Scotty Cranmer may have won Las Vegas and taken the park cup this year, but Dennis Enarson will be the most talked about (again) this year as he takes the dirt cup home and 2nd place on the park standings. Impressively, Enarson still took home the dirt cup after a fourth place finish in Las Vegas. His previous outstanding performances in dirt would prove helpful as he beats out 2nd place dirt finisher Brett Banasiewicz by a mere 10 points.

So, to recap the event specifically, Scotty Cranmer won park and truly came back onto the scene after his injury-prone season a few years ago. Nobody is wondering where he went anymore, as he takes home the overall Dew Tour cup for park this year. Dennis Enarson will take second in park which is quite fitting as he finished second to Scotty on the overall park standings as well. Daniel Dhers takes third in park for the championship event but after a lackluster year it only lands him in fifth place on the overall standings.

Continuing with park, Brett Banasiewicz finished fourth in Las Vegas and fourth on the year, a funny coincidence as results for this specific event often match results on the overall standings for park. So, unfortunately, the golden child will not finish a podium spot in park but he makes up for it on the dirt side of things. Kyle Baldock is an exception to the rule as he places fifth in Vegas which will boost his season standing to 3rd place, clutching a podium spot with his previous good performances this year.

Moving on to dirt, we already talked about this year's overall winner (Enarson) whom only took fourth place yesterday so we'll move on to the rest of the pack. Brett Banasiewicz takes third in Las Vegas and second overall this year. Luckily for him, he takes home some hardware after JUST missing out in park. Kyle Baldock will take home two pieces of hardware, his 3rd in park and another 3rd in dirt. He actually WON the dirt event in Vegas which boosted his lower season scores in to a podium spot.

Ben Wallance and Brandon Dosch also boost their scores this season to land in the top 5 in Vegas and on the overall tour. Wallace takes second in Vegas and Dosch takes 5th in Vegas. With this, Wallace boosted his placing to fourth on the year and Dosch held a steady fifth place on the tour to round out the top 5. I must mention how close the dirt standings were this year, as places 1-5 were all about 10 points difference each.

Over on the vert ramp, I have been WAITING for this to happen. Last year I thought it was Coco Zurita that would come up and challenge the household vert names, but this year it's up and comer Vince Byron. The podium spots were easily lost and gained and, even though Bestwick won yet ANOTHER vert cup, it was a close battle where Steve McCann gave Bestwick a serious run for his money. In Las Vegas, Vince Byron won the event, Steve McCann took second, and Jamie Bestwick took third. The overall tour results, however, will be flipped. Jamie Bestwick wins this year's vert cup, McCann takes second (he has to be tired of the number 2 by now), and Vince Byron takes home 3rd and sets a tone for the future of vert.

Jimmy Walker, whom topped off the vert semi finals, took fourth in Vegas and fifth place overall this year. In front of him on the standings was Simon Tabron who placed a disappointing seventh in Vegas but will remain in the top 5 standings after impressive finishes earlier this year. Again, the scores were incredibly close as the difference between first and third for the year was 10 points, meaning McCann was less than 10 points away from a win. Also, 4th and 5th place were 6 points apart! Amazing.



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So... This weekend is going to be another big one for action sports. Dew Tour Championships in Las Vegas. Lots of money on the line, lots of money potentially lost in casinos, lots of parties with mind-altering substances, and more and more and more. It's Vegas, baby.

Though Enarson is probably your favorite street or park rider, he has his sights set on a dirt cup this year. In park he sits in third and definitely has the capability to take the park cup home as well, but he is first in the dirt standings and by far. Brett Banasiewicz and Brandon Dosch are neck and neck in the standings sitting in 2nd and 3rd, respectively, and will have to do some serious work (y'know, like winning) to overtake Dennis and take home that top cash prize. In 4th and 5th, Ben Wallace and Kyle Baldock are neck and neck as well and also have the ability to up their standings but keeping riders like Dennis, Brett, and Brandon out of the top 3 is going to be a tough task.

Going back to park, Kyle Baldock has taken a firm lead in the standings with a 1st and 2nd place finish that puts distance between him and Scotty Cranmer, 2nd, and Dennis Enarson, 3rd. Brett Banasiewicz is also in the cup race in 4th place though he is about 40 points behind Baldock. Ryan Nyquist, in 5th, may be out with an injury (hand) but if not he is neck and neck with Banasiewicz and can also lay claim to some metal this weekend. With names like Baldock, Cranmer, Enarson, and Banasiewicz it is a true toss up as far as who walks away with the biggest check. Kyle can continue his dominance and take it home easily or he can have bad runs and Banasiewicz can have the night of his life and pass up everybody. It's almost pointless to talk about it as we just have to wait and see.

