57 Photos from Crankworx Rotorua - Official Oceania Whip-Off Championships
What started as an underground event just a few years back at Crankworx Whistler, The Whip Off Championship is now solidly embedded as an official event and is second only to Slopestyle in spectator turnout with massive crowds turning up each year to see their favorite riders flying sideways.
Much like the Method is to snowboarding, the Whip truly is one of those tricks that has come to define style regardless of whether you come from a DH or Freeride background and is one of the few events where athletes from both disciplines can compete on a level playing field.
Being the first time Whip Off has been held outside of Whistler, all eyes were on defending champion Finn Isles who at only 15 years of age already has arguably the best whip in the business. Sadly though an injury during his team training last week in Queenstown would sideline the defending champ at the last minute, leaving the door open for someone new to steal the crown.
For the women it was all about Casey Brown who sent it more sideways than many of the pro men to take the win relatively uncontested.
For the men there were rumors of a front runner from the beginning of practice leading up to the event, and come finals it was clearly evident the rumors were true. Ryan Howard left little doubt in anyone's mind that he brought the best Whip to New Zealand and that everyone else would be fighting it out for second place at best. Behind Howard is where things got really tight and it was no easy task for judges Sven Martin, Duncan Riffle and Finn Isles to score the final podium positions.
Conor Fearon was the closest to match Ryan Howard but would fall short on amplitude to place 2nd, while 3rd through 5th where practically a draw between Bernard Kerr, David McMillan and Remy Morton.
Curious if the judges made the right call? Have a look below for the biggest Whip Off photo epic on the web and see for yourself all the action that went down this evening in Rotorua.
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 Squid Whip. |
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| R-Dog. |
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| Blinky. |
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| Bulldog gets sideways. |
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| Martin Soderstrom styling high. |
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| Anything but straight from Kyle. |
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| Cam and Brad official whip off announcers. |
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| Connor Fearon. |
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| Bernard Kerr. |
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| Dave McMillan. |
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| Elliot Jackson. |
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| Bernard Kerr. |
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| Sven Martin getting scientific and judging whips to the finest degree. |
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| Judging panel. |
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| Sometimes laying it sideways actually means laying in the dirt sideways. |
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| Sven Martin and Duncan Riffle tallying up the whip scores. |
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| Duncan takes the final tally after what was a truly memorable Whip Off Worlds. |
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| Last year's champ, Finn Iles, weighs in with his scores. |
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| Casey Brown was the leading lady of sideways style yet again. |
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| The 2015 Crankworx Rotorua Whip-Off champions Podium. |
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| Crankworx N Zed's king of the whip. |
MENTIONS: @officialcrankworx
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52 Comments
- 69 2
luisgerstner
FL (Mar 25, 2015 at 6:19)
Söderstrom signature Style is fckin back!
- 48 2
cubebikessuck
(Mar 25, 2015 at 6:26)
And he is wearing his goggles correctly
- 5 0
HardtailHucker03
(Mar 25, 2015 at 6:54)
New back rounds everywhere!
- 2 0
groghunter
(Mar 25, 2015 at 8:31)
Just so steezy
- 1 0
MrEtnie
(Mar 25, 2015 at 11:24)
Stoked on the comeback of this style machine... wonder what he can do in slopestyle on Sunday...
- 34 1
slyfink
(Mar 25, 2015 at 7:26)
Not to take anything away from the other guys, but for the life of me, I can't understand how Eliott Jackson didn't end up in the top 5. Maybe the scoring method needs to be reviewed to add "steeze" or "style". His whips look the most stylish...
- 11 0
Twallywilly
(Mar 25, 2015 at 7:34)
Eliott's whips are extremely moto friendly...you can tell he's been spending time on his MX bike! All he needs is his bath slippers back!
- 8 0
plyawn
(Mar 25, 2015 at 9:18)
It seems that the guys who table their whips don't score as high? Maybe the more upright style accentuates how sideways they get.. regardless Eliott's whips (and Kerr's as well) look awesome
- 4 1
Freakyjon
FL (Mar 25, 2015 at 10:30)
Elliot would get my vote everytime. Full on moto whips and scrubs with so much style. The voting at these has always been a bit suspect!
