It was a fantastic day the 21^st of August 2011. Riders had travelled from around the globe, the nation, the state and from the city to come together and compete in the finals of series 3 of the Newcircle DownUnderGround

The setting for the contest was at the Aus bike expo which drew in many spectators from all walks of life, which was good to see. The contest surface was great, smooth but with great grip to hook into some good spins. With many riders still fully energized from the jam the day before the, the jam session/warm up seemed just to be an extension from the previous day.

The advanced class was the first to hit the floor with their two contest runs and the standouts were, Andrew Lightbody, June Dungca, Phillip Fruh, Allen Woo and Shaun Jarvis with only four to make it to the finals it was going to be tight as they were all riding well. After all was said and done it was June Dungca who unfortunately missed out a spot.

The pro class was going to be a great contest to watch with so many different styles and abilities between the riders. The two riders that we hitting all the tricks to get them into the finals were Paul Chamberlain and Eiji Katoako and the judges saw the consistency in Grant Cruise to elevate him into the finals as well.

The finals of the advanced class saw a shuffle up from the qualifying order. Phillip Fruh from Germany, now a Melbourne local took out the top spot with his great run of harder tricks and links. Allen Woo from New Zealand who was in 4^th place knocked out a great smooth run which took him up to 2^nd place. Andrew Lightbody had a great slow effortless flow to his final runs and a 3^rd place was his. Shaun Jarvis who was in the 2^nd place did not ride as well in the finals as in his qualifying rounds and was delegated the 4^th place.

The pro class finals did not seem to be much of a contest as everyone thought it would be Eiji Katoako to take the win. Paul Chamberlain would be the only rider who could challenge him but it would be a difficult task with the sheer power and intensity of Eiji’s style. In true from Eiji he spun and flipped and jumped himself to take the win, his no handed time machine was straight up awesome. Paul Chamberlain was as smooth as always but his switch foot inside rear peg hang five was just not working for him although 2^nd place was his. Local Melbourne rider Grant Cruise had the boomerangs, decades and rolls and the consistency but was no match for the other two riders and a 3^rd place was his to take home.

The end of year titles were announced at the presentations with Paul Chamberlain taking out the pro class and Phillip Fruh winning the advanced class title.

With all the fun and action taken care of it was time for the presentations and then party mode was shifted into gear at the Palookaville pub. People ate drank and partied as well as the world premiere of the Ben Moran DVD “now is the time” was shown. The end to another successful series of the DownUnderGround.

Newcircle
DownUnderGround round 3 the finals official results – 21^st August  2011, Melbourne, Victoria

Pro class
1^ST Eiji Kataoko – Osaka – Japan
2^ND Paul Chamberlain – Sydney – New South Wales – Australia
3^RD Grant Cruse – Melbourne – Victoria – Australia
4^TH Roni Rampton – Brisbane – Queensland – Australia
5^TH Matt Wootton – Launceston – Tasmania – Australia
6^TH Christopher Letchford – Launceston – Tasmania – Australia

 

Advanced class
1^ST Phillip Fruh – Melbourne – Victoria – Australia
2ND Allen Woo – New Zealand
3RD Andrew Lightbody – Sydney – New South Wales – Australia
4TH Shaun Jarvis – Perth – Western Australia – Australia
5TH June Dungca – Melbourne – Victoria – Australia
6TH Sean Chua – Melbourne – Victoria – Australia
7TH Karl Hughes – Melbourne – Victoria – Australia
8TH Tomy Idler – Stuttgart – Germany

The advanced class clockwise from top  left – Shaun Jarvis – Karl Hughes – Tomy Idler – Allen Woo

 The advanced class clockwise from top  left – June Dungca – Andrew Lightbody – Sean Chua – Phillip Fruh

 The pro class clockwise from top left – Christopher Letchford  – Roni Rampton – Paul Chamberlain – Matt Wootton

 The pro class clockwise from top left –  Eiji Katoaka – Grant Cruise – Head judge Ben Moran – Judge Brett Dighton

  The advanced class finalsClockwise from top left – Winner Phillip Fruh getting crossed footed – Allen Woo throws a smith decade for 2^nd – Andrew Lightbody is smooth – Shaun Jarvis rollin in for the 4^th
place.

The pro class finalsClockwise from top left – Winner Eiji  Katoako spinning – no handed time machine – Paul Chamberlain 2^nd  place – Grant Cruise getting the 3^rd mid decade.

Winners of the advanced class – Andrew, Phillip, Allen

Winners of the pro class – Paul, Eiji, Grant

The riders of the DownUnderGround 21^st  August 2011