2006 XDL Stunt Riding Championship - Coast 2 Coast

The rivalry between East and West Coast stunters has been raging since the birth of the sport, with crews representing their regions hard like a two-wheeled take on the old Tupac versus Biggie hip-hop feud. The East Coast has a reputation for breeding the ultimate hard-core riders, the ones who invent and execute the most technical and innovative tricks. The West Coast riders have always contributed flair, personality and style to the sport, adding more character to their riding and bikes alike. Which coast is the best coast? That's what the U.S. Stunt Riding Championship set out to prove, holding both West Coast and East Coast qualifying rounds this year in preparation for a national final to be held early next year on neutral ground in Vegas. The West Coast round was held earlier this year in Phoenix (see "The XDL Show," Super Streetbike, Sept. '06) and crowned Kane Friesen the top rider, followed by Darius Khashabi and Ernie Vigil. The East Coast round, sponsored by Warped Toys, was held on a brisk (and wet) October weekend at Virginia International Raceway in conjunction with the GT Live Sport Compact auto event. As far as the weather was concerned, round two couldn't have been any less like the scorching-hot Phoenix event. Luckily, top riding by the Right Coast riders was able to heat things up at VIR.

Twenty-five riders were invited to battle it out for one of the 10 qualifying spots in the finals. In addition to a share of the $10,000 purse, those 10 riders will also advance to the final in Vegas to meet Top 10 qualifiers from the West to decide the overall champion and settle the East Coast/West Coast beef once and for all (for this year, at least). The same judging criteria were used for both events, with scores based on each rider executing five wheelies, five stoppies, five burnouts and five acrobatic tricks in just three minutes. To further ensure continuity, the same riders and industry figures from the first round were flown in to judge round two and keep the scoring uniform.

From the first Friday practice session, the weekend was plagued with poor weather. Friday's sessions were cut short after the clouds opened up all over the designated practice area. Most of the riders were reluctant to give up any riding time, instead choosing to test their wet-weather wheelie and stoppie skills just in case they were forced to perform in damp and windy conditions. "The weather added an extra degree of difficulty to the event," said qualifier Josh Clem. "I was glad to see that most of the riders had a good attitude about what they had to work with. I think riding in the rain showed the crowd how much skill there was involved in the sport."

At the end of the day, 10 wet, cold and tired riders were invited back for another day. Josh Borne, Jacob Brunelle, Joshua Clem, Bill Dixon, Ryan Lanier, Mark "T-Neck" Martinek, Rick Payne, John Risconsin, and Aaron Twite earned the right to compete in the finals. Argo Cycles- and H.A.I. Bike Shop-sponsored rider Chris "Teach" McNeil qualified in the top spot.

As the sun rose on Saturday, weather conditions improved slightly just in time for the team event. As was done in Phoenix, the teams were created at random by pulling names from a hat. Each team had just 15 minutes of practice to come up with a routine that would win by virtue of crowd reaction. "The Super Stunnas" featured three riders that just happen to practice together on a regular basis: Jacob Brunelle, Bill Dixon, and Chris "T-Ice" Theis. Perhaps their familiarity contributed to their winning the event; or perhaps it was clinched in the final seconds of the run, when Brunelle tore off his clothes to reveal a children's Superman costume underneath, locking up the $500 prize from sponsor Warped Toys. "Everyone takes this stuff too seriously," Brunelle said afterward. "I'm just out here to have fun and to entertain the crowd."

Immediately following the team event, five riders competed to demonstrate the hottest and latest in stunts in the Sick Innovations-sponsored Sickest Trick competition. The $500 prize went to Bill Dixon and Joshua Clem after pulling off a "Leaning Tower," a stunt where Dixon performed a foot-down, no-handed wheelie while Clem climbed into the guardian position on top of the headlight at the same time.

After the completion of Saturday's events, half the competitors headed to a local spot to get some more practice time while the rest stuck around to check out all that the GT Live event had to offer, including drifting, Supermotard racing, Rally-X and karts. GT Live organizers even set aside an hour of kart track time to allow the XDL stunt competitors to race against one another on four wheels. Perhaps they should have given more consideration to this decision, as the natural competitive spirit of the riders surfaced immediately as they did everything possible to spin each other out on the wet surface. A few of the riders were even threatened with expulsion from the track for aggressive driving (you don't say...)

Sunday started with a riders' meeting where the rundown for the day was revealed. McNeil, who qualified first, would be the last to ride that day. Considering what he had been through in the past 12 hours, though, he was lucky to ride at all. His Honda CBR600RR motor was knocking like crazy and barely lasted through qualifying on Saturday. In a stroke of luck, the crew from Warped Toys happened to bring a spare CBR600RR along to the event and graciously offered McNeil the opportunity to borrow it. "It just goes to show you how much camaraderie there is in the sport when another shop, that sponsors riders who are competing against me, will loan me their bike," McNeil said. Fellow riders Damien Hunt, Mike Zann, Jacob Brunelle, Chris Theis and Bill Dixon all jumped in to help get the bike ready for McNeil to compete in the finals. "Bill and I were battling all weekend for first place," McNeil noted. "Most people in his position would hope I couldn't get the bike ready in time for the finals, but he was one of the first to jump in and help me out."

Even under the cold and rainy skies, the crowd lined pit row shoulder to shoulder. First out to ride was Aaron Twite, who showed off his extensive acrobatic skills by back and front flipping off his bike during his three minutes. Joshua Clem used a unique series of burnouts and coaster variations to separate himself from the rest of the field. Jacob Brunelle got the fans screaming with his hyperactive and always-entertaining style. A relative newcomer to the scene, Josh Borne, earned his way into the Hot Seat (a throne where the current leader sat until he was outcompeted) by putting together a strong run consisting of technical combinations with enough variations to rack up the points. Warped Toys rider Mark "T-Neck" Martinek's technical wheelie combos included well-extended flamingo circles that had his fellow competitors digging deep into their bag of tricks to one-up. John "Legion" Risconsin took full advantage of all the space available in the competition area to bust out some wide, fast circle wheelies. Ryan Lanier finished his well-executed run by doing circles with his helmet bag over his head, a stunt that earned him some time in the Hot Seat too.

Rick Payne earned a name for himself from the early days of the sport with Pure Bred Riders, but recently fell off the stunt radar. "I decided to leave the scene for a while and go back to school to pursue a degree in computer engineering," Payne told us. "Now that I am almost done with school, I can start riding more. So I decided to reintroduce myself here at the XDL show." Despite an impressive run, he was unable to dethrone Lanier, who remained on top. Stoppie king Bill Dixon went next on his Yamaha R6. The slick conditions failed to keep him from rolling the longest stoppies of the weekend, finishing each with a 180 turn in either direction. The final competitor, Chris McNeil, rode with his usual mix of technical trickery matched with spirit and energy. Action-packed from start to finish, his run flowed and linked together all the required tricks to maximize the points.

After moving the activities over to the winner's circle, it was time to announce who would be the recipients of one of the five sprocket trophies provided by Geared Steel Products. Coming in fifth place was Josh Borne, followed by Rick Payne in fourth. Ryan Lanier was able to secure third, while Bill Dixon took home second. Continuing his competition-winning streak, McNeil was crowned the East Coast U.S. Stunt Riding Champion. "I can't wait to go to Las Vegas and compete against the West Coast riders," McNeil said afterward. "I plan on winning there too."

McNeil will have his chance in early 2007, when the best from the East will take on the best from the West in a showdown the likes of which has never been seen before in stunt riding. We plan on being there to watch XDL finally put to rest the argument over which coast has the best riders-or perhaps just start a new one...