Not long after flat was finished, everyone moved inside for the street portion of the contest — and by "street", of course, that means plywood skatepark. Impact Skatepark is a good setup, built with bikes in mind by riders — not a skateboard or rollerbooter park that happens to allow bikes. As a result the ramps are bigger than what I've seen at other skateparks, which may scare off the more timid (and flatlanders). But "real" jumpers and ramp riders love it. The setup includes a downhill runway to a box jump, back-to-back minis with spine, a small sub & a set of wooden doubles in the middle, and a bunch of quarterpipes of various sizes on each end.
The novices took to the "street" first; it was the first contest ever for all three guys in the class, and Impact was quite an initiation for them. The Expert class was more impressive than I was expecting, with guys going big over the box with variations — x-ups, bar spins, 360s, and limbless variations. One of the highlights was definitely Nutter's run: He showed up just in time to enter, but hadn't had a chance to practice at all (and actually refused to take some practice time). Watching him just go for it — a bit sketchy, but big and fast nonetheless — all while his hat was falling down over his eyes (rendering him practically blind) was pretty damn entertaining. I thought Mike Paradise rode damn well, but it was the BMX style of Mark Katuzney that took first in Expert Street.
Tom Masterson showed up but didn't enter due to an injured leg (though he still rode a bit). However, I have to mention that he took the train from his home in Dracut, MA to the train station in South Attleboro (in southern MA), and then rode his bike from there to the contest in East Providence, RI...believe me, that's a LONG ride on a BMX bike.
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