Connor Ferguson – Grom No More

Mt Ruapehu is a brutal hunk of volcanic rock that makes humans seem puny in comparison, but today Connor Ferguson marked it as his own, overcoming Byron Essert, Tony Graves and James Kelly in the final of the Mt Ruapehu Gravity Festival. Earlier Rachel Bruskoff took out the Women's category, and Tyron Knight dominated the Juniors. Matt Boortman won the consolation final, making him the top New Zealander.

The day started the same as the last two days - wet, cold, foggy and windy. The early rounds came and went, and so did Jimmy Riha, eliminated in a stacked second round heat by Australians Callum O'Callaghan and Dejan Djukic. The top pros were keeping their powder dry, hiding out in the warm and dry lift ticket office and biding their time.

And then the weather cleared, and the track started to dry. A lunch break was called with the aim of allowing the track to fully dry, and when the quarter finals finally began it was a whole new race. Until this point there had been only one dry run in the last three days, and it had been a qualifying run, not a group run. Nobody really knew what dry-track racing would be like.

It was wild. Close, fast racing, with the lead swapping multiple times each heat. Inside passes on the narrow concrete gutter which nobody had thought was ridable. Brennan Bast and Mitch Thompson couldn't maintain their qualifying day form, and were eliminated. One semi-final was an all-American affair; the other all Australasian but for Canadian Tony Graves.

James Kelly and Byron Essert looked the most likely to go all the way, but Ruapehu had other ideas. Byron pushed out in front, but was drafted and overtaken by James. James then took a bad line that allowed Byron to retake the lead, only to lose it to Connor on the next corner as he snuck by on the inside. From that point it was a drag race, but Connor maintained his slight advantage with a perfect line through the tricky chicane at the finish.

For Connor it was the perfect beginning to his career in Opens after dominating the Juniors for the last two years. At only 17 he is poised to be a dominant force for years to come. At 19, Byron Essert emerges as his big challenger; together they are the new generation to challenge Kevin Reimer, Patrick Switzer, James Kelly and the other top pros.

Open results

1. Connor Ferguson
2. Byron Essert
3. Tony Graves
4. James Kelly
5. Matt Boortman
6. Tyler Howell
7. Kaimana Pinto
8. Winston Fox
9. Brennan Bast
10. Mitch Thompson
11. Tyron Knight
12. Luke Job
13. Robert Mcwhinnie
14. Troy Pembeton
15. Lawrence Thompson
16. Callum O'Callaghan
17. Dejan Djukic
18. Ryan Luiten
19. Cameron Hancock
20. Nicholas Rosa
21. Jules Hornung
22. Stephen Davis
23. Paddy Howard
24. Daniel Guzzardi
25. Callum Mathieson
26. Jimmy Riha
27. Jack Tumai
28. Jack Mulholland
29. Gerard Dombroski
30. Pedro Virginio Barbosa
31. Anton Lindén
32. Dan Waterhouse
33. Boogie Banks
34. Sam Dalton
35. Devon Scarborough
36. Levi Hawken
37. Clive James Robbins
38. Andrew Mackay
39. Lukas Nürnberger
40. Aj Cox
41. Max Gordy
42. Jaydon Howarth
43. Rachel Bruskoff
44. Brandon Tissen
45. Elissa Mah
46. Magaly Mcwhinnie
47. Grace Wong
48. Kelsey Nakanelua
49. Ling Lee
50. Merrick Wildash
51. Philip Cumming
52. Luca Coleman
53. Janne Lehtinen
54. Daniel Hawes
55. Eddie Spearing
56. Nick Johnstone

Women's results

1. Rachel Bruskoff
2. Elissa Mah
3. Magaly Mcwhinnie
4. Ling Lee
5. Grace Wong

Juniors results

1. Tyron Knight
2. Jack Tumai
3. Jaydon Howarth