Kagy, Coleman Top BMX Vert Prelims in Baltimore
June 19, 2008 – 11:56 pm PT by GregTags: AST, Austin Coleman, Chad Kagy, Panasonic Open, Zack Warden —
Chad Kagy cr. AST
Chad Kagy returned to the form that made him one of the athletes to beat in BMX Vert last season — at least until a broken collarbone knocked him out of one AST event last season plus the X Games. Recovering from the injury held him back in Salt Lake City but by the season’s final event he was back on top, edging Jamie Bestwick in a tie-breaker.
Based on the new rule this season 2007’s final top three BMX Vert athletes automatically move to the finals (in future events it will be based on the current season’s rankings) so Bestwick, Simon Tabron and Steve McCann got a bye. However, that left only seven spots open in the qualifiers and who missed the cut was actually more surprising than who made it.
First off, Zack Warden finished ninth overall in the prelims. Warden had been touted by many, including Bestwick, as a rider to watch this season after his breakout year in ‘07. However, Warden’s habit of going all out sometimes means he can’t finish runs cleanly and that happened again Thursday. Similarly Francisco “Coco” Zurita, who pulled some amazing tricks last year, missed the cut by one spot.
It just shows how strong the competition was as new world-record holder Kevin Robinson and veteran Dennis McCoy (at 41, the tour’s oldest competitor) made the finals yet again. One younger face did have a huge day — Austin Coleman threw out some terrific tailwhips to lock-up second in the prelims thanks to a tie-breaker with John Parker, who took third.
The BMX Vert finals will take place on Friday from 4:30-6 p.m. ET and highlights will air on NBC on Sunday, June 22, from 1-3 p.m. (ET).
Here’s the lineup for Friday’s final (in order)
10. Jimmy Walker
9. Dennis McCoy
8. Kevin Robinson
7. Jay Eggleston
6. John Parker
5. Austin Coleman
4. Chad Kagy
3. Steve McCann
2. Simon Tabron
1. Jamie Bestwick
BMX Vert Prelim Results
June 19, 2008 - Top Seven Advance
1st — Kagy, Chad — 90.17
2nd — Coleman, Austin — 88.67
3rd — Parker, John — 88.67
4th — Eggleston, Jay — 87.67
5th — Robinson, Kevin — 87.67
6th — McCoy, Dennis — 86.83
7th — Walker, Jimmy — 86.50
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8th — Zurita, Francisco — 86.17
9th — Warden, Zack — 85.50
10th — Stober, Tom — 85.33
12th — Kraft, Koji — 84.50
13th — Jovel, Jorge — 84.33
14th — Snowden, Ben — 83.50
15th — Williams, Danny — 82.67
16th — Mancuso, Mike — 78
17th — McElhinney, Keith — 74.33
