Diogo Canina Wins The Big-Air BMX Triples Event

FatTony

• August 02 2008
• 1 comment

The highest-flying action in Orange County this week concluded tonight when ASA Entertainment presented the finals of the Big-Air BMX Triples from the Orange County Fair’s Action Sports Arena. Before an audience that overflowed the grandstand onto the infield and bleachers, Brazil’s Diogo Canina performed a virtually flawless run of backflip tailwhips, tailwhips, and a 720 to win the event championship and qualify for the LG Action Sports World Championships. Just two nights ago, Canina stood in the same podium position after winning round one and said he would have to ride even harder in the finals because he would be facing some of the best BMX riders in the business. The battle fought tonight involved some of the toughest skirmishes the sport has to offer.

The head-to-head format for the Big Air BMX Triples saw every man performing tricks from an expansive repertoire in order to prevail and advance to the next round. For some, even injury didn’t stop them from throwing their toughest stunts. With a dislocated finger, ligament damage in his wrist, and a sprained ankle, Koji Kraft (Addison, Ill.) fought through the pain in the quarterfinals and defeated Ricky Moseley, round one’s third place winner, to advance to the semi-finals where he met the eventual event winner, Canina; an injured Kraft was no match for the consistent Brazilian.

In other quarterfinal action, T.J. Ellis (Moreno Valley, CA) and Pat Casey, the 14 year-old phenom from Placentia, Calif., provided the judges with one of the toughest decisions of the evening. Casey electrified the crowd with a triple tailwhip during his first run, but was quickly challenged by Ellis with his front-flip, 360 double tailwhip combination. The eventual decision was unanimous, and Ellis advanced to the semi-finals to face Rob Darden (Greenville, NC), Wednesday night’s preliminary round two winner. Round two’s results, which saw Ellis accept third place to Darden’s win, were long forgotten as Ellis successfully connected with his stunts tonight to earn a spot in the final heat.

For Austin Coleman (Los Angeles, Calif.) tonight progressed the same as it did last night; Coleman faced impressive talent that required him to push hard all the way to the end. He pumped up the crowd before each run and fed off their energy to perform no-handed front flips and no-handed flairs to the fans’ delight. He entered the final round confident and ready to take on the best men the event had to offer, and Canina and Ellis stepped up to answer his challenge.

Diogo Canina flip-whipping his way to a victory. Photo by Fat.

The final heat ended with each man standing on the podium in the same positions in which they stood after their preliminary rounds; Diogo Canina in first place, Austin Coleman in second place and T.J. Ellis in third place. The Big Air BMX Triples compared each man’s best of two runs and rewarded technical consistency and flawless execution over flash and flair.

The Big Air BMX Triples is an ASA Entertainment production whose excitement will be brought to fans via CBS Sports later this year. Please stay tuned to your local listings and www.bmxtriples.com for more information.

Here are our photos from the first night of this three night event.