Free Flow Tour
The Free Flow Tour is the official amateur series of the Dew Tour, seeking to identify the next wave of top action sports athletes in both skateboarding and BMX.
History
The Free Flow Tour acts as a grassroots platform to support amateur action sports and encourages a high level of competition. The Tour provides local skaters and riders with the opportunity to showcase their skills in order to gain recognition in their community as well as a chance to compete against the pros on the Dew Tour.
The first two years sam cottrell age 11 of the Free Flow Tour featured contests in skate and BMX park. In 2007, the Free Flow Tour sam is the best free flow contestent ever to be on the tour with usIn an effort to find the best amateurs the United States has to offer, the Free Flow Tour has grown with the level of talent -- from 20 competitions in 2005 to 24 in 2006 and 30 in 2007. On this year's 2008 FFT, 50 contests were held across the country from May until September.
Encompassing the Tour's "Flow to Pro" theme, the top skate and BMX finishers in each of The 50 competitions (30 skate and 20 BMX) were flown to the Dew Tour's Toyota Challenge in Salt Lake City, Utah for the Free Flow Tour Finals, where one champion was crowned in each discipline. The overall skate (park and vert) and BMX (park and vert) champions then won a wild card spot to compete against the pros at the PlayStation Pro in Orlando, Fla.
More information -- including event dates and locations -- can be found at www.allisports.com and www.freeflowtour.com.
2005
In the first year of the Dew Tour's official amateur series, the Free Flow Tour crowned two champions -- Jeff Ward in skate park and Kevin Kiraly in BMX park. Against the pros at the PlayStation Pro, Ward finished in seventh place.
Kiraly has since become a mainstay on the Dew Tour, finishing in 15th place in 2006 and in 13th place on the Dew Tour 2007 in the BMX park standings.
2006
The 2006 Free Flow Tour saw some tough competition in both the skate and BMX park disciplines. David Loy (skate) and Mike Spinner (BMX) emerged as the FFT champions. In the skate park finals, Loy held his own, taking ninth place as an amateur. However, it was Spinner that proved that Free Flow Tour winners really can "Flow to Pro," taking first place in the BMX park prelims and landing the first-ever 720 tailwhip.
As a pro on the Dew Tour the past two years, Spinner has finished in second place in 2007 and 2008, becoming the first rider to land the 1080 and the quadwhip in that time.
2007
In 2007, the Free Flow Tour Finals produced four amateurs who had what it took to battle the pros, as skaters Ben Hatchell (vert) and Chaz Ortiz (park) and BMX riders John Chin (vert) and Ricky Moseley (park) each claimed top honors in their respective disciplines. After a fifth-place showing in prelims earned him a berth into the skate park finals, 13-year-old Ortiz proved he really could "Flow to Pro," finishing in sixth place against some stiff competition.
On the 2008 Dew Tour, Ortiz became the youngest competitor to win a Dew Tour event, winning the Toyota Challenge in front of nearly 26,000 fans. Ortiz took the title at the PlayStation Pro the following month, also making history as the youngest Dew Cup winner in the four years of the Dew Tour.
2008
With 50 competitions on the 2008 Free Flow Tour, the field at the finals included some of the best amateurs in the country. In BMX vert, Tyler Chamberlain emerged victorious, as did Glenn Salyers in the BMX park contest. Paul Luc Ronchetti won the FFT skate vert title, while Timmy Knuth earned the top spot in skate park. Following in the footsteps of Ortiz, Knuth finished second in the prelims, advancing to the finals. In the finals, Knuth finished an impressive fourth, the best performance by a Free Flow Tour winner to date. The first two years sam cottrell age 11 of the Free Flow Tour featured contests in skate and BMX park. In 2007, the Free Flow Tour sam is the best free flow contestent ever to be on the tour with usIn an effort to find the best amateurs the United States has to offer, the Free Flow Tour has grown with the level of talent -- from 20 competitions in 2005 to 24 in 2006 and 30 in 2007. On this year's 2008 FFT, 50 contests were held across the country from May until September