Story & photos by Kieran Chapman

If there's two things that I've learned from 17 years of `zine-making and 7 years of web design, it's this:

1. It's difficult to write an interesting contest report.
   
2. People don't like to read on the web.

Jon Kenniston	Chris Poulos
Josh LaRosa	Brian Chapman
Scott Hafner	Bill Moorey
Matt St. Gelais	Andrew Wickham
Myke Yeager

Rather than "tour" New England and have the contests all over the place, all contests this year are at the Rhode Island Indoor Sports Center in Warwick, RI. May 18 was a pefect sunny day ... almost a shame the contest was held indoors (though it removes the issue of a possible rain-out). A small turnout came to ride, some entered, and no entrant went home empty-handed. Contest organizer Chris Poulos does a great job with these contests — they're small and manageable, relaxed and fun.

There were only one entrant each in the Novice and Senior classes, so they were moved to the Open class. I was happily surprised to see riders from outside New England competing: guys trekked from New York, Pennsylvania, and even Michigan! Everyone seemed to ride pretty well; check the photo captions and results for more info.

Two riders entered the Pro class: Chris Poulos and Brian Chapman. Chris had a couple good runs that included a hitchhiker and double decade, but Brian ended up winning with his clean style and smooth front wheel links ending with his spastic hitchhiker.

I didn't enter this day — I had only ridden a few times since the winter (excuses, excuses). But this contest helped put the fun back into riding for me, and I'm looking forward to entering next month's contest.

Results

Pro Results

1. Brian Chapman		29		Providence, RI
2. Chris Poulos		32		South Kingstown, RI

Best Trick
Brian Chapman