Rob Darden, Austin Coleman and TJ Ellis led the field for the second round of qualifying for the Big-Air BMX Triples in Orange County Wednesday night.  The field of 12 is set for tonight’s final, including Ricardo Laguna, Koji Kraft and Josh Stead, in addition to those who qualified Tuesday night.

Read on for the official press release from the night’s action and stay tuned for the results from the final.

Big Air BMX Triples Thrills Southern California Fans with Gravity-Defying Round Two Action
Rob Darden Wins Preliminary Round Two

LOS ANGELES (July 30, 2008) – Tonight’s second round of ASA Entertainment’s Big-Air BMX Triples included a “double back flip”, a few “front flips”, a “360° double tail whip”, and several “720°s” on the way to Rob Darden (Greenville, NC), winning preliminary round two and collecting $1000.  The night’s top three riders, Darden, Austin Coleman (Los Angeles, Calif.), T.J. Ellis (Moreno Valley, Calif.), performed a variety of tricks that displayed the progression in BMX jumping and shocked the crowd into amazed silence.  At evening’s end, it was Darden’s clean, confident, consistent execution of big-air stunts that surpassed even the wildest combination of aerobatics attempted by Coleman and Ellis and left everyone eagerly awaiting Sunday’s finals.

Before Darden, Coleman and Ellis battled for the night’s top performance, three other men qualified earlier in the evening to join them in Thursday’s event finals. Mexico’s Ricardo Laguna, Illinois’ Koji Kraft, and Australia’s Josh Stead bested their head-to-head opponent to receive a spot in the final round of the Big-Air BMX Triples.

On Thursday evening, Darden, Coleman, Ellis, Laguna, Kraft and Stead will be joined by round one qualifiers Sean Logan (San Clemente, Calif.), Alistair Whitton (Chester, England), Ricky Moseley (Mason, Tenn.), Pat Casey (Placentia, Calif.), Tony Campos (San Francisco, Calif.), and Diogo Canina (Sao Paulo, Brazil), to compete for the $5,000 first place purse and two spots in the LG Action Sports World Championships.

The battle begins at 8:15 p.m. at the Orange County Fair’s Action Sports Arena.  Reserved seats can be purchased via Ticketmaster.com for as little at $12.50, while limited General Admission seats are free, offered on a first come first served basis.

CBS Sports will feature highlights of the Big Air BMX Triples event later this year during ASA Entertainment’s Action Sports World Tour programming.  Please check your local listings and stay tuned to www.bmxtriples.com for more details.

Full Results From Tuesday and Wednesday

The following are the results from Round Two (Wednesday Night). Top Six from head to head competition advance to Thursday’s final, along with the top six from Round One on Tuesday.
Quarter-Final:

Loren LaVerne vs. Ricardo Laguna
Winner: Ricardo Laguna

Mike Moura vs. Rob Darden
Winner: Rob Darden

Chris Hughes vs. TJ Ellis
Winner: TJ Ellis

Thomas Hancock vs. Koji Kraft
Winner: Koji Kraft

Josh Stead vs. Ben Snowden
Winner: Josh Stead

Dillon Stark vs. Austin Coleman
Winner: Austin Coleman

Semi-Final:

Ricardo Laguna vs. Rob Darden
Winner: Rob Darden

TJ Ellis vs. Koji Kraft
Winner: TJ Ellis

Josh Stead vs. Austin Coleman
Winner: Austin Coleman

Final:
Rob Darden vs. TJ Ellis vs. Austin Coleman
Winner: Rob Darden, Second: Austin Coleman, Third: TJ Ellis

Ricardo Laguna, Rob Darden, TJ Ellis, Koji Kraft, Josh Stead, and Austin Coleman move on to the final event on Thursday, joined by the top six from Tuesday nights Preliminary Round: Diogo Canina, Sean Logan, Rick Mosely, Tony Campos, Pat Casey, and Alistair Whitton.

The following are the results from Round One (Tuesday Night). Top Six from head to head competition advance to Thursday’s final, along with the top six from Round Two on Wednesday.

Quarter-Final:

Erik Soto vs. Sean Logan
Winner: Sean Logan

Dan Norvell vs. Alistair Whitton
Winner: Alistair Whitton

Ricky Moseley vs. Alfredo Mancuso
Winner: Ricky Moseley

Pat Casey vs. Michael Clark
Winner: Pat Casey

Tony Campos vs. Cory Walters
Winner: Tony Campos

Lance Harness vs. Diogo Canina
Winner: Diogo Canina

Semi-Final:
Alistair Whitton vs. Sean Logan
Winner: Sean Logan

Rick Mosely vs. Pat Casey
Winner: Rick Mosely

Tony Campos vs. Diogo Canina
Winner: Diogo Canina

Final:
Rick Mosely vs. Sean Logan vs. Diogo Canina
Winner: Diogo Canina, Second: Sean Logan, Third: Rick Mosely

Diogo Canina, Sean Logan, Rick Mosely, Tony Campos, Pat Casey, and Alistair Whitton move on to the final event on Thursday, joined by the top six from Wednesday nights Preliminary Round.

