2009 Warriors Of Wood Final Results, Recap & Photo Gallery

FatTony

• May 31 2009
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• 14 comments

Words by Fat. Photos by Z.

The first ever Warriors Of Wood contest put on by Ryan Nyquist came and went today in San Jose, California. We were on hand to witness the madness that went down the 20-foot roll-in and passed through the four enormous wooden doubles. Check out this quick recap with some of the highlights along with the final results and a photo gallery from the day including TJ Ellis, Anthony Napolitan, Hucker, and of course, Ryan Nyquist himself.

The concept of wooden doubles in a rhythm section is nothing new, but with the unreal size of this contest’s setup, it seemed like nothing we had ever seen before. Literally some of the world’s best rider had trouble getting through the eight pack, and any little mistake could be catastrophic, sending riders flying through the air and/or hurling towards the ground. We didn’t make it out for yesterday’s practice, but we heard countless stories of the carnage that went down and the guys who got broke off.

Today more than a handful of the guy who signed up yesterday didn’t show up or didn’t actually ride. That’s testament to how gnarly this course was. When a dozen riders pay their entry fee then back down from the contest, you know the jumps are no joke.

Once the men were separated from the boys, things got cooking and tricks started coming out. In qualifying they ran a best of two runs format, and compared to the finals it seemed rather tame. I began to think that we weren’t going to see any bangers during the event because so many people held back and played it relatively safe during prelims. But once the finals started, the top ten guys were laying it all on the line as two of their three runs were averaged to determine a winner. After all was said and done, and after winning at the recent ASA contest and FISE contest, TJ Ellis came out on top with his third big win in a row. Then Anthony Naplitan hit the jumps on fire and threw out a handful of bangers during the best trick contest including the winning trick, a 360 triple tailwhip.

Here’s a quick list of some of the highlights that went down during the day:
- Rob Darden 720ed mid set, but couldn’t quite make it through the rest.
- Ryan Nyquist was injured with a messed up back but still managed to ride amazing. He did several 360 variations and a720 barspin.
- 15 year old Pat Casey made the finals along side the other contest vets. He had solid runs including double tailwhips.
- Colton Satterfield was riding really well in practice, pulling 360 double whips consistently, but couldn’t put it together when the runs counted.
- Ben Voyles was riding really well too and made the finals. However, a separated shoulder at the last minute took him out so he couldn’t ride with the other nine finalists.
- Hucker had a huge cheering squad in the crowd and did some amazing 360 variations, a 720, and even attempted a double flip.
- Anthony Napolitan was super consistent all day and did a no-handed frontflip, triple whip, and a few backflip variations.
- TJ Ellis did a no-handed frontflip mid set, several backflip variations, and 360 variations both ways. He was super smooth and went high as crap today.
- Allan Cooke was the only guy to trick the drop in—he did several barspins into it and was the only brakeless rider to make it to finals.
- During best trick TJ Ellis did a backflip no-footed can-can and a flip whip.
- Also during best trick Anthony Napolitan’s bangers included: 360 barspin to whip, triple whip, 360 superman seatgrab Indian air, and of course the 360 triple whip.

Final Results:
1. TJ Ellis
2. Anthony Napolitan
3. Mike “Hucker” Clark
4. Allan Cooke
5. Cameron White
6. Ryan Nyquist
7. Alistair Whitton
8. Rob Darden
9. Patrick Casey
10. Ben Voyles (Did not ride.)

Best Trick Winner:
Anthony Napolitan - 360 Triple Tailwhip