Make sure to land and stand in a difficult situation.Only those who can achieve it can win the stage of further battle.Ero pushed her limits in the conditions of strong winds and snow.
TOYOTA BIG AIR 2005 REPORT
2005.2.19 @makomanai
It's not sweet.It was a tournament that made me think so this year as well.
The TOYOTA BIG AIR kicker is artificially made, so it can be adjusted to some extent.If you want to make it easy, you can make it as easy as you want.But that's not interesting.What the spectators are looking for is a serious match for top professionals.It's a battle in the air.Make it slightly difficult and produce a battle that exceeds your ability.The flow of the tournament changes with just one kicker angle.That is why the success or failure of this stage determines everything.
This year, in addition to the difficulty of the stage, the weather had a big impact.In the Japanese qualifying on Friday, strong crosswinds occasionally blow, which upsets the player's sense of flight.Difficult pedestals and harsh weather.If you have two, it's no wonder that the game gets rough. More than 60 riders can challenge and only 4 can win.Katsushi Matsui, who passed the first place in the Japanese qualifying last year, Takafumi Konishi, who is a kicker and familiar with his skills, and Mutsoo Yamaguchi, a master of spins, all drop in the ranking due to a small mistake.Meanwhile, Takato boasted a make-up rate of almost 100% with the original trick "Masakari".Based on the Switch Heel Rodeo 720, this trick was also appealing to the judges.In addition, Shigeaki Takahashi, Satoshi Nakagawa, and Takumi Suzuki all made 3 and decided to win.Make up above all else.That was the minimum requirement to win the TOYOTA BIG AIR.
There is no complaint about the rider's name and star character.But above all, it has a lot of individuality in terms of tricks.That is the feature of the 2005 TOYOTA BIG AIR.Nicolas Müller and JP Solberg spin with a light touch.The physical ability of the young Matthew Klepel is remarkable.Daniel Franck and Akifumi Hiraoka have an overwhelming presence. DCP's spins boast textbook beauty, and Stephen Gimple's sense of stability is exceptional.Last year's champion, Mark Andre Tart, also turned the 720 lightly.While chatting with Mark, when I asked "Have you ever fallen at 720?", He immediately answered "No."And the kicker virtuoso, Ero Ettara, will recover from any situation.
A tournament where all these personalities come together.I was wondering how much the excitement would be.Unfortunately, the wind was strong on the day of the tournament, and in the afternoon, gray clouds began to spread in the sky.And by the time the sun goes down, the wind blows on the stadium, and the snow that hits the side hits his face.With such a strong wind, it's hard to do tricks in the air.However, the snow that had fallen more than that would upset the timing of takeoff and take control of the board at landing.The tricks that had been decided to be interesting until the day before did not go as planned.Now the game is starting to get rough.
First of all, the 16 people who advanced to the main race slipped two by two, and a qualifying round was held to decide the top eight people.However, there was a sudden big upheaval here.Not only JP Solberg and Daniel Franck, but also Mark Andre Tart were eliminated in qualifying.In addition, Akifumi Hiraoka also missed the quarterfinal by only 2 points.
This year's TOYOTA BIG AIR is different from here.From now on, there will be a one-on-one battle until the winner is decided.Rather than winning in the top of the group, we will screen out the riders in a tournament format.The riders will be paired together according to their achievements so far, and they will slip two and decide the winner with the best score.Is it yourself or the other party?
In this way, the dream battle was fought.In the quarterfinal, four games were played: Shigeaki Takahashi x Roger Helmstudstun, Takato x Mathieu Crépel, Stephen Gimple x Ero Ettara, and DCP x Nicolas Müller.Each group had a close battle, but let's focus on two games here.One is Takato x Matthew Klepel.In this game where it snowed completely, Takato shot an oversized "Masakari" and scored 4 points.Roger, who defeated Takahashi in the previous match, scored 216 points.The score of the respected man proved that "Masakari" is a world-class trick.However, Matthew was one better. Hit 219 points with the first run and push out the respected person.In the end, Takato couldn't win this battle, but there is no doubt that he jumped into the position of Hero with a dynamic trick.
The other is Stefan Gimple x Ero Ettara.In fact, in this match, both of them have fallen or reached their hands. In the first run, both of them failed to jump.However, the content was completely different.Stefan simply missed the landing of the spin, but Ero was challenging the switch double backflip.Although he had released the cab 1 in the qualifying round, probably because of the new snow, Ero abandoned the flat spin and went into the game with vertical rotation.Perhaps Ero can lose, so he wanted to play in his own style.Everyone thought that Stephan would stand on the second run and continue to win.However, unexpectedly, Stefan, who boasts a landing ability comparable to that of a precision machine, falls.In this way, Ero has won.However, this victory will change the whole process.Ero has another chance.
In the semi-final, it was a combination of Roger Helmstuds Stun x Matthew Klepel and Ero Ettara x Nicolas Müller.And Ero makes up.Make the switch double back flip that I had tried many times until then with the first one.Ero screamed with joy while holding both hands, but in the second run, he had already adjusted the angle of the board accurately in anticipation of landing.The trick that I had so much trouble with is completely my own with the second one.With that power, there are no enemies left.Ero made a good start and went straight to victory, brilliantly putting the middle of the podium in his seat.
Makeup is always the minimum requirement for TOYOTA BIG AIR.Make sure to land and stand in a difficult situation.Only those who can achieve it can win the stage of further battle.Ero pushed her limits in the conditions of strong winds and snow.Even though he was lucky there, he must have drawn it with his own hands.
Text: TAKURO HAYASHI.
Winner: E. Ettara (FIN)
Runner-up: M. Klepel (FRA)
3rd place: R. Helmstadsen (NOR)
3rd place: N. Mueller (SUI)
▼ It is a pattern of TOYOTA BIG AIR.
TOYOTA BIG AIR 2005 Main Battle Results 
