The final stop of the AST Dew tour saw Chad Kagy and Jaime Bestwick battling it out for the title. Jaime has been undefeated, having won the overall title three times in a row and Kagy was hungry for the trophy.
The AST/Dew Vert Ramp is massive—just looking up at its huge walls was intimidating. The Dew tour pulled out all stops and brought out all the heavy hitters for this comp and the Orlando crowd was definitely due for the big vert show.
Representing the Old School was Dennis McCoy and Jimmie Walker. Walker went huge as usual but bailed on his 900 attempt.
McCoy was more successful. He blasted outrageous no handed 540’s, big flairs and his usual bag of multi-combo tricks. His first run was enough to put him in the lead, at least for a little while.
Then came the youngsters, Koji Kraft, Steve McCann and Zackery Warden.
Koji Kraft has a style that can only be compared with one other rider, the great Condor, Mat Hoffman. Koji hit the walls with reckless abandon—no-handed one footers at height, flairs, double whips over the channel and a slow rotating downside whip.
McCann was riding somewhat injured and added injury to injury by bailing early into his first run, rendering him out of commission for the rest of the event.
Zackery Warden does some of the coolest trick you’ll ever see, most notably, the bike flip. Zack jumps to the side of his bike and holding on to one side of his handlebar he flips his bike in the air and lands it smooth. Amazing. He also throws barspin to tailwhip, double whips and he pulled his first 540 in a contest.
Then there’s the three amigos—Simon Tabron, Chad Kagy and Jaime Bestwick.
British-born BMXer Simon Tabron bailed during his first run on a 900 attempt, but came back in his second run. He blasts his 900 as smooth as can be, flaired the channel and killed it with the combo 540’s and whips. His second run was enough to put him in front of DMC.
Chad Kagy was going hard for the win. Kagy gave it hell with a double tailwhip over the gap, huge bar-spin combos and his cool looking flat-spin flair whip. In his second run he went down attempting a double tailwhip flat-spin flair. Progression at its finest.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Nothing could topple the monster that Jamie Bestwick has become. Consistently topping the other riders highest airs by six feet, Bestwick charged the ramp. He’s unrivaled when it comes to his barspin and whip combos. Huge top-sided no footed can-cans, alley-oop superman seatgrabs that covers 15 feet of the ramp and multi-flairs back to back.
Jaime’s first run was enough to clench him the title and the honor of being the 1st athlete to take home four Dew Cups. Chad Kagy drops into second place and Simon Tabron brings home the third.
“What a dream to four-peat,” Bestwick said. “Winning four in a row is a phenomenal feat.”
“Man, what a contest!,” Bestwick said. “The riding this year has just been phenomenal. This fourth Dew Cup at this PlayStation Stop win means a lot to me because it’s a long road to get here.”
Jaime Bestwick is virtually unstoppable. Can’t wait to see what Bestwick brings next year.
—Chris Eudaley
Results
1. Jamie Bestwick
2. Chad Kagy
3. Simon Tabron
4. Dennis McCoy
5. Francisco Zurita
6. Zack Warden
7. Jay Eggleston
8. Jimmy Walker
9. Koji Kraft
10. Steve McCann
