A Homecoming for Many in Reno.
No less than four of our riders tonight are from Reno with 2 others just from the other side of the mountain and that pushed the riders to new heights. Add in a dirt show and the tricks were coming fast and furious. Perhaps the highest anticipated moment of the night was Kenny Bell pulling his first ever backflip in competition in front of his hometown crowd. He started off well but got a bit excited and over rotated on the landing driving him face first into the ground! He jumped up quickly and vowed to the fans that he would be back on Saturday after fixing his bike. Congrats to Kenny for getting the monkey off his back!
The Northern Nevada Toyota Dealers Final saw six riders this weekend with Graham Gustin going first after transferring in from the LCQ (last chance qualifier). He netted a 86.5 and sat in the hotseat first. Next out was the “Young One” Jesse Jolson. He flipped his way into a solid spot with an 89.5. Both locals Derek Burlew and Brian Foster tried to unseat the kid and both came very close- but close only counts…well you know. Next up was Dustin Nowak the “Wacker” who did a few more flip combos and knocked the Jesse out of the Toyota Hotseat while pulling in a 91 even on his run. Last out was X-Games Gold Medalist Matt Buyten. He flipped, whipped and bar tricked his way to the trophy and the glory in front of his hometown fans with a 91.5 to end the night.
The Racer X Best Whip comp was won by Burlew and the riders upped the ante with a Whip Train where the riders follow each other closely over the ramp. It proved to be just as dangerous as it sounds when Sean Neilsen took a digger on the landing with two riders in the air coming in hot. He got up to walk away and the show went on.
We gave away lots of great stuff tonight and plan to do the same tomorrow so get your tickets now and join us for the Coors Light Pit Party on Saturday
Saturday 1/26/08
The Party Never Stops in Reno When FMX is in Town!
Big crowds, big noise and that gets big tricks and we saw quite a few that we don't normally see thanks to an enthusiastic house of fans. Matt Buyten cleaned up winninng everything in site on night number two. History was made as well when Kenny Bell pulled off (and completed) his first ever back flip in competition for his hometown fans on his West Racing prepared YZ250. That wasn't good enough for himm though so he did it twice more in his finals run and finished off with the Truffle Shuffle. The crowd went crazy and he got them louder as he started stipping off his gear and tossing it into the crowd! His antics got him in to a 87.5 final score. Dustin "Wacker" Nowak had been sick all day, missing practice and not sure if he would ride. He made a last minute decision to go and ended up needing the last chance qualifier to make it into the The Northern Nevada Toyota Dealers FMX Final. He flipped his first jump and nearly stomped the shifter off the bike on the landing complicating things further and scoring an uncharacteristic 88. Brian Foster riding for his home crowd as well did a very smooth run with some nice Base Jumpers and McMetz to No Hander Lander to get a 89.3 but in a final full of flippers, his Toyota Hotseat time was limited. Yet another home town favorite, Derek Burlew kicked Foster out with one of his better runs lately scoring 89.7 points. The "Young One" Jesse Jolson went out second to last and backflipped to a mere 89 after making a mistake during the run. The battle was intense and then came Buyten. He raced the course, charging the ramps and roosting the berms like it was an AMA Supercross which helped him pop in more tricks than anyone else and compounded it with tricks like Heel Clicker and Superman Flips to win the Toyota Final with a 93 point score.
Matt Buyten also took the honors in the DoSomethingAmazing.com US Air Force Whip contest. The riders only got one shot at thier best and we let the crowd decide who stayed in for the win and who went home. The fans rightfully picked Buyten giving him the sweep on the night. Cody Webb amazed us all with his Extreme Moto Trials riding and put on a great show on his first weekend riding in front of a huge crowd.
Check the schedule to see where our world class riders are gonna be next or even better, sign up for the Cross Club right here on this site and get all the news you need from Monster Jam, Supercross, Arenacross and of course FMX. See ya on my next stop!
-Cory Stem
