Mirra's final score from judges shocks fans

Everyone watching the BMX Park finals at the PlayStation Pro Oct. 18 probably thought Greenville's Dave Mirra had won the competition after a superb run.

Everyone except the judges, that is.

Mirra wowed the fans, and his fellow riders, in Orlando, Fla., with a phenomenal effort in his last run of the day. Beginning with a stupefying bunny hop back flip drop-in from atop a 10-foot wall, a trick Mirra missed during his previous run, the BMX living legend proceeded to put together a near perfect ride.

An early turndown flair kept Mirra's momentum going after the thrilling beginning and he kept executing trick after trick. A flair over the gap, a 720 over the box and an opposite 360 Can Can highlighted the rest of the run, which certainly seemed good enough to put Mirra in the top three, if not first place.

But the judges saw it differently, giving Mirra a 91.75, which left him in fourth place. The crowd and the other riders, including winner Ryan Nyquist, seemed puzzled by Mirra's score, obviously thinking he should've at least been in contention to challenge Nyquist's winning mark of 94.38. To his credit, Mirra, who bounced back from a rough crash while attempting the back flip entry during his first run, just laughed it off.

While Mirra has enough gold medals and prize money for three action sports stars, he has never won a Dew Cup, the season-ending top prize on the Dew Tour. A win at the PlayStation event, coupled with points leader Garrett Reynolds finishing fourth or worse, would've meant a Cup victory and $75,000 for Mirra.

But after Mirra's run left him in fourth, Reynolds only needed to finish higher than 10th to clinch the Cup. The youngster from New Jersey wound up finishing in seventh place, good enough for his first BMX Park Dew Tour championship.

Mirra finished the season with 334 points, 10 behind Reynolds for second place. Greenville riders Marcus Tooker and Rob Darden placed eighth and ninth, respectively.

Nyquist, a former Greenville resident, pulled off a surprising double at the PlayStation Pro, winning the Park title while also grabbing the Dirt season championship. Nyquist wound up taking the Dirt Dew Cup after a fifth-place finish at the PlayStation event. Darden, who rode well in both disciplines in Orlando, took third and finished fifth in the season's final standings.

The Gatorade Free Flow Tour BMX Park winner — Matt Whyatt — competed with the pros for the first time and while he didn't qualify for the finals, he did get some TV time and seems poised to make his mark if he qualifies for full-time Dew Tour status next season.

Whyatt, an Australian who trained in Greenville this summer, was the subject of short feature on NBC during the Park finals. Part of his PlayStation run was aired, sandwiched around a brief interview with the teenager. Whyatt's top score of 84.13 left him 26th out of 31 riders during the preliminary round. Only the top 12 riders advanced to the finals.

Contact Tony Castleberry at tcastleberry@coxnc.com or (252) 329-9591.