Free Flow came to Autumn Ramp Park in Joplin, MO on Saturday July 14.  I’m not sure if it was all the free Mt. Dew or the promise of someone winning a free trip to Orlando that attracted skaters from all over the Midwest, whatever the reason we saw some amazing skating go down. 

The day started with the Jr. Jammers class these guys are the future of skating.  Ranging in age from 6 years old to 12 years old these kids are well on there way when it comes to flipping a board.  After some fierce competition the final placings ended up with 6 year old Manny Marie of Jefferson City, MO taking 3rd.  Taking second was Tyler Schoen a 12 year old from Republic, MO.  Taking home the first place honors was Spencer Alford from Kansas City, MO, 12 years old and representing KC well.

The Free Flow action continued through the day with Mt. Dew being consumed by the case and the park getting an education in amazing skating.  We went into the Open Class with 19 skaters hungry for their chance to go to Orlando.  We saw skaters from as far away as Pikeville, NC and Altamont, IL come to Joplin to battle it out.  After 3 fierce rounds of competition the 4 that made it to the finals were 14 year old Nathan Morley from Chippewa Falls, WI, Weston Sparks an 18 year old from Shawnee, KS, Brandon Voelker 18 years old from Altamont, IL and 16 year old Josiah Gatlyn from Pikeville, NC.  By the time these guys got to the finals they looked like they were beat.  But when the clock started either the adrenaline or the Mt. Dew kicked in because the finals skating was out of control.  Nathan took 4th place with some solid skating but it just wasn’t enough to take out the rest of the field.  Josiah was showing signs of being tired and although he threw down some solid runs and even finished with a kick flip into the bowl section to flat it was just enough to earn him 3rd place.  Brandon was ripping the park apart in a way that would have made Mike V. proud, with big airs and variations he muscled his way to 2nd.  First place went to Weston Sparks who just never stopped landing tricks.  He used the whole park and nailed some big gaps as well as proving his ability to play the tech game, a well deserved first place, congratulations Weston.

A big thank needs to go out to all of the skaters and fans that came to Joplin to make the Free Flow tour a great event for everyone, and a huge thank you to everyone at Free Flow for picking Autumn as one of the stops for the 2007 tour.

For more pictures from the event click here