cody Elkins 92.0
Finals
Derek Cook 88.0
Bryan Dowdy 88.5
Ben Veyna 91.0
Cody Elkins 93.5
Brody Wilson 94.0
Reported by Doug de Nance, announcer/fan
