Grayland Open Results

[runeblade]

Grayland Open Amateur Freeride National Championships

Stand up class
1st place - Jake Bright (This is his 1st competition) from Lancaster CA
2nd place - Christian young (13 years old and backfliping big in the surf) from Ocean Side CA
3rd place - Adam Bingamen from Washougal WA
4th place - Tanner Thomas from Ketchikan AK

Runabout Class

1st place - Richard Frifeldt from OR
2nd place - Tanner Thomas from Ketchikan AK
3rd place - Erik Loomis ( Kamikaze Erik )

Grayland Open Special Awards

Sickest Trick - Matt Engels from Richland WA (20 ft high backflip on a SUPERFREAK hull ) over rotated and flat landed and sprained both ankles but did land the trick.

Gnarliest Wipeout - Richard Frifeldt from OR. Attempted a backflip on a mostly stock powered Waveblaster II 760. landed upside down on his head but flipped it back over in the water and finished the round.

Top Female Competitor - Kenlyn Rijken from Oregon City OR

Big Air Competition ( Open to all riders, one 3 minute round to do the best trick with the most amplitude and land with your ski )

1st place - Zack Bright out of Lancaster CA ( Threw a monster Madonna Backflip as well as a one footed flip)

2nd place - Mark Gomez from Fullerton CA ( threw a can can Barrel roll and a no handed barrel roll)

3rd place - Jake Bright from Lancaster CA ( HUGE rainbow nose stab)

4th place - Tanner Thomas from Ketchikan AK ( Backflip )

Motosurf Races

Pro Race class
1st place - Mark Gomez from Fullerton CA
2nd place - Monte ( Montster ) Hughes from Olympia WA
3rd place - Tanner Thomas from Ketchikan AK

Amateur Race Class
1st place - Alex Everett from WA
2nd place - Kurtis Pitman from Tacoma WA
3rd place - Mark Hintz from WA
4th place - Adam Bingaman from Washougal WA

Runabout Race Class
1st place - Richard Frifeldt from OR
2nd place - Carl Mead from WA
3rd place - Erik Loomis ( Kamikaze Erik )
4th place - Jeff Fred from Idaho

[Charlie_Hustle]

Thanks for posting results and congrats to all all who competed!

[Matt_E]

Event write-up:


The 2011 Grayland Open

This year’s Grayland Open Amateur Freeride event on the Washington coast was another one for the books. For those unfamiliar with the location, Grayland is a sleepy place on on the usually cold, foggy, rainy Washington State coast near Gray’s Harbor. You never can tell whether it is going to be 50 degrees with rain and howling wind or 80 degrees, sunshine, and no wind at all. Alas, save for some early morning fog and clouds, the weather turned out to be beautiful on both event days.
For the first time this year, the event hosted Motosurf Racing, a Big Air Competition (with equally big names) and the regular Amateur Freeride of the last two years past.
Competitors traveled from all over the place.
We had our regular local riders from the Washington Coast: the legendary Smith brothers who really want to see an aging legends class next year, event organizers Dan Lindgren and Nick Foster, always busy grease-monkey Casey Hogarthy, rollin’ Adam Bingaman, Kamikazi X2 rider Erik Loomis, and lots of others.
Then there were others from the east side of the state and adjoining states, including Motosurf organizer and walking Tattoo Parlor billboard Ian “fricking” Benson, keyboard cowboy Matt Engels, North Idahoans Rick and Jeff Fred, Hawaiian native Rich Frifeldt, and others.
Finally, the big names coming in from afar: Alaskan boy wonder Tanner Thomas, Hollywood stuntman Mark Gomez, big air tricksters Zack and Jake Bright from California, and up and coming superstar Christian Young (13 years old!), also from California.
Event sponsors this year included JetTribe Core Watercraft, Watcon, Superfreak Skis, Blowsion, X-Scream, Hydroturf, JetPilot, Cold Fusion, Liquid Militia, SBT, Impros, Coca Cola, and many local sponsors such as JackNut, Les Schwab, North Coast Surf Shop, 105.7 The Jet, Westport Inn, and many others. We would like to give a big shout out of thanks to our many new and returning sponsors for making this event possible in the first place - THANK YOU!
Saturday morning started out with Amateur Freeride qualifying. 14 competitors battled it out to place themselves for the heats to come. The scene was one regularly seen at Northwest surf competitions: mechanical problems, great surf riding, rolls, nose stabs, backflips. By noon, the tide had gone all the way out making for about a quarter mile of beach. The afternoon brought runabout and standup Freeride heats and sunny weather. Local spectators enjoyed the aerial action and great-looking boats on display. Towards the end of the day, Jake Bright and Christian Young had advanced into the Amateur Freeride finals, saved for the next day. Matt Engels managed to slightly injure both ankles on an over-rotated backflip and walking tool box Randy Jungwirth of Watcon had spent all day fixing various boats.
The evening was spent awarding trophies for the first day’s effort and premiering Blowsion’s new “Fistful of Foam” DVD.

The second event day was started with the first Motosurf Race. Anyone who’s never seen standups racing in the surf has truly missed out. Great action, gnarly wipeouts, and edge-of-your-seat suspense for six laps. The Amateur Freeride finished out with Jake Bright battling Christian Young, who injured his ankle on a big backflip and was towed back to his boat by Jake Bright during the heat. That’s what it’s all about - camaraderie. This move resulted in ear-shattering applause on the beach from other competitors, judges, and spectators alike.
Jake Bright walked away with the Amateur Freeride trophy while Christian Young got checked over by the helpful EMS staff on the beach.
Next up was the Big Air Competition. Notable moves were a backflip by Tanner Thomas, huge nosestabs by Jake Bright, no-handed barrel rolls by Mark Gomez, and huge no-footed and Madonna backflips by Zack Bright, winner of this event. Unfortunately, Zack also injured his ankle landing this last trick. This made for three injured ankle stooges on the beach that weekend (Zack, Christian, Matt).
The day was finished with the final Motosurf Race and our awards ceremony in the late afternoon. Competitors helped tear down the event equipment and started their short, medium, and long treks home.

[Tanman]

What an awesome event!! Thanks again guys for putting on such a successful contest for all these amazing AMs. What a blast!