[Gallery] Rampage Finals – Brandon Semenuk’s Second Win
[Gallery] Rampage Finals – Brandon Semenuk’s Second Win
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Aside from a few mishaps of relatively low consequence, Rampage went down in a much better fashion than years past. After a rough year last year leaving Paul Basagoitia in a horrendous state, and quite a bit of controversy over judging, it was safe to say that most left with a bit of a bad taste in their mouth. This year Red Bull made some serious changes, all of which were well received – they increased safety, took feedback from riders more seriously, increased pay and brought on 2 judges who are well respected by all of the riders – Kyle Jameson and Nico Vink. Both Kyle and Nico have competed in multiple, recent Rampage events. The finals were tense, and per usual wind was a factor…
Despite being in a bit of rough shape from a couple of huge crashes, Conor MacFarlane turned up at the rider’s meeting ready for action.
Kurt Sorge eyeing up his biggest drop.
Fans, hungry for action.
The raddest judges.
Darren Berrecloth, first on the hill.
T-Mac and Berrecloth’s drop was massive.
Carson Storch spinning a huge 360 that would win him best trick.
Tom Vansteenbergen’s upper section was gnarly.
Brandon would charge his extremely technical upper section, blast a huge 360 flatspin on a step up, then pull this flat drop flip to take the highest score.
James Doerfling and Aggy shared this chute into the heart of the course. It was clearly absurd.
Aggy with a 360 off of a very difficult drop….
…Graham lined up a bit too far to the right. This was the moment before it all went wrong.
A broken pelvis will leave Aggy out for 8-10 weeks, but he won’t need surgery. In the grand scheme of how horrendous this crash was, he’s lucky.
Antoine Bizet with a flip on the main ridgeline. A double flip down below would earn him 2nd place.
Brett Rheeder was charging and looking set for a top 5 but had bobbles in both runs.
Tommy G looked so good, he charged his upper section and popped two 360’s in his run. Solid.
Norbs, thinking about life on the edge.
Nice spin out of a cool flowy section from Norbraten.
PEF was charging all day. He probably rode the top section faster than anyone.
Kyle Strait would straight air his first run on this big drop, but in run two he threw this massive no hander.
Cam Zink making sure he has a perfect run in.
Cam Zink doing the unthinkable. He would over-rotate and crash injuring his thumb and deciding to sit out a second run.
Andreu Lacondeguy’s run was wild, but lacked the huge tricks that he needed for a big result.
Remy Metaillier would take just one run, like many others.
Conor MacFarlane – Pure grit.
Unfortunately Conor would have a massive crash coming up short on this demented gap.
Antoine Bizet with some wind delays.
Back to the top for Semenuk, although he would roll the dice and opt out of a second run.
Kurt Sorge also opted out of a second run due to wind.
Your top 3 riders. Brandon also won people’s choice, Carson would win best trick and Conor MacFarlane would win the Kelly McGarry spirit award.
Top 10.
Healing vibes to this tough dude. See you next year Rampage.