X-GAMES
2001
Philadelphia, PA
Finals - Flatland
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Martti does it again leaving all the competition behind in his first run and having fun in his second run as he doubles and wins X-Games gold again. There was little doubt that Martti was going to win. I mean, come on, we are talking about Martti Kuoppa. The weather was hot though and Martti has been fighting spasms in his back. After sitting through the first nine riders there was a question as to whether or not Martti could hold it together to do better than a flawless run turned in by Phil Dolan. Martti helped to clear things up quickly though. One minute and thirty seconds is all it took. A flawless run with tricks that can't be properly described but we'll try anyway. The trick list included every signature trick Martti has. Most notably was a long run he began with a cross footed half hiker to half packer, kickflip to half packer to tomahawk out. He followed up with a steamroller kickflip to coasting wheelchair kickflipped to mccircles out. Next came a cliffhanger turbined to barflip to cliffhanger to side squeaks, backwards hitchhiker to coasting e-queak to cross-footed hitchhiker out. He finished up with a solid blender. Time was up, the winner had been determined. Phil Dolan earned his spot in second with a flawless first run. Phil has picked up on the long rolling brakeless tricks and links everything up. He threw down the forward karl cruiser on the pedal to hitchhiker jugled back to a forward karl cruiser on the pedal... to hitchhiker. He also pulled a perfect coasting upside down wheelie/cross-footed rope-a-roni to the coasting backwards rope on the pedals. He has made that trick one of his signature moves that he can throw out at any event. His foot never touched down and up until Martti's run Phil was sitting on top of the pack. Matt had to earn his spot after a few touches in the first round. He didn't play things safe though. He started with a full compliment of front wheel spinning and barflip tricks then moved onto his blender straight to upside down pedalling mega-spin to forward time machine out. He then moved on to pull a time machined one handed steam roller variation straight to a no-handed time machined coasting e-squeak. The buzzer sounded and the question was not whether he had won gold, Martti was not to be beat, but if he had managed to get silver or bronze. The score was posted and Matt had edged out Meyer for the number three position. Stephen Cerra looked like he might be up on the podium after his first run. He has picked up a long list of turbined tricks that he can do on both the front and the back wheel. His first run was flawless except for not riding out of his last trick. It was probably the only thing that kept him from being up on the podium this year. His mega spin while kneeling on the seat is just part of the originality that makes Stephen so fun to watch and so good. He also has tomahawks beyond dialed. He gets a fast tomahawk going then pulls both feet off and coasts in a couple of circles no-footed. So close to the medal position but not there yet. More details tonite! Maybe some videos... ~P~ |
PHOTOS QUALIFIERS AND PRACTICE
FINALS & PRACTICE
FINAL RESULTS
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