Dennis Enarson.
Ryan Guettler on the Quarter Pipe.
A BMX Box Jump Contest?
A Recap from the Phoenix Stop of the 2007 Action Sports World Tour
By Jared Souney
Put simply, it's a dirt contest without the dirt. That's how the riders have been describing it at least. You may have seen BMX dirt jumping on TV or in person. It's usually a roll-in to a set of anywhere from 3 to 5 jumps, requiring a rider to get through the whole set, while doing tricks on each one. The Action Sports World Tour's box jump contest is a similar concept, only made from wood. There's a huge roll-in, two jumps in a row, followed by a quarterpipe. Riders are judged on both jumps and the quarterpipe, in a best run counts format.
Previous seasons of the Action Sports World Tour have featured park competitions... a much different set-up. The new format has brought in some new faces along with some seasoned vets. "They don't really feel like box jumps. They're offset more like dirt jumps. It's interesting. It's a little hard on the landings, but it's fun" jumping and vert competitor Ben Snowden said. "It's definitely going to be fun of the crowd. I think everybody's just going to huck themselves. They're actually pretty soft to crash on, but they kind of kick you funny. You definitely have to alter your style a bit to land smooth on them" he added.
"It was so new and so fun, I think we all had a good time" said first place qualifier Dennis Enarson. Enarson is 16-years-old and hails from San Diego. Dennis was motivated early on by guys like Steve Woodward (who also competed here in Phoenix) and Gary Young. Dennis has come a long way very quickly, and is fresh of a dirt win at the AST Dew Tour in Portland. When asked if he felt any pressure as a result Dennis said "I felt like I kind of got lucky in Portland, so I just figured I'd try to make the finals here. There wasn't really any pressure. I rode pretty good I thought."
With this year's new BMX Box Jump contest, no one really knew how things were going to unfold, but after seeing Enarson's performance at other contests this year, a lot of riders had picked Dennis for the win. They were right. Enarson wasn't able to cruise through the finals, though. With heavy hitters like Ryan Guettler and Anthony Napolitan in the mix, anything could happen. All the riders in the finals had what it takes to make a win happen, but Enarson fired out double whip 360s, backflip tailwhips, triple tailwhips, and even attempted, and nearly pulled a triple tailwhip 360 in his last run. Enarson is the real deal. "The feel of these events is a lot different than other contest, there's a lot less pressure" Dennis said.