Few could have asked for a better two days for the 2nd annual Coca-Cola Boardercross/Motocross event held at Mammoth Mountain and the Tri-County Fairgrounds in Bishop, California on December 14th and 15th. Clear skies with a frosty breeze and lots of wind-packed snow provided some nice cut throat conditions for the ride-for-your-life bomber runs down the mountain during the boardercross, as well as a hand numbing ride around in the dirt at the Bishop track.

Ron McCoy, a Bishop native and Mammoth local who runs Storm Riders Snowboard Shop conceived the idea for the contest a few years ago after seeing the moto theme lacing the 1995 ski/snowboard trade show in Las Vegas. The first event in June '95 attracted a decent crowd, but nothing like this year's event.

Professional moto-guys and a few women were enticed by the novelty of a bike competition with a snowboard segment. Regardless of the fact that a portion of the motocrossers had hardly ever snowboarded, they came. A majority of the contestants, like the crew from the most talked about moto video this year, "Crusty Demons Of Dirt 2," came from Huntington Beach, just a few hours away. Others, like Matt Schlingman, Editor of the new moto magazine Wide Open came from Oregon, and some competitors like pro motocrosser Carey Hart drove in from Las Vegas, Tahoe, and various locations around the west.

The track in Bishop was tight and disappointing to the contestants who remarked upon viewing it the day before the race, "Maybe we should have bought our BMX bikes instead." But in spite of the cocky claims, everyone seemed to get beat up pretty good from the ten round moto the next day. "It was hard to shift beyond second," said Crusty Demon Seth Enslow, who is best remembered this year for a grueling face plant in a sand dunes in the video.

Last time the moto was held at the world-renowned track in Mammoth, and so this is what the riders were expecting. This year however, due to deer migration, the Forest Service would not grant a permit, so the moto end of the race had to be held at the Bishop track 30 miles south of the mountain. Pro snowboarder Tex Devenport said he was a little disappointed with not getting to race on the Mammoth track, but still found the race challenging. "Ten laps around the track is a lot," said Devenport. He managed to place seventh in the Pro Division 2 circuit he was in for the motocross, but unfortunately disqualified himself the next day when he missed a gate in the boardercross.

There were four divisions of competitors: Women, Juniors, Intermediate and Pro which classified the riders according to skill and not age. The competitors competed in two heats earning points according to placement. Next year McCoy wants to change the format by having the motocrossers compete against each other, both on the track and the snow and the snowboarders do the same. This could be a good race if any snowboarders show up. Unlike the Morrow Motocross held in June, which drew snowboarders like Jamie Lynn, Noah Salasnek, Joe Curtes and Tex Devenport to name a few, this event only pulled in moto-diehard Tex Devenport and a few lesser known snowboarders from California.

Had any snowboarders shown up for the event they probably could have done quite well. The boardercross portion of the event was held on a run that underneath the main lift on the center of the mountain. Strategically skewed flags on the top of the course helped add a little challenge to the course which looked much like a ski slalom course with a knoll from the starting gate. About halfway down the run after a brief flat section, the traditional boardercross tabletops, gaps, and banks finished off the course.

"It was a long course," remarked Matt Schlingman who placed tenth after all was said and done. "It went about 2 minutes or so it seemed like, but it was a lot of fun. The top was real fast and the gaps were icy."

In the women's division a hundred percent increase in competitors was noted. Last year only Lamar and Bombshell sponsored pro snowboarder April Lawyer competed against a pro motocrosser named Carrie Vanderpool. This year four women raced. April Lawyer returned and shared the first place spot with Heather McNabb.

In the intermediate division 21 year old Bryan Noe from Carnelian Bay, CA took first after placing second in the boardercross event, which was his first boarding competition ever. In the Pro class, Motocrosser, Joel Albrecht from Huntington Beach, CA came in first beating SMP rider, Tommy Clowers (2nd place) and Nathan Fletcher (3rd), also on the SMP team. The SMP team won in overall standings with their moto team manager, Brian Manley taking 5th.

Next years race has yet to be set. Some people commented that the event should happen twice a year giving Winter busy snowboarders and Summer busy motocross pros a chance to make it to the competition. For more information about it contact Storm Riders Snowboard Shop at: (619) 934-5831.