Blake Williams had no choice Thursday.
Falling behind the competition, the 21-year-old freestyle motocross aerialist had to throw two consecutive backflips, soaring some 40 feet above the hard-packed dirt sprinkled over the Pepsi Center’s much harder parking lot. In practice Wednesday, his backflip failed and he landed on his head, narrowly escaping injury.
“I didn’t have a whole lot of confidence coming into today,” said the Australian Williams. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do that today.”
The days of safe, easy qualifying runs are long gone as a rabid army of talented athletes pursues the no-longer elusive glory – and dollars – bestowed upon today’s action sport stars.
Williams landed his two backflips perfectly – adding combination moves with legs flying off his four-stroke’s foot pegs. A few years ago, those gutsy inverts would have earned Williams a gold medal, buckets of cash and international acclaim. But on Thursday it was not even good enough to qualify for Saturday’s preliminary finals in freestyle motocross.
“Only a few things get saved for the finals these days,” said Nate Asay, organizer of the FMX contests for the Dew Action Sports Tour, the five-stop, six-sport national tour in Denver this weekend. “It’s almost like you have to throw down your best run just to qualify.”
Thursday’s FMX qualifier saw riders combining moves with backflips. Soaring above jumps and releasing their grip on their screaming machines. Throwing their feet out over their bars like they were on a La-Z-Boy. Busting out tricks that weren’t considered a few years ago.
The incredible efforts of the 11 professional motocross athletes vying for only three spots in the Dew tour’s final four FMX contests mirrored those of their skateboarding and BMX brethren. Everyone in the open qualifiers is battling for the brightest spotlight in their sports’ most prestigious stage.
The hyper progression of action sports is no more evident than in the open qualifying contests, where professional athletes vie for the few remaining slots in the preliminary roster.
Wednesday and Thursday, four open qualifiers in skateboard park, BMX vert, BMX park and FMX featured athletic battles rivaling the pending final showdowns. The biggest tricks were thrown. Little was held back. Blood was spilled.
“Opens are crazy. Crazy, man,” said 27-year-old Aussie BMX rider Lee Kirkland as he limped through an injury delivered Wednesday in the open BMX dirt qualifier. “Everyone is really hungry.”
The tour’s stop in Denver provides the final qualifying contests of the tour. Those who didn’t make the cut go home to watch the final three stops of the tour in Portland, Ore., San Jose, Calif., and Orlando. The open qualifier for skateboard vert is today.
The largest open skirmish was Thursday afternoon, when almost 50 BMX riders battled hard for 11 spots in the preliminaries. Like their motorized colleagues, they kicked down. Double back flips. Wall rides. Floating 360s. And even some front flips, one of the most difficult moves in BMX park.
Each rider had two 60-second rides and the second was hotter than the first, as if the heavy threat of elimination was fueling their stunts. The same intensity was obvious in Wednesday’s skateboard park qualifier, with 24 skaters aiming for seven spots in Thursday’s preliminary.
The clash among the bikers in the halfpipe was equally intense. Looking like burly dads on their sons’ bikes, the gravity-mocking athletes hovered above the deck, spinning their rides beneath them before landing on the vertical wall, blinking, and then soaring again.
“The level is way, way high these days,” said Francisco Zurita, a 22-year-old from Santiago, Chile, who qualified for BMX vert in the Dew tour’s first stop last month in Louisville, Ky.
The BMX vert riders spent several hours racing up and down the ramp Thursday after their qualifying skirmish. The level of air and athleticism was no different in practice than in the contest.
“It’s harder than ever before,” said Denver’s Brian Gavagan, a 34-year-old BMX veteran. “You just can’t hold back ever. Doesn’t matter what contest. Open, finals. Just give it everything.”
Staff writer Jason Blevins can be reached at 303-820-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com.
