The third and final stop on this years Scrap Metal tour landed in Milton Keynes on October 31st where the riders swapped trick or treating for a good old shred! The local crews turned out in their droves to sample what was on offer as well as a number of familiar faces from the two previous events.
Once the slope opened the riders headed out onto the course and had a one hour practice session to find their feet on the new rails, gas pipes and skip (which was set-up with a wall ride on one of the sides)… Amazing! After the practice session was over the judging started and the competitors were being scored on their whole run with points being awarded for creativity, technicality, variety of tricks and their ability to put together a controlled run without loosing momentum or scrubbing their landings.
Once time was running the qualifying session was drawing to an end the riders started to push their snowboarding to new levels with many people landing tricks they’d been trying all night in the last ten minutes. Stand out competitors had to be Stu Edwards with some of the most controlled backside spins onto the rails we saw all night, James Carr was riding like a man possessed and defying everyone’s expectations after recovering from a broken back at the Brits and local boy Bacon was butchering the down, flat, down rail with some burly boardslides through the kink.
Once all the riders had laid down their last runs the judges picked the following people to go into the final:
Sindry
Jamie Nicholls
Gareth Andrews
Lil ‘T
Simon Foster
James Carr
Chris Chatt
Bacon
Angus Mallock
Will Smith
Wild Card (due to an exceptional series of tricks)- Steve Revell
Emily Williams
Laura Berry
Jules
The final was the same set up as the two previous events with a two-run, best run counts format. The ladies went first and landed some clean runs with Jules stomping one of the best blunt stalls on the Rude bonk we’ve seen for the whole circuit. Laura Berry was her usual precise self and Emily Williams recovered after catching an (completely undeserved) edge during her first run.
The guys were next up and stomped some of the best lines we’d seen for the whole circuit. Will Smith landed an amazing backside 180, switch 50/50, cab 180 out which obviously impressed his fellow competitors and sealed his fate for the “Riders Choice Award”. Chris Chatt and Angus claimed ownership on the down, flat, down where as Lil ‘T was boosting some massive stalefishes over the skip to impress the judges.
After the dust settled on the final the competitors filled out their Riders Choice ballet slips, which were then hastily totted up against the numbers from the two previous events. Young Will Smith took the win after entering just two events and proved his riding style was a hit with many of his piers. He will get the opportunity to design his very own Burton Series 13 snowboard in whatever length, shape or design he chooses. Laura Berry was the stand out female rider of the whole tour and took her second win of this years Scrap Metal. She rode with formidable style, variety and seemed to land every trick she could come up with. It was a fine example of “text book” competition snowboarding and how to dominate your local scene.
The men’s winners started off with wild card entry and designer of the stairset, Steve Revell who bagged second place. The winner from Braehead Jamie Nicholls took second place and added to his bags of swag from every comp he enters this season and finally local boy James Carr won best overall male on the night.Angus Mallock made his trip from Scotland worthwhile and won the best unsposored category. He will join Tom Honey and Dean Horsfield on a trip of a lifetime out to Avoriaz where they will be staying with Rude Apartments and being mentored by the UK Burton Team. Look out for more of these boys in the future as previous trips have nurtured the talents of some of the counties
finest up and coming riders.
All in all the 2008 Burton Scrap Metal has been a massive success. See you next year.
Videos to follow shortly
