SKATE BLOG:

As if skating in the Maloof Money Cup and X-Games 14 weren't enough, Chris O'Reilly is now rollin' Hollywood style.  The next time you see Miley Cyrus, tell her to say hi to Chris.  Oh, wait - you don't hang out with Miley Cyrus.  Turns out that Chris does, though: he and pal Jaime Alexander recently spent a few days skating for a Hannah Montana movie that will be out next year.  Apparently they filmed a vert session on a beach and the catered food on set was top-notch.  No word yet as to any potential future between Chris and the 16-year old zillionaire.

FREE FLOW SKATE CONTEST

Skaters from far and wide came out for this thing.  Indiana, Florida, the Carolinas, and....Alabama(?) were all represented.
The day started out with ten vert skaters putting on an impressive show.  Standouts included Clay Kreiner (boost and style), Hayden Victer (another crazy roll in), and Austin Gordon (540 Melon!?).  Chris O'Reilly, whose name may sound vaguely familiar, blasted back to back difficult tricks for the win.  Chris will represent Factory at the Free Flow Finals in Salt Lake City, Utah later this summer.  If he wins, he'll skate with the pros at the Orlando Dew Tour Finals.

The Junior Jam, consisting of the 12 & under crew, was next.  Talk about good!  These guys really came out with some big stuff.  Lindsea Lumpin, the day's only female skater, came out strong.  Kaden Campbell and Carson Watring were also in the running for the win, but Brandon Barnes came out on top.  Brandon used both the big and small street courses and combined old and new school tricks in an awesome repertoire.

The Open Street comp was honestly the best display of skating I've witnessed in a long time.  With the 5-man jam format in effect, guys were stomping huge tricks everywhere you looked.  I was taking pictures from the middle of the course, an I couldn't even keep up with the insanity.     Guys were flying all over the place, and in some cases into each other...I saw one three man collision that left their skateboard literally stacked on top of one another.  Some things I remember:
-7th: Hayden Victer pulled some clean channel gaps, hip transfers, grinds, and (after a few tries) his signature back flip
- 6th: Austin Gordon wuz ROBBED: kickflip carve over the love seat, huge lines, and lots of height.
-5th: Michael Soskin shut the new bling rail down with boardslide variations that had me wanting to just stay at that rail.  Watch out for this guy at future events.
-4th: Stephen Porello was the only guy to even try doing the entire Big Bertha Ledge.  He made it 2nd try.  He also pulled a backside kickflip to 50-50 on the Big Hubba  (I think).
-3rd:  No stranger to the podium in vert contests, Chris O'Reilly did really well in the street event.  I was impressed with the tech stuff he pulled, the boardslide lines he did that no one else can, and the fact that he boosted an air well over the 11 foot quarter.
-2nd:  Richard Wooten is a destroyer.  One of my favorite guys to watch all weekend, he threw down some massive tricks that I've never even seen here before.  How about a gap to BACKSIDE lipslide on the down rail from the other side of the pyramid?  Crazy.
-1st: Alex Longcamp came here a couple of years ago and won a Factory Nationals comp.  Guess he felt the need to remind us how dialed he is.  Alex used the whole course and shut down every obstacle he touched.  This kid is super consistent and travels to contests all over, gaining experience and often winning.  Alex secured a spot in Salt Lake City, where he will skate against the other Free Flow winners on the pro street course.  Good luck, Alex!
 

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE COMP!

BMX BLOG:

Slow news day...everybody is getting better.  Chris Burden is going really, really high, Chase Bridges is pulling tailwhip and truckdriver flyouts, and Cade Wall just got a new bike.  Stay tuned for more incredible news......

FREE FLOW BMX CONTEST

 A little known fact amongst the local bike community: there is vert ramp in the back of the Factory Skatepark, and you're even allowed to ride it!  Four brave souls decided to do just that during Sunday's Free Flow comp.  The encouraging thing? Two of them weren't even vert riders!  I was glad that they signed up and rode anyway - we need more guys like that to ensure that vert doesn't die.  Tyler Noble secured the win with his rail-high airs, tables, one-handers, and general aggressiveness.  He also pulled a barspin and a whip towards the top of the transition, drawing cheers from the announcer (me) and audience alike.

