Date: january 27, 1990
2hip.com: In a fairgrounds once again. (MMM: Another 900 by Hoffman; Who's this 'Jay Miron' amateur guy?; Joe Johnson was awarded a custom spraypainted GMC 'Pacer' automobile for winning the title.) (Which promptly broke-down while driving it home to San Diego and was left on the side of the road......)
BMX Plus!, may 1990: Visualize a halfpipe sitting in the middle of a warehouse with chairs on both sides. Place a few psychedelic paintings of "Alice in Wonderland meets the Flintstones" above the competition area. Fill the spectator section with flatland riders, street riders, fans and the most visible clan of all -the veteran freestylers. Most of the early-day freestylers were roaming around causng flashbacks of the good ol' days to come to mind. Now throw two handfuls of the best ramp riders up on the platforms of the halfpipe. Imagine this warehouse as a huge place.
Picture 27 guys fighting for eight places in the Expert class eliminations. To give you a better frame on this picture, project the regular crowd of KOV followers and add a few British riders, Canadian riders, locals and local factory riders. Impose Ron Wilkerson and Kevin Martin right in the middle of the action and place mikes in their hands for easy narration of the ongoing, loud, chaotic radness. Now envision some aggro qualifying runs by a lot of happenin' riders and a "now you see/now you don't" by Mike Dominguez. First you saw a very airy 540 and then you didn't see Mike. Despite a kanked front wheel, he rode out of the 540, let the bike go and walked off into the crowd.
Envision the finals of the Finals. allow us to give you some visuals. Behold Garry Pollack executing tailwhip airs, 540s, disasters and 50/50s, to name a few; Jeremy Alder completing a few bar spin airs; Gary Laurent's attempted 900, where he accidentally did a sort of fly-out flip onto the platform; Jess Dyrenforth lashing out smooth airs and lip tricks extraordinaire; Dave Mirra proving to be Dyno's new dynamo and performing a menu of tricks and, we must add, he rages!
Imagine you are dealt another hand of visual aids -this time we're taking the help from the pro class. Picture Dino DeLuca pulling a bold 540 on his last attempt; Dennis McCoy lofting some elevated 540s, not to mention all the other tricks he was executing; British radster Jason Ellis demonstrating high airs and new variations. Conjure up a vision of six 540s, one on each side of the ramp until six were completed. By whom, you might ask ? Well... the rider was none other than Matt Hoffman. Everyone expected this insanity from Matt, but what everyone didn't expect is for Brian Blyther to complete the same six crazy back-to-back 540s also. Joe Johnson kept everyone on their feet with variations beyond belief, plenty of grinds and a footplant thrown in for texture. Joe pulled it all together and topped it with his double whiplash air -but at the end, it came down to the mindblowing one-man show. He worked each side of the ramp, fusing together all sorts of combos and at the end pulling a 900 to be followed by his signature flip onto the platform. The man was Matt Hoffman and his last run was the show-stopper.
Visualize the 1989 King Of Vert contests: the variety of tricks and the competition among riders goes one step further each time. Ability and insanity walk hand in hand along the lip's edge. We don't know what the future has in store for the King Of Vert series in 1990, but we know that Ron and Vision Street Wear finished off the decade with one of the raddest King Of Verts ever.
Bicross and Skate magazine, mars 1990: Le truc qui m'a le plus surpris dès les entraînements, c'est le fait qu'à part Matt Hoffman et Joe Johnson, personne ne rentrait tailwhip air. Cette figure dingue à laquelle Philippe Pereira, Christophe Chevalier et Jean Somsois nous avaient habitués est ici à la finale du KOV une performance aussi rare que le 900°. Défi des défis, le 900 est quand même la dernière trouvaille en matière de délire. Qui a lancé les hostilités? Impossible de le savoir, puisque tous y ont pensé. Mais seuls ceux qui ont assimilé le 540° à sept pieds semblent capables d'affronter le 900. A ce niveau là, tibias, péronés ou clavicules sont également testés, puis le plâtre aidant, imposant un repos et une analyse obligée, le rider réparé fonce avec plus de précision et réalise le trick imaginé. C'est le lot de tous les tops (...)
Ron Wilkerson ne participe pas au contest. Les entraînements pros et amateurs se déroulent séparément. Qualifications, demi-finales et finales s'ordonnent au cours d'une seule après-midi, Garry Pollack participe à sa dernière compétition en amateur avant le grand saut dans la catégorie pro. Poussé par des toxiques comme John Byers ou Jay Miron, Garry remporte malgré tout cette finale et le général.
Chez les pros, Matt Hoffman explose littéralement et bien au-dessus de la mêlée s'impose une fois de plus comme le dieu des airs...
PRO CLASS RESULTS: 1.Matt Hoffman ($700) 2.Joe Johnson ($500) 3.Brian Blyther ($300) 4.Dennis McCoy ($150) 5.Bob Kohl ($150) 6.Jason Ellis ($100) 7.Dino DeLuca ($100) 8.Joel Alamo 9.James Hudson
EXPERT CLASS RESULTS: 1.Gary Pollack 2.John Byers 3.Gary Laurent 4.(tie) Jess Dyrenforth 4.(tie) Jeremy Alder 6.Kevin Gutierrez 7.Dave Mirra 8.Eben Krackau
Dave Mirra no hander.
Mat(t) Hoffman, King Of Vert Finals, January 27, 1990. Photo by Spike Jonze.
John Byers, candybar lookback
James Hudson, unknown drop-in