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The 2016 Van Doren Invitational - Photo Gallery

Style for miles and a week on the beach with Vans!

5 Aug 2016

The Van Doren Invitational 2016 in Huntington Beach, California. Taking Place during the Vans US Open of Surf.
Alex Hiam, Kevin Peraza, Tyler Fernengel, Tommy Dugan and Larry Edgar witness Matt Cordova blast a one footed invert mid run, during Sunday's BMX finals. You know you're doing all the right things on the course when this crew of 5 has all eyes on you!
It doesn't matter to Matt if its practice, qualifying or even the finals, Matt went full blast and full speed the whole week! Here is Matt cruising through the course during an early practice session.
Kris Fox! This man was definitely the fastest set of wheels on this course this year, everyone loved when Kris would take a run! Kris gears up half way across the park to blast this lofty one-handed-one-footed table across the channel as Jeff Z. catches all the action for RideBMX.
Corey Bohan takes a seat after a very entertaining and bad ass run during finals. As you can see in the next photograph, Corey takes a moment to watch his fellow RedBull rider, Tyler Fernengel rip around the course.
Tyler Fernengel is always a treat to watch ride, no matter the terrain. Tyler boosts this Indian air seat grab over the hip, probably thinking about the whereabouts of his new puppy dog somewhere in the arms of some babe in the crowd!
Dan Foley flowed this park so effortlessly, with the most creative and unique approach to this course all week. Alley-oop invert with that signature Foley style!
Tommy Dugan, returning to the contest this year as defending high air contest winner and all around entertainer! Here Tom takes a breath before his final run on sunday afternoon as Darryl Nau introduces him to the cheering crowd!
Maxime Chaveron with a crispy table top over the hip during a qualifying run as the rest of the deck watches. Qualifying runs were jam format, so the rider had as much time as they wanted each run wether they fell or not. During one of Maxime's last runs of the day his bike broke and he continued to grab Greg Illingworth's bike to finish the session!
Up in the athlete's lounge was the place for everyone to recharge and relax inbetween all of the day's antics! Even all of our bikes had a safe place to rest and created quite the mess!
Kris Fox charged this channel gap all day with full speed! No fear of heights or this 8 foot lookback air! Watch out for the man in black!
Gregory Illingworth takes his time to find this gap from the far left hip transition to the far right pool transition... As soon as I saw him eyeing this up I took no time to jump into place and make sure this craziness was captured!
Greg Illingworth rode so well this whole week, it's always a treat to see Greg discover new lines and crazy gaps each run! Here, Greg deals with the pain of a busted up knee, one of the many medics on hand were working out his knee in this photo and you can see what riders have to deal with behind the scenes of any contest.
Chris Doyle was pleasing the crowd in each one of his runs, usually ending with a lofty fly out backflip, which would stir up the crowd more than his signature 10 foot high, back slapping inverts! This stylish air over the hip right here pleased all of us on the deck, I wonder what the difference is?!
During this wild man run, Corey blasts this grizz air at height over the hip, which was only one piece to the puzzle within this lap around the course. He was lacing huge downside whips and big transfers keeping all of us on our toes and cheering for more!
After that last run by Corey, FBM's Steve Crandall gets Bohan up on the microphone and on the big screen to crack some jokes and make the whole place love BMX!
Matt Cordova. Sleep. Coffee. Ride. Pretty much sums up the attitude of this first place bowl destroyer!
Matt Cordova during his final run of the weekend! This was unreal to watch, the whole arena was on Matt's side, cheering, stomping and screaming every second Matt was shredding his way to first place!
Let's take a short break from the course for a second to check out Matthias Dandois and his amazing flatland presentaion on friday evening... Just before the beach side viewing of the Vans BMX video, "Illustrated", Matthias and a huge crew of flatland riders gathered to have one hell of a session! If you want to see the very impressive minute long session by Dandois check our IG from one week ago, it's quite the treat!