The Junior Jam only had two kids sign up, but both were rippers.  Contest veteran Mick Malik and Factory rider Cade Wall duked it out together, getting the spotlight and plenty of jam time to strut their stuff.  Mick had all sorts of jump variations, throwing his arms and legs everywhere over the first box jump and the turtle step-up like a young Mat Hoffman.  Cade, showing his home field experience, used the whole course, displaying height, smooth lines, and some long grinds. The win went to Cade, but I had a blast watching both of them go off for five minutes straight.

Open Park was, as usual, nuts.  Three heats of four or five riders all got five minutes of jam time to impress the judges, and six went to the finals.  As I remember it:
Brad Kirkman, Eric Miller, and Kyle Noble all rode well.  Brad nailed a tuck no-hander to manual out of the five foot quarter.  Eric did a tailwhip transfer from the box jump into the turtle and a 630 alley-oop into the step-up hip.   Kyle tried all kinds of weird stuff like handplant barspins but didn't land as much as he had in the vert comp. 
3rd - Jared Bowers is one of my favorite locals to watch.  He did his trademark tour of the park, which involves transferring into the vert ramp out of the eight foot quarter and then into the mini ramp, right into a handplant over the sub/quarter.  He also did some gnarly stalls on the 11 foot quarter, like a Luc-e to toothpick out.
2nd - Devon Smillie BOOSTED.  He aired about 18 inches above the 11 foot quarter from the love seat and a good six and a half feet out of the six foot quarter.  He barspun the channel gap, tailwhipped everything in sight, and generally rode amazing (ly well, for all you english nazis out there).
1st - Chris Burden basically rode like Nathan Williams did during the last Octobersesh.  He worked the super-euro/big pyramid/big bank lane like I've never seen.  As in, over-ice down the rail, double peg up it to manual (and tuck no-hander) out,  and double peg down the big hubba to 180 out....all pretty much back to back, with 180/360 stuff and footjam whips at either end of the section to link it all together.  As if that weren't enough, Chris went soooo high and clicked on his tricks into the step up hip (270 lookback? Hello!) that even I had to shake my head even as I announced it to the audience.  He ruled, plain and simple.  Both Chris and Tyler Noble will go to Salt Lake City to compete on the Pro Course/Vert Ramp against the other Free Flow city stop winners.  I'm told by the Free Flow representative that the Am competitions will be broadcast online.  If so, I'll post the details.

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO!

WINTER SPLINTER 2008

See Alex Johann's back wheel?  This picture is indicative of the entire day.  See below for the epic story.....
 

Overall champ of the day Alex Johann over 9 feet.     Photo: Jason Williams

Winter Splinter 2008…..I don’t even know where to begin.  This was the best bike event ever at the Factory Skatepark and maybe the best contest here, period.  56 Riders came out and destroyed the place, competing in Park, Vert, Bunnyhop, and High Air on the 11 foot quarter.  Talem Cowart started the day off right by bunnyhopping an astounding 46 inches, earning himself an unofficial world record by ½ an inch (for an official record, the equipment would have had to be exactly calibrated).  The High Air event was a huge crowd favorite since they were allowed onto the course to watch from the base of the huge quarterpipe.  Of the eight competitors, North Carolina’s Alex Johann and semi-local Kyle Kelsey were the two top dogs; Alex topped out at feet but exploded upon re-entry.  Kyle made it to eight and a half and rode away clean, pulling the win.


Zach Newman going way higher than I did.           Photo: Jason Williams

The Vert comp, typically a small event in modern BMX contests, ended up being a great success.  Eleven riders donned their gnar masks and braved the infamous 13-foot U-Track.  The Am Class didn’t disappoint: youngsters Ian and Zane Bradley, all the way from New Hampshire, did sponsor Rye Airfield proud with tricks galore.  Ryan Davis copped a rad-itude by stalling out an icepick, looking at his buddies on the deck, and waving.  Jason Williams did scary high speed grind variations using different parts of his bike.  I thought he had it in the bag, but according to the judges I went high enough to squeak out the win by half a point.  Take that, Jason! Next year I’ll bribe them even more so it won’t be so close…
  Kyle Kelsey, 360 Tailwhip.   Photo: Jason Williams

Pro Vert was amazing, especially considering that none of the superstar types were representing.  Kyle Kelsey turndowned, barspun, whipped, and inverted his way to third, all in a Pro-tec skate helmet, having forgotten his full face.  Kentucky’s Zach Newman airs higher opposite than most mortal men go their regular way.  Tricks aplenty, height, and true vert style got him second.  Alex Johann did an alley-oop carve across the entire ramp, then carved it his regular way while pointing at the EXPN camera man as he cruised by.  He pulled a superman seat grab (having never tried them before), high whips and flairs, and basically shut the place down.  Numbah One.

