We may all be gassed from keeping up with the X Games and then the Huntington Beach events just after that, but we have to truck on and preview the BMX side of things at this year’s Wendy’s Invitational. As always, the best of the best will travel to Portland, OR this weekend and we’ll see more park, dirt, and vert action thanks to Dew Tour.

Within the realms of BMX vert riding, the elephant in the room is Jamie Bestwick. He cannot be ignored and certainly cannot be taken lightly. Bestwick swept last year’s Dew Tour (winning every stop) and obviously took home the tour cup. Usual contenders Chad Kagy, Steve McCann, Simon Tabron, and also Vince Byron have been biting at his heels to make this event more than a competition for second place. Jamie is a great rider and I love seeing him succeed, but I want to see an upset more. I’m putting my money on Vince Byron and Simon Tabron to really put it together and dethrone Mr. Bestwick.

Dirt. I’d say the dirt guys were surely taken by surprise when park destroyer Brett Banasiewicz competed in dirt and straight won, but that’s all in the past now. Brett has an amazing bag of tricks and clearly enough ability to win in either park or dirt, but the dirt guys want their event back. Riders like Brandon Dosch, Luke Parslow, Seth Klinger, and Andy Buckworth are all going to put something big together to regain the top spots in Dew Tour dirt. However, with some of the biggest moves in the business, Banasiewicz might just keep the dirt event to himself.

The park event recently became a topic of controversy as Mike Spinner clearly killed it but many felt he didn’t deserve the win last event due to lack of clean landings/style. Daniel Dhers, as always, was hot on his tail and hasn’t let down during the X Games or Nike 6.0 event so don’t expect anything less of the guy. Garrett Reynolds is getting even better and can never be counted out of a park contest but he hasn’t been dominating as we’ve seen in the past. He’s added more flair (literally, flairs) to his arsenal but hasn’t earned a number one park win in a while. Mark Webb will bring the tech lip trickery as always and Ryan Nyquist will bring the truck drivers. A name we can’t leave out is the golden child himself, Brett Banasiewicz. He has Dhers’ cash roll, he has front flip variations, flair whips on lock, etc. Look for him to fight to jump into the top 5 in Portland.

Only 3 days before things kick off in Portland so get ready. I made my predictions but I probably jinx the riders by doing so and create upsets in the process. Upsets are awesome though. Stay tuned!

photos courtesy of allisports.com