aaron reed

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Photo: Geery

You may remember this event in Fort Worth’s Trinity Park was set to be held last spring, but the swine flu scare shut down all of Mayfest, and the event. Now the irony is not lost that a few months later more people are catching swine flu than ever before, but that’s not really the point.

The point is September 19, 2009 it finally happened. The set up was all built around a dam that was already in place, with a kicker, incline, flat box and wall ride added for good measure. It was a best trick on each obstacle, with the winner of each taking home a thousand bucks.

The riders were divided into two heats and each the got two sets. The first session was a warm up for everyone and when the second sets started, the hammers really began to drop. The highlights went something like this.

Andrew Pastura: 270 shuv to front board on the box
270 shuv front board shuv out on the box
Switch front big 3 down the spillway

Travis Doran: Blunt shuv on the box

Grant Roberts: Back Big over the rock gap

Dieter Humpsh: Back 180 off the Kicker
Back 360 off the Kicker
Switch ts 540 off the kicker

George Daniels: Boardslide shuv
Frontside flip down the spillway

James Balzer: Boardslide front big out on the wall ride

Aaron Reed: Front 3 on the kicker

Steve Campbell: switch boardslide 270 on the incline
Shuv boardslide on the incline

Clint Tompkins: 270 shuv front board on the wall ride

The riders and fans were kept in suspense until about 11 PM, when the winners were finally announced at the after party. On the kicker and incline things were pretty clear cut. Steve Campbell kept his title as incline king, while Dieters switch 5 earned him a G on the kicker. The rest of the obstacles though, things weren’t so obvious.

On the box Travis Doran had put up a serious fight, but Andrew Pastura’s 270 shuv on front board shuv out came out on top. Down the gap it was another close one, but George’s flawless, first try frontside flip into the rapids below took it home for him. The closest vote of all was between Clint Tompkins and James Balzer on the wall ride. By a margin of two votes, Clint took a g for his 270 shuv to frontboard. It was a small payment for putting on such a great event.