As always, the park event was ridiculous.  Demarcus Paul from Albany, Georgia may look like a Brooklyn rail and ledge wrecker but can mix up huge box jump and tranny tricks with his street repertoire.  This guy absolutely shredded.  A well deserved win in expert.  After all the breath holding, cheering, and wincing of the day, I wondered if Pro Park would be able to top everything.  Well, it did.  Local Niles Harper, whose team recently won the Georgia BMX Film competition, combined high airs and street bangers like a gap to hangover toothpick for third place.  North Carolina’s Darren Bouldin came through with a big gap to barspin and a 360 double whip to nail second.  The winner, and a guy lucky to have survived the day, was Alex Johann again.  Flipwhip? Check. Huge whip over the 11 foot quarter? Yep. 6 foot flair over it, too?  Uh-huh.  The guy ripped.  First place - plus bragging rights for taking home both park and vert while giving Kyle Kelsey a run for his money in high air.  Rumor has it that Alex is going to start intensive bunnyhop training with an old 40-pound S&M H.A.F. so he can beat Talem’s record next year.

Jason Williams supplied these great photos.  For more of his excellent work, check out his flickr page by clicking here. 

Another swell guy in the photography realm is George Jones.  He will be posting a zillion pictures from the contest in the coming days.  Check his site out here.  I've already spotted intermediate winner Brandon Dahn stylin' his way over the second box jump.  George, I expect to see at least 100 photos of myself, since I rode in so many events that both quad muscles were cramping by the time I got to pro park (and got second to last).

Some great videos are online documenting the day.  Click on these links for:
An overall capture (Filmer/editor Unknown so far)
High Air (Thanks To Barry Malik)
Bunnyhop and High Air (Thanks To Nick Weigand)
 

The comp was a huge success, made possible by Red Bull, Props, Primo, S&M, Lifetime Bikes, Kink, Odyssey, Animal, Maxxis, A Plus Siding/remodeling, Hooters, and the Factory Skatepark.  See you there next year!  Click the links below to check out the results.

                                                           - Noel                                                

WINTER SPLINTER 2008 RESULTS
Beginner
Intermediate
Expert
Masters
Pro
Amateur Vert
Pro Vert

FACTORY TRICK TIPS DVD IS OUT!

The critics agree: this is the first no doubt THE BEST tricks tips video that we have ever released!!  Combining the team skaters' talent, Shrader's editing skill and my soon-to-be-nominated-for-an-Academy Award narrating, this video is a real gem.  It has instructional content, some amazing action footage, a bloopers reel, and even a "skatepark etiquette" advice section.  At $9.99 a pop you can't go wrong, either.  Dean's gonna kill me once I tell him what making this thing cost us...if I sell roughly 20,000 of these it might just cover the production cost, so please buy one and help me keep my job.  

Factory's Online Skateshop is open! Click the "Online Store" tab on the menu.

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Hotel Info:

There are options for special hotel rates: in Newnan and by the 
airport. Newnan is 25 miles south of the airport and 35 miles south of 
downtown Atlanta. So if you stayed in Newnan, you would be right by the 
park. If you stayed by the airport, you would be 25 mins from the park. It's up to you.

Best Rates:
Holiday Inn Express - Newnan
770-251-2828
www.hiexpress.com 

Also try:

Jameson Inn - Newnan 
770-252-1236
newnan.ga@jamesoninns.com

Hampton inn - Newnan
770-253-9922
www.hamptoninn.com 

Comfort Inn - Atlanta Airport 
404-761-6500 
www.comfortinnatlantaairport.com 

The Westin Atlanta Airport 
www.westin.com/atlantaairport 
888-627-7211 (toll free reservations) 
(404) 762-7676 (local) 

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