Vans Triple C rown of Free style M X
Rounds 2 -3: Balt imore A ren a
a no t he r rid er s c ore s hig he r) , a n d
s a id , "I don 't stand a c h a nce ; that
wa s one o f the best runs I'v e ever
seen ."
In fact , for someone e lse to ha ve
wo n, t hey wo uld have to pull o ut all
th e s to p s a n d try so met h ing co mple te ly un exp e c te d , like a ba ckfl ip .
De s p ite an - injured tendon in hi s
a rfTl , a nd c o ntrove rs y over whe ther
or not th e cl o ck s hou ld h a ve s ta rted
wh e n hi s first ju m p a tt e m p t e nded
a bru p t ly , Bartram finis hed seco nd
o n t he fi rs t n ight (a n d top 125 cc
rid er) with a 92.5 a pprova l from the
judges . Ba rt ram m issed a sh ift and
b a re ly m ad e it to a s to p a top the
stee l t a k e -o ff ra mp . Ha d he roll e d
o r fa llen off the ram p , the clock
wou ld have s ta rted , giving Ba rt ram
a crash or a d e a d sailor (w hen no
trick is a ttempted ) to start his final
run . Bart ra m went through his bag
of tricks an d then atta ck ed th e
co urse Trav is Pastrana -s t yle , by h it(Left) " FIyin' Hawaiian" Clifford
Adoptante pulls a candy bar in
Baltimore. Adoptante placed fifth on
Friday, then improved to f o u rth on day
two.
(Below) M ike Jones d isplays h is o ldschool Miracle Wh ip. He nabbed a
second-place result on Saturday, then
grabbed a red-eye flight to contest
(and win) Sunday's U.S. Open contest
in Las Vegas.
STO RY AND PHOTO S B y J O EY
C A SE y / P RA CTI CE T RA CK M AG AZI NE
BALTIMORE, MD, OCT. 13-14
o m m y "T o mcat" Cl ow e r s u s ed
flawl ess ru ns and sig na tur e tric ks
t o pull o ff a p a ir of wins , putting
h im a top th e poi nts sta ndi ng s with
tw o ro unds rema in ing in th is im portant series. Clow e rs wa s perfect all
wee kend , eve n in pract ic e. High ligh t s o f h is r u ns in c lu d e d hi s
newest trick , the Cat- Nac , in which
C low er s s w in g s h is who le bod y
aroun d in fro nt of t he b ike , main ta ining c o ntact o nly with h is h ands
(see th is m onth ' s Ra cer X c o ver) .
Clow er ' s Hart Att a c k s were m o re
like handstands , as his head wou ld
fa c e ba c k t o th e t a k e -o ff ramp ,
while b o th leg s s t uck s t ra ig h t up
int o th e s ky . An d if t ha t w a sn 't
e no ug h, Clo w er s ' o n~ - h a n de d
Superm an s we re s tre tc h e d o u t a s
far as his a rm would re ach .
So im p ressi ve was Clowers th at,
at on e p oint , Kenn y Bartram ro s e
fr om t h e hots eat ( t he chair the
h igh - s cor ing rid er sits in unt il
T
52
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