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Toronto Superfest 2003
Special to Transcend: Greg Babiak gallery: toronto street comp When arriving at Superfest, I did not know what to expect. This year’s comp was a totally different beast compared to other awesome competitions Ryan Senechal and Co have put on. His first two large comp’s were the Roundhouse Rumble 2001, and 2002. The courses have gotten better over the years, while the riders have also progressed with the obstacles. The main focus of this comp, compared to the RHR, was the new school of riding: Street. The original RHR had box jumps, ladder bridges, teeter-totters, and a quarter, set up decently, but the riders could not get any type of “flow” going. It was one jump, stop, 1 drop, stop, abubaca, stop. This year the course was primarily designed by Mike Headford, and he did an awesome job of giving it “flow.” Riders soared over the spine, hit the monstrous wall/quarter, catching some huge air, went back to box-type jump (not steep enough to be called a box jump) manualed the 1ft wide rail (you would have to jump 1.5ft to catch the rail) stall the side of the van, drop down, and sit from exhaustion. The course didn’t want to let you stop, it said “ride me.” Enough about the course, I’ll talk about the riders. Jeff Harvey took 1st place in the amateur comp, taking home a shiny .243 Racing frame, a Junior T2, and some other trick parts by Block 8. The only thing you can say about his riding, was “flow.” So much style, finesse, consistent riding, some nice moves, and all around just riding good, he had the amateur competition locked up. Mickey Vonesh took 2nd in the amateur comp, taking home a Norco 250cc and some parts from Block 8. He hit all his lines with style while being one of the smoothest riders there (with his strong trials background). Good consistent riding again by another young shredder. There were some riders there that had never ridden an mtb street in a long time, sometimes never, and they shredded the course on the bike bikes just like a BMX. Just like how Darren Berrecloth is strating to show mtb’ing what can be done on the big wheels, the unknown yougin’s are showing the world what can and will be done. These riders are bringing mtb’ing to a different level. All the other riders rode amazingly, I never knew there were that many good amateur riders in TO, that rode like they did. Those riders know who they are, and they should be darn proud of themselves, they did an awesome job. Though there is only one winner, they all rode amazingly. One little mention goes to 2nd last place rider Cameron Sutherland, the only person in the comp riding a FS bike (a 2003BB7 w/Shiver at that) that rode just to have fun. Showing what the true spirit of MTB is. He even pulled out some trick break-dancing moves on the box at the end of his run, to impress the judges of course! Standings for Amateur are as follows:
1 Jeff Harvey Now on to Pro, Of course, with his usual style and grace, and overall huge lines, Aaron Chase took first place grabbing the $1000 purse. Long lines, hitting everything in sight without touching the brakes, getting probably the most height off the wallride, just destroying the course. The only unusual thing is that he was not riding his usual Lefty, but a 4” Sherman. His explanation? The lefty was on his “racing” bike. You decide the REAL reason. Eric Porter and Kyle Ebbett took second and third place respectively, riding their IronHorse / Madcatz’s yellow streetbikes. These guys grabbed some big air, huge lines, and showed us why they were pro’s. Injury Report: |
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