The Nike 6.0 BMX Pro kicked off yesterday with the Open Qualifier. Over 60 BMX athletes from around the world descended to Chicago's Grant Park to compete for one of thirteen slots available. The competitors showed talent that just a few years ago would have placed them into the finals of any park event: triple tailwhips, frontflips, and all sort of awkward yet stylish flare variations were just a few of the goodies on display.

Also on display was downtown Chicago's amazing skyline. Highlighted by colorful sky made blue and pink from passing clouds (and showers), the cityscape added grandeur and scale to what is a rather compact BMX venue for this year's first Dew Tour stop.

Sans skate and FMX, the Nike 6.0 BMX Pro will feature BMX vert, dirt, park as well as an all new "street specialty" competition. For this new event, teams of riders and filmers are tasked with creating an edit made in the weeks prior to Nike 6.0 BMX Pro as well as an edit crafted on the street session course built at Grant Park. Judging of both videos will determine the winner.

The top seeds of the Open Qualifier were a dirty dozen of fresh faces and mostly new names. Leading the pack was Josh Harrington who put together the cleanest run with the highest level of difficulty. See below for the complete results.

Friday things officially kick off with vert qualifiers, park prelims and dirt finals. Stay tuned.



NIKE 6.0 BMX OPEN
SEASON 2009
BMX PARK OPEN QUALIFIER
1    Josh Harrington    90.00
2    Brandon Dosch    89.25
3    William Thompson    89.13
4    Joshua Perry    88.63
5    Brett Banasiewicz    88.50
6    Mark Webb                87.75
7    Andrew Buckworth    86.00
8    Harry Main               84.75
9    Dave Dillewaard    84.63
10    Patrick Laughlin    84.38
11    Glenn Salyers    84.25
12    Jeremiah Smith    84.00
13    Jaie Toohey          83.88





Rollin on the segways.


Just a few of the 60+ riders that showed up for the quals.


It wasn't all park action on Thursday. Here Chris Doyle gets a few in before the sun sets.


If Mountain Dew is the official drink, Matador by Jack Links beef jerkey is the official snack food.


All photos jsullivan