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Bethlehem Longboard Jam 3 Official Video: For full effect, play music by Glass Animals: Season 2, Episode 3 (our video was muted due to copyright-SORRY) Here's a link to the song... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhZXaWYTPoE
We had a blast at our 3rd annual Bethlehem Longboard Jam with support from local news WFMZ-69, Church of Christ and longboard company Bustin Boards. The skate gods answered our prayers and gave us dry pavement for the event! The riders and spectators were stoked to come out to High Street in Bethlehem and participate in this unique event.
Boardercross (Time Trial Race)
This race is a mixture of speed, slide, slalom and air. Riders follow the cones and chalk lines of the course over 3 sidewalks, 3 ramps and a slalom section. Each rider in the Boardercross loved the sidewalk surfy course with challenging entry and exits over janky pavement mixed with a little bit of wet pavement.
Photo by Noah Balliet. Aaron Gordy charged the course with speed, power and precision. He racked up two of the best times of the day 23.1 and 22.4 seconds.
Cody Baker led the pack in the first round with a time of 23.5 seconds but would get caught up on the last sidewalk entry his next two runs(watch the event video to see the crashes!).
Photo by Noah Balliet. Brian Fitch also took a gnarly crash at this last sidewalk corner, him and Cody would have to sit out for the Slide Jam.
BoarderCross Race Results: 1st-Aaron Gordy 22.37 2nd-Cody Baker 23.45 3rd-Rob Wheeler 23.93 4th-Brian Fitch 25.87 5th-Mark Nicolaus 26.15
After the gnarly Boardercross race, riders chilled out and grabbed some pizza for lunch provided by Church of Christ just down the street. During the break we held our hippy jump contest which concluded with an epic 52" hippy jump by Aaron Gordy over top of Brandon "Animal" Cassel to make the opening clip of the event video.
Slide Jam (Juniors)
Another epic Slide Jam Battle at Bethlehem this year with a small but super talented group of longboarders. The Juniors division was led by new-comer Rian (Ree-ON) Singleton with high speed double grab slides, technical tricks and big airs off the kickers. Ohio native Troy Dycus was right on his heels with his fast and smooth style. He wowed the crowd on his final run with a big ollie off the kicker, super fast check slides and sidewalk surfing creativity which landed him a 9.5. Nathan Yager and Benny Clark put up good scores in the finals with lots of technical sliding and spins. Dycus, Clark and Yager added points to their Faceplant Freestyle Cup scores and will be battling it out at the final event, Skate the Cape Shred Festival 5 on November 6th!
Bethlehem Junior Slide Jam Results: 1st-Rian Singleton 2nd-Troy Dycus 3rd-Nathan Yager 4th-Benny Clark 5th-Noah Balliet
Juniors Division "Faceplant Freestyle Cup" Standings 2016 Troy Dycus - 25 pts Benny Clark - 23 pts Nathan Yager, Rian Singleton - 15 pts Gabe Giesing - 10 pts Noah Balliet, Ethan Sanchez & Ryan Ciano - 8 pts Joseph Carrao, Wiiliam McLead, Luke Landis, Dillon Walter, Logan Bushog, Troy Drain, Xavier Salazar, Jacob Sarac - 5 pts
Slide Jam (Open)
The Open Division was led by last year's Bethlehem Slide Jam winner Max Alessandri. He set the bar high on his first final run with a perfect 10 score from the judges. The crowd went crazy 5-6 times during his first run with banger tricks off the kicker and flip tricks while making it all flow with technical sliding and spins.
Photo by Noah Balliet. FB rider Zach Longacre stole the show on his final run with some big slides and finishing it off with a fakie air off the money booter for the first time ever!
New-comer William Gauss impressed the judges with his near flawless runs with risky flip tricks and super smooth slides. Mark Nicolaus laid down 2 solid final runs with minor bobbles using his super smooth style sliding and airing the kickers.
Bethlehem Open Slide Jam Results: 1st-Max Alessandri 2nd-Zach Longacre 3rd-William Gauss 4th-Mark Nicolaus 5th-Nick Pappas
Big Air: Aaron Gordy Best Trick: Aaron Gordy & Max Alessandri Longest Heel: Nick Pappas Longest Toe: Cody Baker
Longacre leads the Faceplant Freestyle Cup with 20.5 pts with Mark Nicolaus right behind with a 18.5. You still can't count out Rip the Elwood winner Kardon Allard and our winner here Max Alessandri who can easily take another win at Skate the Cape and add another 15 pts to their overall score. Open Division "Faceplant Freestyle Cup" Standings 2016
Zach Longacre - 20.5 pts
Mark Nicolaus - 18 pts
Max Alessandri, Kardon Allard - 15 pts
Aaron Gordy - 13 pts
Brian Fitch - 12.5 ptsAustin Manning, Brandon "Animal" Cassel, William Gauss - 10 pts
Ventus Kisari, Nick Pappas - 8 pts
Evan Greensweicz, Jarrid Lopez, Tim Brooks, Jesse Wipf, Cameron Roundtree - 5 pts
2016 Faceplant Freestyle Cup FINAL EVENT: November 5th-6th, 2016 (rain or shine) 5th Annual Skate the Cape Shred Festival