Steven McCann Put the Heat on Bestwick for Win

September 11, 2011 By Dew Tour

Jamie Bestwick has 23 career wins in his 7 years on the Dew Tour, and he’s won the overall Dew Cup every season. But at today’s Dew Tour’s Toyota Challenge it was Steven McCann’s riding that stole the show.

“You know when things are working, they work out really well, that’s what happened here today,” McCann said.

In his second-to-last run of the superfinal, the run he’d been aiming for all night came together. After a triple tailwhip to flair he finished the run with a no-handed 900. He was so stoked that he even did a little victory dance after grabbing his bike on the flat bottom.

Check out McCann’s winning run

“I just followed up from X Games, had a bit of momentum, and had ideas of tricks I wanted to do in lines and it all worked out,” McCann said. “Man, I’m just so pumped. It’s a dream. There’s only a couple guys that have stood on top of the podium with Jamie in the mix, and I’m on that short list now. It’s cool.”

After a change in format for this event, the 10 riders of finals are given three runs and the top five advance to the superfinal, where scores don’t carry over.

McCann advanced to the superfinal along with Bestwick, Vince Byron, Jimmy Walker and Simon Tabron.

Bestwick had the lead until McCann’s amazing run. He had one run left to take over the lead, but he had an uncharacteristic fall mid-run that killed his chances. His fall sent him to medical so they could check him out and he finished in second with 92.25 to McCann’s 92.38.

The third spot went to another up and comer in the competition, Australian Vince Byron, who finished with 91.38. His smooth style, amplitude and an impressive 540 double tailwhip landed him on the podium. He landed that trick for the first time at the last Dew Tour vert competition, and after missing it on an earlier run, he dialed it in and was following it up with other tricks.

“It’s still a really gnarly trick for me and I went down the first time I pulled it,” Byron said. “But it came for me the second time and I was so stoked to pull it together and land decent enough to pull a trick on the other wall. That’s even above my own expectations.”

Bestwick still has the overall lead with 190 points heading into next month’s Dew Tour Championships. But with the win tonight, McCann isn’t far behind with 176 points so this could be the year Bestwick’s Dew Cup winning streak is broken.

Click the link for full results.

Steve McCann