{"id":3844,"date":"2012-10-28T14:49:32","date_gmt":"2012-10-28T19:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gricelife.com\/?p=3844"},"modified":"2012-10-28T14:49:32","modified_gmt":"2012-10-28T19:49:32","slug":"havasunews-com-grice-wins-1st-pro-dirt-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/griceprojects.com\/2012\/10\/havasunews-com-grice-wins-1st-pro-dirt-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"HavasuNews.com: Grice wins 1st Pro Dirt Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By DAVID BELL Today\u2019s News-Herald<\/p>\n

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LAKE HAVASU CITY \u2014 Coming out of the qualifying heats, Dustin Grice was able to grab the 10th and final spot in the finals.<\/p>\n

But being the last to qualify didn\u2019t shake the Minnesota native, who put together three outstanding finals runs to win the inaugural Pro-Am Dirt Challenge, at the Friends of the Fair Rodeo Grounds, at SARA Park, Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese days, it\u2019s not one trick that gets you the win, it\u2019s how many tricks you can link together, Grice said \u201cIt\u2019s about doing big ticks in opposite directions \u2014 first one way and then the other \u2014 and the technical portion of your ride, putting things together. Like a bar spin with a tail whip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grice edged out Ben Voyles, who was top coming out of qualifying and had two solid runs in the finals. But his third run, when he attempted to go very big, resulted in Voyles having to punch out before the final ramp rather than risk an injury.<\/p>\n

Lake Havasu City had two hometown boys make the finals \u2014 Sam Stebila and Mathew Olson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was awesome,\u201d said Stebila. \u201cIt felt really good to compete here, to have my fiends here to see what I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olson finished fourth, despite suffering a minor wrist injury during warm-ups for the finals. Stebila finished sixth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis felt amazing. There was such great support from the community,\u201d Olson said. \u201cI think not only could the city benefit from an event like this every year, this facility is perfect. And Lake Havasu City is a youth-oriented town; this is a positive for the kids, for the parents and the community. So I\u2019d love to make this an annual event. The other pros I\u2019ve talked with said they\u2019d love to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Riders faced a pair of challenges, especially during qualifying. First was a stiff breeze that made some tricks extra challenging. And the second was the setting sun hitting the eyes of riders as they crested the final ramp.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for a first year course, they did an amazing job,\u201d said Jake Kinney. \u201cWe were able to ride in the wind. You could see, the guys were able to bring out everything today. This worked really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professional BMX rider Richard Laguna, who has had shows on MTV Tr3s and MTV Latin America, said he jumped at the chance to host the fundraiser event for the Tinnell Memorial Skate Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they approached me in Las Vegas, they told me Pat (Tinnell\u2019s) story and I said when can we begin,\u201d Laguna said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen the whole community come together for this, to help get that park built. It didn\u2019t matter what was needed, someone got it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a family here in Lake Havasu City,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd not just the city, they\u2019ve treated me and all of us like family. I\u2019m honored to donate my time to this project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grice said he was also moved to join in since the community\u2019s effort is similar to one he spearheaded in Minneapolis-St. Paul.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did the same thing in the Cities. It was just a bunch of riders that wanted a place to ride, so we got together and found a way to build our own park,\u201d Grice said. \u201cSo I\u2019m happy to help out build this park.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the amateur competition, Lake Havasu City\u2019s Tyler Kowalski and Mesa\u2019s Tyler Powell both finished with a score of 90 and it was Kowalski taking the win on a tiebreaker.<\/p>\n

Another Havasu rider \u2014 Austin Sweet \u2014 finished third with a score of 85.<\/p>\n

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For more photos from the Pro-Am Dirt Challenge, click here:\u00a0http:\/\/www.instantimagegallery.com\/iig\/c\/769<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By DAVID BELL Today\u2019s News-Herald LAKE HAVASU CITY \u2014 Coming out of the qualifying heats, Dustin Grice was able to grab the 10th and final spot in the finals. But being the last to qualify didn\u2019t shake the Minnesota native, who put together three outstanding finals runs to win the inaugural Pro-Am Dirt Challenge, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":3846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[63,962,202,396,541],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/griceprojects.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/griceprojects.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/griceprojects.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/griceprojects.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/griceprojects.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/griceprojects.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/griceprojects.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/griceprojects.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/griceprojects.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/griceprojects.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}