The eighth annual Surfercross went down last week in two different locations—Southern California's Starwest MX for the riding portion, and Trail 6 in San Onofre State Beach for the surf competition. The event matched 20 talented surfers with 20 skilled MXers by random draw, and then two motos were run where the riders traded off a wristband every lap. The results of the races were were combined with the following day's surf competition to come up with the final tally.
There was plenty of National-caliber talent on both sides, but some of the more notable MXers included Josh Hansen, Jeff Emig, Brian Deegan, Michael Sleeter, Sean Borkenhagen (winner of the 250 B Stock class as this year's Loretta Lynn's Amateur MX National), Tyler Keefe, Rich Taylor, Michael Young, Dave Castillo, Jimmy Lewis, Jiri Dostal, and more. James Stewart came out to support his sponsors and mechanic, Jeremy Albrecht, who is one of the event's originators and hosts.
Surfercross is definitely unique, and lots of fun…well, at least for most of the competitors. One of the surfers was overheard returning a bike to the Yamaha hauler, saying, "This is the hardest sport ever. You guys are nuts!" Of course, we also spotted a few MXers who exited the water plenty winded, and that was in conditions that the surf announcers politely described as "MX-friendly." (An expected south swell showed up too late for the competition, which would have helped to better showcase the surfer's talents, but make it tough on the MX crowd.
In addition to the pros, there was a full gate of riders from the surf and MX industries as a support class…though as usual when there's competition involved…plenty of those guys were deadly serious.
There was also plenty of support for the event, with Oakley holding down the primary spot, Boost Mobile joining in as the presenting sponsor, and additional support from Fox, Wahoo's, N-Style, Cytomax, Asterisk, and Naked Juice. Yamaha and Kawasaki brought out fleets of loaners for the surfers who didn't have machines of their own, and Fox helped outfit them with riding gear.
Be sure to check out the photo gallery for more shots from the MX day, and three videos (Surfercross, James Stewart, Josh Hansen interview) that cover both days.
Results
OVERALL LEADER BOARD (PRO DIVISION)
Event | TEAM | MOTO 1 | MOTO 2 | MOTO 1 & 2 | OVERALL MOTO | OVERALL SURF | COMBINED PLACINGS | ||
Place | SURFER | MOTO | # | Place | Place | ||||
1st | Brandon Rambo | OX | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
2nd | Troy Ekert | Dave Castillo | 1 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
3rd | Mike Parsons | Joel Albrecht | 72 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 9 | 1 | 10 |
4th | Ronny Nelson | Ryan Dudek | 92 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 11 |
5th | Ryan Sakel | Jiri Dostal | 70 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 12 |
6th | Kai Patterson | Chris Barrett | 426 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 13 |
7th | Troy Powell | Rich Taylor | 24 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 16 | 18 |
8th | Max Mcllwee | Dean Baker | 7 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 7 | 11 | 18.1 |
9th | Matt Shadbolt | Ryan Fluffer | 254 | 16 | 10 | 26 | 11 | 7 | 18.1 |
10th | Sunny Garcia | Tyler Keefe | 51 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 6 | 13 | 19 |
11th | Taylor Tarlow | Michael Sleeter | 81 | 13 | 13 | 26 | 13 | 6 | 19 |
12th | Carl Holm | Josh Hansen | 100 | 10 | 12 | 22 | 10 | 9 | 19.1 |
13th | Shea Perkins | Sean Borkenhagen | 87 | 17 | 17 | 34 | 18 | 5 | 23 |
14th | Cory Lambo | Michael Young | 83 | 15 | 11 | 26 | 12 | 14 | 26 |
15th | Jamie Meistrell | Ryan Newton | 277 | 18 | 15 | 33 | 17 | 10 | 27 |
16th | Nick Garcia | Derek Natvig | 5 | 11 | 16 | 27 | 15 | 15 | 30 |
17th | Danielle Martin | Bradley Graham | 40 | 12 | 14 | 26 | 14 | 17 | 31 |
18th | Taylor Dodge | Jeff Emig | 47 | 14 | 18 | 32 | 16 | 20 | 36 |
19th | Keith Terrybarry | Jimmy Lewis | 90 | 20 | DNR/26 | 46 | 20 | 18 | 38 |
20th | Mica Anderson | Dana Wiggins | 9 | 19 | 19 | 38 | 19 | 19 | 38.1 |
21st | Brandon Tipton | Brian Deegan | 173 | 21 | DNR/26 | 47 | 21 | 21 | 42 |
OVERALL LEADER BOARD (INDUSTRY DIVISION)
Event | MOTO 1 | MOTO 2 | MOTO | OVERALL | OVERALL | COMBINED | |||
Place | TEAM | # | Place | Place | 1 & 2 | MOTO | SURF | PLACINGS | |
1st | DON BURKE | DONNIE EMLER | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
2nd | RANDY LAWRENCE | DEREK SWINFORD | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 17 |
3rd | MARK CERICKY | AJ SJOSTROM | 14 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 14 | 18 |
4th | TERRY BEAL | DANO LEGERE | 12 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 18.1 |
5th | JOEY BUDROW | JONATHON MURPHY | 10 | 12 | 11 | 23 | 10 | 8 | 18.2 |
6th | TOMMY WEECK | TONY DANDREA | 4 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 8 | 11 | 19 |
7th | RYAN FEDOROW | JASON MCDONALD | 17 | 15 | 18 | 33 | 17 | 2 | 19.1 |
8th | KYLE KRAUSE | KURT ROOD | 7 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 22 |
9th | CAMERON COATNEY | JOHN LEVY | 6 | 14 | 14 | 28 | 15 | 7 | 22.1 |
10th | CURT BIEGEL | TODD CRAMM, JR | 8 | 13 | 12 | 25 | 12 | 10 | 22.2 |
11th | RYAN DIVEL | BRETT GUERIN | 23 | 23 | 22 | 45 | 22 | 1 | 23 |
12th | RUSSEL COX | JAY RABJOHN | 21 | 20 | 20 | 40 | 21 | 3 | 24 |
13th | BRIAN BARLOW | JAMIE JACKSON | 11 | 21 | 19 | 40 | 20 | 4 | 24.1 |
14th | JONATHEN BELDING | JAKE CANADA | 22 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 23 | 26 |
15th | PETE MURRAY | TODD CRAMM | 24 | 19 | 16 | 35 | 19 | 9 | 28 |
16th | JEREMY ALBRECHT | CRAIG MONTY | 20 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 7 | 22 | 29 |
17th | SHANE HUNT | DERON WILSON | 19 | 11 | 9 | 20 | 9 | 20 | 29.1 |
18th | TOM WHITE | BRETT MCKINLEY | 5 | 24 | 23 | 47 | 24 | 6 | 30 |
19th | PHILIP KUHN | MATT CHAPMAN | 13 | 17 | 17 | 34 | 18 | 13 | 31 |
20th | CHRIS CORUM | GREG LASIEWSKI | 2 | 16 | 15 | 31 | 16 | 15 | 31.1 |
21st | CAMERON POWERS | JEFF ALLEN | 15 | 10 | 13 | 23 | 11 | 21 | 32 |
22nd | RUSS BRENAN | TOM CARSON | 16 | 18 | 10 | 28 | 14 | 18 | 32.1 |
23rd | VICTOR SHELDON | DON LEIB | 18 | 4 | 21 | 25 | 13 | 24 | 37 |
24th | CRAIG BOMAN | JP TAYLOR | 9 | 22 | 24 | 46 | 23 | 19 | 42 |