IN PHOTOS - 2019 Vans Pro Cup Mexico

Dedication and perseverance...

Trey Jones came down to Mexico City early to help Jason Watts build some wooden additions to spice up the bowl. What they found out was nails are basically non-existent there, and the screws aren't very strong. Even if one out of every two screws kept snapping, they pulled off a badass curved wall setup and multi-direction box jump that really made the bowl flow.

Two for one. Watts warming up on his new wood creation.

Manuel Gatica's stylish 360s through the sunglasses of Cauan Madona. (zoom in to see)

The Regional Qualifier practice sessions were straight-up the Wild West. At one point I saw an astounding six people riding the bowl at one time (any more than one person at a time is scary). Fortunately and surprisingly, collisions ended up being very rare.

Hand-powerwashing (AKA dumping dozens of buckets of water to clean off the excessive dust covering the bowl) Trey.

Swampfest Mexico?

Thanks to heavy rains and a high water table, an unintentional added feature to the deep-end was the Fountain of Mexico City. The never-ending flow of water was curtailed the day after this photo was shot with I.V.-like tubes running from the source to the drain, so Matt Cordova no longer had to keep diverting his high-altitude re-entry by the time the comp went down.

Larry Edgar, excessive height two runs in during his first practice.

Nucha Libre Friday show souvenir in full effect. That shirt tho...

Obligatory bike pile photo, though this one was absolutely massive.

Peraza's runs were easily some of the best of the weekend, and was so close to pulling off a podium finish. His flair whip to fakie over the spine was outrageous, and took home a well-deserved Best Trick trophy.

Corey somehow found the only nail in Mexico City, on the bowl deck.

Natalya Diehm, tabes for the babes.

These guys know how to get the crowd hyped- Darryl Nau and Gabo.

Maca Perez, stylish tbogs all day.

Kris Fox had the prime line for the quarter air over the spine, and fully roasted it like this every hit.

Not OSHA approved. Workers in Mexico are not scared.

Colombian native, San DIego resident, Mexico turndown. Michael Mogollon.

Perris Benegas flowed the bowl probably higher and faster than any other woman all weekend long, and was the easy favorite to win. Despite Perris being the only woman to rip this curved wall from end to end, Natalya took care of business and sneaked off with the fat first place check. Perris still took home Best Whip; well done.

Boyd bossin' the box.

Corey Walsh, Joe Rich and I (Rob) came to Mexico City a few days early to sample some concrete in the region, and it was awesome. All of us coming down with some form of Montezuma's Revenge a few days before the comp was not. Corey felt the affects the most, since he was actually trying to ride all weekend.

Turns out overly clcked toboggan airs in the deep end this weekend were as popular as double whips over a box at a FISE event. Who did them better- KP...

...or Parker Heath...

...or Enarson?

Trey took a different approach (comedy relief motivation) and spent the majority of his runs on the deck objects. Him and Boyd were the only ones who kept it to the plazas and hit this flat rail in their runs...

... and the only tire marks found on the back of the wallride belonged to Trey.

After his stellar runs in the finals, Kris Fox was feeling the effects of the altitude/ heat of the day combo, at least for a little while. Fast and loose all day long.

More Boyd.

Ice doesn't last very long in the CDMX sun. Care for a bag of water for your injury?

Back of the van on the way to the comp on Finals day. Judging by Larry's intense runs, he's gotta be listening to Slayer's "Reign In Blood".

Jeez, Larry! It's safe to say he was consistently a few feet above everyone else over this thing.

During her second run, Angie Mariino sent a flip over the box, and unfortunately in Cru Jones style, over-rotated a bit and went straight to her tailbone, causing a compression fracture in one of her vertebra. Like a champ, she still went out for vegan pizza with the crew that evening. Wishing you a speedy recovery, Angie!

Angie at full roast, pre-Best Trick move and pre-crash.

Trey had high hopes of knocking over this sign from this wallride during his final run, but an intervention by everyone standing behind it kept that from going down.

Matty Cranmer, three hefty blowouts and sixty-five-plus bucks later. (That's not a typo- those two tubes on the left are not cheap)

The South American contingent was strongly represented at this Pro Cup stop; Tomas Fuentes roasted all weekend long.

During dinner with the Vans team one evening, Andy Zeiss made a toast where he announced Paul Thoelen's bump up to the pro team. Well-deserved; he was ripping all weekend long, like this repeated manual around the curved wall to fastplant in.

Josh Dove; impeccable Aussie style.

Jayden Mucha's flip gap into the (very little transition) waterfall was easily one of the moves of the weekend. Not bad for a 17 year-old.

Sir Layos named his iPhone "sirphone"- fact. He also laid down heavy lines and heavy style, as usual- fact.

Brothers-in-law hi-fives- Matty Cranmer and Trey.

Has the nac-nac ban officially been lifted? Matt Cordova, making Scott Yoquelet proud.

DMC, Mr. Rich, Dak, and Ruben; all-star cast of judges.

Larry likes dogs.

Señor Peraza, making his fellow countrymen proud.

If every rider who had a blowout or bike malfunction during their runs throughout the weekend bought Dustin Orem dinner for saving their day, he'd be set on dinners for a year.

Boyd Hilder, throwback chicken-butt/ whip amalgamation during Best Whip jam.

Boyd and Big D, hi-fives in abundance, for good reason.

Old dog, all style. Classic GY. So awesome to see him on the podium this weekend at age 36, riding better than ever.

Despite Larry Edgar's impressive displays, it wasn't too surprising that Corey Walsh took home the "Best Whip" trophy. So good.

Dennis Enarson's mirror line of canadian footjam to oppo canadian footjam on each side of the wallride was one of the coolest moves of the weekend.

Casualties of the finals- Jayden Mucha and Chris James.

That transfer. No one else hit this the entire weekend, and Watts thought it was a good idea to send this his first attempt at it. Now you know why he won.