There were a couple big stories coming out of the BMX vert finals in Vegas, the first being that Jamie didn’t win the event, but of course he earned his sixth Dew Cup. Chad Kagy took home the Dew Tour Championships win, and it came after he finally landed the trick that’s been sending him crashing all season.
Kagy said he set two goals for himself. One, to land the flair barspin to tuck no hander. And the other was to win an event this season. Vegas delivered both.
“We’re here for a competition, and this stop, Las Vegas finals, I end up accomplishing both,” Kagy said. “My second run I got a high enough score to jump into first place, and my last run, I ended up doing a flair barspin to tuck no hander which I’ve been working on all season.”
Vince Byron, opposite look back
He was so focused on landing the trick in his third run that he started things off out of character with a few basic airs, just to make sure his feet were in the right spot and he could go for it. And the plan worked out for the win.
“I wanted to land perfect and go straight into that barspin to no handed flair,” Kagy said. “I was just so focused on that. Everybody says it’s rolling the dice doing it in the beginning of your run, but I already had a good score that had me on top, and it’s just my style.”
Jamie finished second, but he still won in the end because he walked away with a record sixth Dew Cup in return for his amazing season.
“I’m so stoked that every year I keep rewriting history, and keeping my name the only name on the BMX vert Cup,” Bestwick said.
Podium, l-r, Jamie Bestwick, 2nd (and son), Chad Kagy, 1st, Dennis McCoy, 3rd
Bestwick was actually dealing with a herniated disk and he managed to make it to the super finals, but the injury finally took its toll on his riding during the last leg of the competition.
“Thankfully it put me in second place and that’s a great honor today because everybody knew that I couldn’t land my airs right,” Bestwick said. “My legs were straight. I couldn’t hit any of the big tricks that I wanted to get to, all because I couldn’t really bend and get into the bike. A couple spots I powerslid the ramp.”
Steven McCann, double whip
Another cool story emerged after 43-year-old Dennis McCoy killed it in finals to finish third, surprising even himself by making his first Dew Tour podium after six-years of competing on Tour. He’s made 24 finals, and always finished in the top-10 overall, but this was his first podium.
Mike Mancuso, no-hander
“I was ecstatic the way my last run in Round 1 of the finals ended,” McCoy said. “And then I looked up and I was like, ‘Man, I think I just made it into Round 2 of the finals.’ I was ready to listen to the rest of the Chiefs game on the radio.”
Coco Zurita, toboggan
McCoy landed a new trick for himself after he can-can flaired the ramp. And another trick that’s never been done was his barspin to barspin back 540. He did that one in his second run with a clean 900 and earned his best score of the day.
It was nice to see a switch up on the BMX vert podium, and even Bestwick looked at the bright side of things.
Austin Coleman, double downside tailwhip
“The situation wasn’t perfect, and I would have liked to have had a good old scrap with Chad,” Bestwick said. “But sometimes he’s been injured or somebody else has been injured. So you kind of have to play with the cards you’ve been dealt and today, it was a great honor for me to get second, and it was great to watch Chad take home the win.”
Kagy and Bestwick
Check out the Alli photo gallery of the Dew Tour Championships BMX vert finals and the Dew Tour recap of the contest.
Watch highlights from the finals below