This right here screams old school BMX! I loved to see the amount of flatland riders who came out to support their passion for flat! Matthias is truly an inspiration to the greater flatland scene!
Kris Fox just straight up amazing to watch! I wonder the stuff these guys could come up with if this park didn't exist strictly for one week of riding...
Dakota Roche is one hell of an all around rider! You might forget the park flow and control Dak has, remember Dakota is a Huntington Beach local and is always holding it down as during this contest for his supporters!
Let us not forget the man of flow himself, Clint Reynolds! Clint took second place this weekend based on his timeless riding style and use of the entire course! Over the hip as followed by Larry and Doyle, this time with his signature high and fast one footed invert, showing all of us how easy it can look!
Credence Bikes. The head tube of a trail boss and a 2nd place Van Doren winner!
Gary Young returns to the contest this year defending his 1st place win from last year. This was definitely a photo I've always wanted to have, Gary Young, tabletop at this contest, in perfect symmetry...YES! Thanks Gary!
Dylan Lewis coming all the way to the U.S. to ride in this contest for Mutiny Bikes! Dylan ended his trip with this contest and he sure did shine with a 3rd place finish overall and a pocket full of cash to fly home with! Here Dylan gains speed in his final run with a high air in front of the judges panel!
Gary Young shows us all how this transfer is dealt with, huge 270 gap from the (right) pool to the (left) park hip with speed and finesse!
What can you say about Jason Watts?! Well if you were out with us friday night you would know how talented this crazy Australian really is when you tally up the numbers! Watts was blasting crazy originality all weekend on the course, here he executes a perfect tuck no hander in the pocket of the deep end!
Joe Rich and Dylan Lewis. Dreams do come true!
Clint Reynolds. Style. Speed. Originality. I'd say those are all safe analogies, wouldn't you!?
Darryl Nau was the man behind the Mic this year and of course with the assistance of Steve Crandall. Darryl always brings a great magnitude to the microphone and keeps the audience involved and excited to be where they are, enjoying BMX history happening right before your eyes! And I challenge you to be better dressed than Darryl!
The boys celebrate the ending of an amazing week and indulge in that unreal feeling of standing with your friends in the winners circle! Congrats boys!
1st Place - Matt Cordova : $12,500 2nd Place - Clint Reynolds : $7,500 3rd Place - Dylan Lewis : $4,500 Congrats to you guys and keep that shit up!!!!
Tommy Dugan ties up 2nd place this year in high air, defending a high air title isn't as easy as you think... The best part of this whole thing was Tommy never stopped smiling and having a great time on this quarter pipe with some of the best riders this contest had to offer!
Dylan Stark is one of the big air boys and isn't scared at all to go higher than you, but this time he was riding this contest with a injured shoulder! He takes second in the rankings of high air this year!
Larry Edgar 1st place winner in High air. 10 foot over vert quarter pipe. about 15ft out! I can't explain the feeling you get when watching Larry Edgar ride, especially this particular weekend! If you didn't know Larry's riding you might think he is on some Evil Kanevil type of s#?! Better yet when you know Larry you can just scoot up to the edge of your seat and get your sunglasses because you'll be looking straight up into the sun while trying to keep him in the frame!

Words and photos by Wes McGrath

The 2016 Van Doren Invitational in Huntington Beach, California. Bringing together some of the world's biggest and baddest bowl riders to converge on one skatepark, which is built atop the beach sand to stand for only one week for these riders to bring their best riding to the table and show the world why they deserve this invitation! Among the skaters and surfers we within BMX emerge to show the crowd what big air and high speed is all about, supported by the crowd, staff, fellow riders and athletes from all over the contest, the BMX finals were such an insane scene to witness! Take a look at this gallery which is compiled of 36 images showcasing the weeks energy and action at the Van Doren Invitational skatepark!


VANS BMX shoes is a proud partner with us here at DIGBMX.

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