This is going to be a busy week in SoCal for BMX with this weekend’s Soul Bowl at the US Open of Surfing and then the Big-Air BMX Triples Event at the O.C. Fair next week.   ASA has announced the invited riders and there are a few of the usual suspects, but, unfortunately, a couple of big names are missing like Dennis Enarson, who won the first version of this event last year in Phoenix.

Even without Enarson, there should be some good riding — we’re betting on TJ Ellis or Diogo Canina to end up on top.

You can check out the full release below for all the info or just head down to the OC Fair next week if you can and catch the action in person.

International Athletes vie for Big-Air BMX Triples Event Title at Orange County Fair July 29-31
Winner and Runner-up Qualify for the Prestigious LG Action Sports World Championship

LOS ANGELES (July 24, 2008) – From July 29-31, the Orange County Fair will enjoy three days of gravity-defying action sports entertainment when ASA Entertainment’s Big-Air BMX Triples event jumps into action at the OC Fair’s Action Sports Arena. At 8:15 p.m. each night, ASA Entertainment (ASA), the global leader in action sports event and television production, debuts a unique spin on BMX bike riding in Southern California with an international roster of competitors sure to thrill even the most casual action sports spectator.

The competitors include:

California Athletes

Alfredo Mancuso (Long Beach, CA) -  21
Austin Coleman  (Los Angeles, CA) -   24
Cory Walters  (Costa Mesa, CA) -   27
Dan Norvell  (Murrietta, CA) -   16
Dylan Stark  (Lake Forest, CA) -   25
Lance Harness  (Rubidoux, CA) -   22
Lawrence Werrell  (Westminster, CA) -   27
Pat Casey  (Placentia, CA) -   14
Sean Logan  (Orange County, CA) -   24
TJ Ellis  (Moreno Valley, CA) -   22
Tony Campos  (San Francisco, CA) -   20

Other U.S. Athletes

Ben Snowden  (Hornell, NY) -   27
Josh Hult  (Idaho Falls, ID) -   24
Koji Kraft  (Addison, Illinois) -   25
Ricky Moseley  (Mason, TN) -   18
Rob Darden  (Greenville, NC) -   27
Ryan Jordan  (Boston, MA) -   27

International Athletes

Alistair Whitton  (Chester, England) -   27
Chris Hughes  (Toronto, Canada) -   20
Dave Dillewaard  (Brisbane, Australia) -   24
Diogo Canina  (Sao Paulo, Brazil) -   20
Erick Soto  (Tijuana, Mexico) -   29
Mike Moura  (Brazil) -   25
Ricardo Laguna  (Mexico) -   26

The competition format consists of twelve riders challenging the BMX course on Tuesday, July 29th and another 12 taking on the course on Wednesday evening, July 30th. The top six scoring men from each evening will meet on Thursday for the finals.

Tuesday night’s competitors will be: Mancuso, Whitton, Coleman, Walters, Norvell, Canina, Harness, Werrell, Casey, Logan, Moseley and Campos. On Wednesday night, Snowden, Hughes, Dillewaard, Stark, Soto, Hult, Kraft, Moura, Laguna, Darden, Jordan and Ellis will be competing. With prize money and an opportunity to qualify for ASA’s LG Action Sports World Championships on the line, these men will push their limits to impress the judges with high-flying skills.

The Big-Air Triples is a new element in BMX competition that challenges riders to start from a 24-foot high ramp riding into three deep valleys and over three narrow platforms. This design allows the riders to grab ‘big air’ and perform three tricks in succession while trekking across a 165-foot long wooden course. This spin on BMX riding combines the best in BMX Box Jumping and Dirt Jumping with a Mini-Mega Ramp.

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About Big Air BMX Triples producer ASA Entertainment:

A leader in the action sports industry since 1994, ASA Entertainment, headquartered in Culver City, California is the largest action sports event and television production company in the world. The company produces more than 200 events and 100 television programs annually around the globe that feature skateboarding, freestyle BMX, inline skating, freeskiing, freestyle motocross, snowboarding and music. Its events are broadcast on CBS, VERSUS, Spike, Fuel and Fox Sports Net domestically and distributed to more than 1 billion HH globally throughout Asia, Europe, USA, Africa, Canada, South & Central America and Australia. ASA’s properties range from large-scale international competitions such as the LG Action Sports World Championships to grassroots amateur contests, lifestyle and branded entertainment events, demonstrations, exhibitions and mobile tours. As one of the oldest and most established organizations in action sports, ASA Entertainment leads the market in developing premium content around the fastest growing sector of American sports. For more information visit www.actionsportstour.com or www.asaentertainment.com.