ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The sun was beating and so were the pulses of the adrenaline fueled fans who gathered to watch alternative sports finest. More than 25,000 assembled to witness the second day of the X Trials, a qualifier for the 2000 ESPN X Games. Although many St. Petersburg fans had attended the X Trials when it visited the city in 1998 they returned and this time brought friends to witness the 250 skaters and bikers getting tricky for the camera in search of a piece of a prize purse in excess of $100,000.
The Bicycle Stunt Vert competition was filled with big air and handle bar spins as Mat Hoffman of Oklahoma City, OK took home first place with a nearly flawless run. Mat Hoffman, donned in black, is known as one of the sport's pioneers and has recently recovered from a career-threatening injury. Second Place went to Simon Tabron of Liverpool, UK, and Jamie Bestwick of Aaronsburg, PA rounded out the top three.
In the Bicycle Stunt Flatland competition Nathan Penonzek of Vancouver, Canada demonstrated to the crowd that he truly is a master of bicycle balance as he rode away with first place. Trevor Meyer one of the masters of the sport and a multiple X Games gold medallist came in 2nd place with a score of 92.20 and Ito Takeshi of Tokyo Japan took home 3rd.
Skateboarding Street, a cornerstone of the X Trials, showcased a calm, relaxed, yet powerful Chris Senn who linked together a nearly perfect run for first place. Senn is no stranger to the winner's circle. He is known far and wide as one of the world's best street skaters. His talents enabled him to walk away with the X Games gold medal last year in San Francisco and he looks primed to repeat his performance this year. 15-year-old Kyle Berard took 2nd place in his 2nd professional Skateboarding competition and Jaya Bonderov of Los Angeles, CA skates away with 3rd.
In the Men's In-Line Skating preliminary Sven Boekhorst of Den Bosch Holland took first with a run filled with technical spins and grinds. Matt Salerno of Sydney Australia, who has recently returned to competitive skating after a brief break took 2nd, and Franky Morales of Miami Beach skated to a third place finish.