Vert has been a bit of a bore in previous years but we FINALLY have some variables to kick around this season. Jamie Bestwick has swept Dew Tours multiple times and taken home cups with ease but this year he will actually have to fight for first. For the first time in a while, Jamie took second in a Dew Tour event falling behind Steve McCann. Steve sits 14 points behind Jamie and will have to win Vegas to overtake Jamie. Also, Jamie would have to place 3rd as opposed to 2nd... If Jamie takes second he still takes the vert cup home by a whopping FOUR points. Fighting for 3rd place is Vince Byron and Simon Tabron who are tied on the season after taking 3rd and 5th twice this year. Jimmy Walker is 5th on the standings and has to put on a stellar performance to beat the aforementioned and get into a podium position.

Can't wait to see what happens this year as things get shaken up in all the disciplines. So stay tuned. Vegas. This weekend.



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The Toyota Challenge was an odd event this year as each event featured 2 of 3 disciplines, so one misses park, one misses vert, and one misses dirt, to even out the season. This particular event missed park, arguably the most popular discipline in BMX, and only featured vert and dirt but Salt Lake City LOVES some dirt so I doubt anyone was complaining.

Brett Banasiewicz came back hard from a slight losing streak from previous Dew Tours and X Games. He has always had the potential to do well in dirt and has a win under his belt but needed to step up his consistency to go with his big bangers, and that's exactly what he did. He pretty much displayed what can be done on a BMX bike on dirt jumps in one run, from barspins to tailwhips to spinning to flipping (the ultimate example being his signature "cashroll"). It was the epitome of a Dew Tour run and he was rewarded for it.

Dennis Enarson is another rider who can lay down a typical Dew Tour run like nobody else, and would do so to earn second place. What earns him the extra points is his technicality and creativity, linking odd tricks and bringing new things to the table. Brandon Dosch landed in third with a solid run but may have been a bit overscored as everything looked forced, meaning not stylish.

There were definitely some riders going HUGE that didn't place well due to lack of consistency between all the sets such as Kyle Baldock and Jaie Toohey. Luckily for them, this event featured a best trick event on one big booter jump set up at night's end. It looked pretty rough as there probably wasn't as much time to get used to the jump and BAD slams were taken left and right. Buckworth tried a double front and landed flat on his back and Baldock was throwing no-handed double flips. Despite the falls, some of the gnarliest tricks ever attempted were going down from triple whip flips to nothing-double whips to no-handed cashrolls! In the end, however, it was Baldock's 3 down whip to oppo double whip that took the gold. It's like a windshield wiper plus one inside of a 360. Complex enough for you?

If that wasn't exciting enough, big things were happening on the vert ramp Sunday night. Jamie Bestwick has been on the Dew Tour for 7 years, racking up 23 wins, and a LOT of those wins have been in a row for the past two years, sweeping both seasons. This event, however, it was not about Jamie Bestwick. Steven McCann has been knocking on the door every event and it was only a matter of time before McCann's bigger tricks caught up with Bestwick's unmatchable style/height. This is like McCann's breakthrough year, after a win at X Games Big Air and now this. He definitely sealed the deal with a no-handed 900 that Hoffman would be proud of.

Despite not winning the event, Jamie Bestwick would take second with his signature tricks at height. Vince Byron put on a performance that I see easily beating Bestwick next event and maybe even McCann for that matter. Once Byron develops more consistent, action-packed runs he'll be a threat to McCann's energy boost of finally capturing first at a Dew Tour event.

So, with that said, see you in Las Vegas next month to find out who takes homes the big money and Dew Tour cup this year!



photos & videos courtesy of allisports.com

Watch BMX superstars such as Jamie Bestwick, Dakota Roche, Scotty Cranmer, Kyle Baldock, Harry Main, Alex Coleborn, and Pat Casey compete at X Games 17. Several of them bringing home X Games medals, adding to the reputation of excellence from Monster athletes.

Jamie Bestwick achieved something no other athlete in X Games history has done by winning his 5th straight gold medal in BMX Vert, which is also the 8th of his career. Friday's win is already considered one of his most impressive considering the 40-year-old BMX legend fought off a brilliant charges by Australians Steve McCann and Vince Byron.

McCann, 28, came into the vert competition looking for his second gold medal of these X Games after winning last night's BMX Big Air comp in dramatic fashion.

Meanwhile Byron represents a new generation of BMX stars ascending the ranks. The kid from Brisbane is half Bestwick's age.

Official Results

1. Jamie Bestwick 45 + 42 = 87

2. Steve McCann 45 + 36 = 81

3. Vince Byron 42 +31 = 73

4. Simon Tabron 38 + 31 = 69

5. Jimmy Walker 31 + 29 = 60

Credit: Pete Demos/ESPN Images