On a blistering October day in Walnut Creek, with Santa Ana winds blowing the same dry desert air that fueled massive wildfires in Southern California, the second annual Best Damn Freestyle Tournament Period set a new standard for the turboshred format. Last year, Carl Dobson scored the upset win of the season by defeating Arthur Coddington in the finals. This year he had a much larger gauntlet to pass through to defend his title. Tommy Leitner had returned from Europe. Dave and Ami Lewis happened to be in Northern California for the weekend. And Arthur Coddington was primed for a rematch. Nine other freestylers were determined to mix things up as well.
There is an intensity to a turboshred matchup. Either you lay down the biggest moves of the jam, or you are out. At the same time, the matches are full of the positive energy of a recreational jam. Everyone tries to give good throws and make sure everyone has the same number of possessions. They cheer when their opponent hits something amazing.
Preliminaries
Players finishing first or second in the Prelim round moved to the semifinals. Third and fourth place finishers moved to the Playoffs with only a slim chance of winning their way back to the semis.
Dave Lewis won the first Prelim as expected, but Melissa Trail seedbusted over Doug Korns to place second. Tommy Leitner won Prelim B, with Mark Regalbuti taking second and Roger Cole going to the playoffs. Arthur Coddington won Prelim C, but the big story was an injury to Carolyn Yabe during the round. Yabe felt her knee pop as she twisted. She would be out for the rest of the day; the good news is that her knee did not suffer major damage and she will be back in action soon. Despite the injury, Yabe finished second behind Coddington, and Steve Stotter finished third. The most hotly contested prelim was the fourth. Fourth seed and defending champion Carl Dobson narrowly held off fifth seed and co-host of the tournament Greg Riley. Tam Wolfe finished third, and Joseph Qualtrough finished fourth in his first ever competitive round.
10th Place Playoff
This jam not only determined 10th through 13th places, it also gave one player the chance to win his/her way back into the Semifinals. On paper, Doug Korns should have won this round, but both Steve Stotter and his regular jam partner Roger Cole stepped it up to outplay Korns. Stotter won the round and a spot in the Semis.
Semifinals
The toughest cuts were in the semifinals. Players advanced from the Semifinals directly to playoffs. It was the toughest cut of the day. Finish third and the best you could do was seventh place. Finish second and you could fight it out for fourth place. Win your semifinal pool and you could jam for the Best Damn Freestyle Tournament Period title.
With Carolyn Yabe injured, the first semifinal was a one-on-one jam. Lewis vs. Regalbuti. Unfortunately for Marco, Lewis had his best round of the day and won by a large margin.
Trail could not duplicate her level of play from the Prelims and finished third in Semifinal B behind Riley and winner Leitner.
Semifinal C was a rematch of last year
I really enjoyed this format. It allows players to push their limits, and
really only have to nail two combos, so their can shoot for the moon,
however, the more combos you hit, the more you can catch fire. The
format also allows everyone to play multiple times and jam with almost
everyone in the tournament. I was really impressed with Melissa Trail’s
game and Steve Stotter.
Dave
Word Up to the East Bay players for organizing the shred tournament. Some new faces from the Bay Area showed their good stuff (Steve Stotter, Roger Cole, and Joe Q.) And, how lucky for us to watch Dave, Arthur, and Tommy play together and shred it out for top spot. These guys left my jaw glued to the grass. I have to give Buti player who exceeded expectations of the first round, ‘cuz he was unstoppable. And, look out for Dave’s wife, Ami… this girl has got game (and zzz’s)!