Write up by: Art Thomason

     Battle at the Beach was the first major flatland contest in the U.S. this year; so, people have been looking forward to this event for a long time.  I was definitely one of them.  I flew in late the night before the contest and when I landed I found out that my bags and bike were in Washington DC.  Although I was not stoked with this news, when I arrived at the hotel things started looking up.  The hotel was super nice and was attached to the convention center where the contest was held.  It was like a flatland utopia.  The riding area in the convention area was huge and flat.  These polished concrete floors are typically slick, but this one was nice and gripy.  After eying Eugene’s Momentum, just in case mine didn’t show, I called it a night.

     The next morning I went back to the airport to check on my bike.  Luckily, when I walked through the door I almost ran into a guy pushing my bike and bag over to the ticket counter.  I went back to the hotel, put my bike back together, ate some breakfast buffet with Cory Fester, and hit up the practice session.  A few hours later, it was time for the AM class prelims.  There was a nice AM turnout, 25 riders total.  I was a judge, which seems to get harder every time.  These AM riders are just so darn good these days.  One thing that was easy was qualifying Stephen Hearn in the number 1 slot.  Cross-footed backpacker turbined to hitchhikers and the fastest blenders EVER were just a few of the moves that Stephen was busting.  Anthony Brogden rode awesome and made the cut, but since he was one of the guys running the comp, he withdrew from the comp and gave his spot up for the rider in 13^th place.  What a nice guy! 

     Next, they had a quick best trick comp for the Ams.  Needless to say, Stephen Hearn walked away with a brand new frame for his efforts.  Once Stephen got his frame, they called over John Young and told him to bring his bike.  Sick Child donated a frame to the contest, but Ed wanted it to go to the guy with the ugliest bike.  John’s beat up Quamen did the trick; he walked away with a brand new anti-freeze green Sick Child.  Pro prelims were next. 

     As luck would have it, the Worlds were scheduled for the same weekend as Battle at the Beach, so I think everyone was a little worried that this would hurt the turnout.  But, there was a nice turnout for Pro; 18 riders total.  There were veterans, first time pros, new school riders, old school riders, and middle school riders!  The prelim was amazing.  I was glad that I was not a judge for this one.  Everyone was going off!  Nestone Favero, Mickey Gaidos, T.J. Perry, and Corey Fester all just missed the cut, but did some incredible riding.  Justin Miller and Terry Adams just got back from the Asian X-Games where Terry took 1st and Justin took 2^nd.  They were battling it out again in South Carolina, but this time Justin qualified 1^st, and Terry was right behind him.  Trevor qualified in the 3^rd place spot.  It was good to see Trevor back in competition again. 

     The finals were Sunday and the AMs were up first.  Once again, the AMs were off the hook.  Carey Matthews was doing it for the South Riders and earned 5^th place with a bunch of awesome switches and 360 barflip side squeaks.  Eric Effinger rode flawless in the prelims with endless front wheel barflips.  He had a few touches in the finals, but his tricks were solid enough to land him 4^th.  Bob Walters provided a little comic relief and some original moves.  He rode out with sunglasses and red devil horns on his head.  He also did a decade holding the head tube!!  Bob got a well deserved 3^rd place.  Stephen Hearn broke his front axle at some point during his run, so he didn’t hit all of him bombs in the finals.  However, he did plenty to earn that 2^nd place slot.  Isaiah Jordan slid under the radar in the prelims, but he came out on fire in the finals!! If I remember right, I don’t think he even touched.  He put together all kinds of fast, flowing front wheel links that earned him 1^st place hands down!  The coolest thing was that the top 3 all got frames!  The top 12 all got a ridiculous amount of loot.

     The final event of the weekend was Pro finals.  There was such a good vibe at this contest.  Everyone seemed to be riding for the fun of it and nobody seemed too stressed.  This always makes for great riding.  Here is a quick sentence about each rider.  I can’t do the riding justice with words, but I’m sure video will be all over the internet by the time this posts.  Eugene Collins had a little trouble in the finals, but he did his signature time machine pumps with a full pedal and came super close to a crackpacker kickflip!  Chad Johnson rides with no brakes, but I think he could ride with no pegs if he wanted to!  He did deathtrucks, hang 5 switches, and ropes – all on the pedals.  Gabe Kadmiri was amazing as usual.  He was pretty much a blur of tomahawks on the stem, 360 barflips, and turbined hang 5s.  This was Dave Petrin’s first pro comp and he made it one to remember.  He linked up cross-footed hikers, backpackers, plastic men and cross-footed backpackers for 8^th place.  Stephan Cerra put together endless links filled with things like cross-footed pedal steamrollers and upside-down pedaling megaspins.   Dane Beardsley did the sickest back wheel link of the contest at the end of his run.  Every time you though he was about to ride out, he pivoted into some other crazy position.  His slow methodical style is great to watch.  He is also working on a sequel to Flat Crap that should be out soon.  I didn’t pull everything that I wanted to, but I did hit a spinning cross-footed hiker barflip to a regular spinning hiker.  I don’t really have those dialed yet, so it was fun to hit one in a comp.  Trevor Meyer may not have been in a contest in a while, but he has definitely been riding!  His new tricks include a 360 steamroller pressure flip and a firehydrant to spinning cliff hanger!  When I first arrived at the contest, I didn’t even recognize Jeff Desroche with his new ”do.”  However, once he started riding, he was unmistakable!  He had the craziest tricks of the comp.  In practice he came really close to a cross-footed forward rope whopper!  In his run he turbined that cross-footed forward rope all over the place and did spins and switches that only he can comprehend.  In addition to 3^rd place, Jeff won the “best trick” award.  The only thing that kept him out of first place was a few too many touches.  After Terry and Justin did their first runs, it was obvious that the real Battle at the Beach had begun.  It was like watching a heavy weight boxing match.  Terry would come out and throw down a ridiculous link only to be followed by something just as sick by Justin.  In my book, it all came down to the last run.  They both had one touch.  Terry came out and tried a blender jump over to coasting dump truck.  It took him about 5 tries, but he finally hit it.  That trick looks so rad!  Justin rolled out and hit a 360 kickflip followed up with all kinds of half-packers and 360 barflips.  He finished the link up with a 180 kickflip like it was nothing!  First place for Justin.

     This was the first event that 4130 Products has ever done, but man was it awesome.  A huge thanks goes out to Anthony, Shawn, and Scott for doing such a great job!  These guys had every detail covered.  Sounds like they will be having it again next year.  Just tell me where to sign up and I am there.  Oh, by the way, the hub for Hooters airlines is based in Myrtle Beach, so if you don’t go next year, you are crazy!