2012 Colorado Freeride Festival

In 2012, Winter Park Resort and Trestle Bike Park continue the long tradition of hosting the best mountain biking events in the USA. The Colorado Freeride Festival will feature some of the best mountain bikers in the world battling it out for almost $40,000 in prize money. The 4-day festival will showcase athletes in Shimano Slopestyle, Enduro racing, Air Downhill, Cross country, and pond crossing events while providing excitement for competitors and spectators of all ages. The Festivillage will play host to the biggest brands in mountain biking and action sports, as well as providing an opportunity to demo some of the best downhill bikes in the world.

Schedule of Events:
• July 25: Training (Shimano Slopestyle only)
• July 26: Training Day, all courses; Air Downhill
• July 27: Specialized® Enduro stages 1 and 2; Shimano Slopestyle training
• July 28: Specialized® Enduro stages 3 & 4; Shimano Jam Qualifier; Epic Singletrack XC; Shimano Slopestyle Finals
• July 29: Specialized® Enduro stage 5; Intergalactic Pond Crossing; weather day for Shimano Slopestyle

2012 Colorado Freeride Festival Schedule

2012 Colorado Freeride Festival Air Downhill Results

This is a quaint little tale of a slopestyle course built for the Colorado Freeride Festival

Colorado Freeride Festival (CFF) was an important event for the riders as the penultimate Gold event in the 2012 FMB World Tour calendar. Crucial points were up for grabs and with only Bearclaw Invitational this weekend before we dive into the Diamond events, riders want to try and get that initial lead. Sam Pilgrim put a major spanner in the works this weekend by injuring his shoulder. With muscle issues, Sam was recommended not to ride and although he insisted on trying, someone finally knocked some sense into him and he resigned. It's a shame for the British rider as he was leading the FMB World Tour and had a good shot at the title. After CFF, Specialized rider Martin Soedertroem takes the official lead in the overall ranking.

Martin laid down an impressive first run, giving the crowd what they wanted by pulling off his massive single and double whips. His first run was clean and well executed. Performing high-end tricks Martin secured a strong 2^nd place, reversing last weeks result and pushing Brett Rheeder down into 3^rd. Brett, the young Canadian has thrown his hat in to the ring this season and by no means does it look like he will let fellow Canadian rider Brandon continue his winning streak without a fight.

As for Brandon, well what more can we say that hasn't been said in previous weeks. The boy is a Machine! Brandon reminded us that pulling off the biggest tricks is not enough, riders need to get creative.  At CFF he did just that, as the only rider who flew clean over the in-out. No stunts, no magic tricks, just up, over and down was enough to hear jaws drop and the crowd cheer. Off course his run also included some banger tricks like a clean 360 x-up from the first drop and his signature inverted 720 on the last jump. Coming 1^st at the CFF Slopestyle competition moved him into 3^rd in the FMB World Tour overall ranking. A characteristic of Brandons riding style that is less obvious to the average spectator is that his rotations are frequently switch or opposite, something that earns him higher points than standard rotations.

Due to unfortunate weather conditions, the second round was delayed and  Cam Zink was amongst the few who managed to make his second run stick -- giving him a well deserved 4^th place finish, a good result for the American rider, but there is no doubt Zink will look to the Diamond events for some big points. Finally, we cannot forget Thomas Genon who won best trick with a radical truck driver to whip, the first time ever we saw this trick in a competition. Nice!

This week the riders move to Bearclaw Invitational for the last Gold event of the season. At this point Brandon Semenuk should be careful, as the other riders will be chomping at the bit to deprive him of another 1^st place finish.

Overall results finals:

1	Brandon Semenuk	CAN	96,67
2	Martin Söderström	SWE	94
3	Brett Rheeder	CAN	90,67
4	Cam Zink	USA	86,67
5	Casey Groves	CAN	86
6	Yannick Granieri	Frau	85,67
7	Thomas Genon	BEL	83
8	Anthony Messere	CAN	80
9	Jakub Vencl	CZE	76,67
10	Reece Wallace	CAN	76
11	Anton Thelander	SWE	70
12	Conor Macfarlane	CAN	68,67
13	Paul Genovese	CAN	68
14	Szymon Godziek	POL	67
15	Tyler McCaul	USA	68
16	Amit Kabbani	GER	65,33
17	Ray Samson	GBR	62,33
18	Kelly McGarry	NZL	60,33
19	Sam Dueck	CAN	57,67
20	Greg Watts	USA	55
21	Linus Sjöholm	SWE	47,67
22	Brayden Barrett-Hay	CAN	40
23	Justin Wyper	CAN	32,33
24	Jarrett Moore	CAN	28

2012 Colorado Freeride Festival Slopestyle Results