Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
The AST Dew Tour wrapped up its fourth event of the 2007 season with the completion of the Toyota Challenge on Sunday at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. Toyota Challenge event winners included: Jamie Bestwick (BMX Vert), James Foster (BMX Dirt), Nate Adams (FMX), Ryan Sheckler (SKB Park), Pierre Luc-Gagnon (SKB Vert), and Scotty Cranmer (BMX Park).
The four-day competition drew 61,910 fans, the largest recorded attendance in AST Dew Tour history. The five-event AST Dew Tour that features skateboarding (SKB), BMX and freestyle motocross (FMX) will next visit Orlando for its finale, the PlayStation Pro October 18-21.
Despite ending his win streak in AST Dew Tour competition this season, Shaun White's disappointment quickly disappeared when he learned that his third-place finish was good enough to mathematically clinch his first Dew Cup during Sunday's Toyota Challenge at EnergySolutions Arena.
White, 21, of Carlsbad, Calif., was leading Sunday's Skateboard Vert finals and en route to another victory, when he fell midway through his third run to finish with an 88.25 score. But his previous three wins this season meant his third place finish was good enough to clinch the Skateboard Vert title by just one point.
"I've been trying the best I can, but you got to make a mistake here or there," White said. "It just feels amazing to have already clinched the Dew Cup heading into Orlando."
Pierre-Luc Gagnon, 28, of Montreal won the competition with a score of 93.00 and Bucky Lasek of Baltimore, MD placed second with 91.00.
"I was pretty disappointed in my first two runs," Gagnon said. "I waited until the last chance to do it and pulled it out. I just want to keep skating well and keep positive for Orlando."
Ryan Sheckler clinched his third consecutive Dew Cup title in Skateboard Park with a victory in Sunday's finals.
Sheckler, 17, of San Clemente, Calif., who also stars in his own MTV reality show called "Life of Ryan," earned a score of 87.58. Despite falls during his initial runs, Sheckler performed successive rail tricks in the second half of his jam session to seal the victory. His technical tricks included a kickflip 50-50 and a 360 flip.
"I was so tired this morning, I couldn't even kickflip," said Sheckler, who competed in a best trick event last night in lieu of the originally scheduled Skateboard Park finals which were postponed due to Saturday's weather. "I was lucky to pull it all together in the finals."
Roldolfo Ramos and Rodil Araujo Jr., both of Brazil, finished behind Sheckler with scores of 82.58 and 82.08, respectively.
In a tough competition filled with several highly technical tricks, Scotty Cranmer narrowly edged out Australia's Ryan Guettler to win the BMX Park finals.
Cranmer, 20, of Jackson, N.J., secured the win by completing a front flip tailwhip, the first time it was ever performed in competition for a 93.17 score.
"I came around and as soon as I felt the bike grab and rolled away, I was like ‘Yeah!'," Cranmer said.
Cranmer said he has been trying to perform the trick for years, and only landed it in recent weeks.
"That's the only reason I came here, was to land that trick," Cranmer added.
Guettler finished with a 92.50 score and Ryan Nyquist of Greenville, N.C. finished in third with a score of 91.67.
Jamie Bestwick moved closer to a third straight Dew Cup by winning the BMX vert finals and James Foster claimed his first AST Dew Tour victory in the BMX dirt finals on Friday.
Bestwick, 36, scored 94.00 points to beat the 92.50 of fellow Briton Simon Tabron. Australia's Steven McCann was third with 91.00 points.
Bestwick has won at 11 of 14 Dew Tour stops since 2005.
"I have a few good things I've been working on that I plan to showcase in Orlando in the finals," Bestwick said. "There's a lot on the line next month. I'm going to work on the things that I couldn't get done here and try to give it to the fans in Florida."
Foster, 21, of Redlands, Calif., clinched the victory with a highly technical flawless final run to finish with a 93.25 average score. Foster's previous best finish this season was seventh.
"I gave it everything I could," Foster said. "I was just trying to make the podium and the windshield wiper (highly technical tailwhip trick) did it. I'm seriously ecstatic … I don't know what to say."
Cameron White of Australia finished second with a 92.92 and Mike Aitken of Salt Lake City was third with a score of 90.50.
Nate Adams clinched his second consecutive Dew Cup title in Freestyle Motocross (FMX) with a victory in Saturday's FMX finals.
On his first run, Adams pulled a back flip on a 95 foot gap, giving him a 93.33 score, which was good enough for the victory.
"I'm just really pumped," Adams said. "I always go in trying to win or at least get top three on the podium. I knew I had to do something special to separate myself from the rest of the pack."
Todd Potter of Temecula, Calif. finished second with a score of 89.67 and Jeremy Lusk of San Diego, Calif. was third at 89.50.
Adams, 23, of Glendale, Ariz., has won three of the four AST Dew Tour events this season which enabled him to mathematically clinch the title on Saturday.
"It's pretty sweet to win the Dew Tour again," Adams said. "Now it's back to Orlando for the last stop."