- 23 1
singletrack29er
(Mar 25, 2015 at 8:58)
Imagine logging on to your favorite website (PB obviously) the day after the event and seeing yourself posted with the caption "Squid Whip"... crushing hahahahah!
- 4 0
hillatoppa
(Mar 25, 2015 at 18:56)
Perfect execution of the Dyslexia Whip (body whipping, bike still straight).
- 2 0
superdoperider
(Mar 25, 2015 at 21:03)
Whip like your favorite NSMB editor. I just came across a clip of myself doing some dead sailor whip's, you have to laugh at yourself sometimes too.
- 14 7
zshipowick
(Mar 25, 2015 at 8:11)
And again, f*ck off with the Buzzfeed titles pinkbike. Is the "Photo Epics" preface not enough? Stop contributing to the degradation of society's attention span!
- 14 0
mddigger
(Mar 25, 2015 at 9:26)
Wut the f*ck even is buzzfeed? The fact that you are complaining about a title is kinda weird to me, but then again this is pinkbike where we complain about everything and anything.
- 3 0
scandal667
(Mar 25, 2015 at 10:08)
47 too many
- 6 0
Biocoug1
(Mar 25, 2015 at 8:45)
I love this effing sport!
- 1 1
dars51
(Mar 26, 2015 at 0:03)
the Kona bikes are rad
- 4 1
jrocksdh
(Mar 25, 2015 at 9:59)
Mtb whips are getn close, but still not nearly as dynamic as mx...dah. Waaay btr than me, but I dream of upside down bottom brackets, where the cranks are higher than riders head!
- 7 0
Patrick9-32
(Mar 25, 2015 at 10:16)
The thing with a moto is you can brrrraaaapppp your way out of the whip using the angular momentum to bring the back end back.... or something.
- 1 0
game
(Mar 25, 2015 at 11:58)
yea lack of throttle is a massive disadvantage, not to mention the mass difference between rider and bike.
- 5 0
jamesg1997
(Mar 25, 2015 at 10:29)
i love how the cheque is actually made out to 'R-dog'!!!
- 1 0
Patrick9-32
(Mar 25, 2015 at 10:35)
I would love to see him go and try to cash that. "Hello, I would like to exchange this giant novelty cheque for giant novelty cash please. Yes my name is R-Dog."
- 1 0
jamesg1997
(Mar 25, 2015 at 11:39)
yeah, it would obviously be way too suspicious to enter a bank with a normal size cheque made out to Ryan Howard! haha 
- 6 2
mitchnorcoman
(Mar 25, 2015 at 6:18)
Why didnt Finn illes compete?
- 8 0
RM435
(Mar 25, 2015 at 6:29)
injured wrist
- 5 0
Revelstuck
(Mar 25, 2015 at 7:33)
Casey Brown!!!!!!
- 4 2
your-name-here
(Mar 25, 2015 at 7:15)
Notice the lack of chainguide on some of the bikes? I'm running a N/W and clutch on my DH bike. So for so good.
- 4 0
Andy-Grant
(Mar 25, 2015 at 8:14)
R Dog deserves that win!
- 3 0
godaddyeo
(Mar 25, 2015 at 8:42)
Dave Trumpore gets my vote!!! Great shots Dave!!!
- 2 0
hamishca
(Mar 25, 2015 at 7:45)
The photo of David Mc's whip does him no justice >
- 1 0
pteplitxky
(Mar 25, 2015 at 8:25)
OK, in one of the pictures a dude's undies are showing and it looks like a whale tail. Cannot unsee. oh god... oh god.
- 2 0
dumpsterdiver1
(Mar 25, 2015 at 9:08)
photo of the year could very well be in this article.
- 1 0
experthucker
FL (Mar 25, 2015 at 22:21)
Im pretty sure there was a whip off champs in france at the Crankworkx last year, contrary to the 3rd paragraph
- 1 0
Holstermx26
(Mar 25, 2015 at 8:18)
@CaseyBrown you are my hero. So many awesome whips!!
- 4 2
RatHunter83
(Mar 25, 2015 at 9:25)
Brendog got robbed.
- 1 0
hamncheez
(Mar 25, 2015 at 9:28)
HOW THE EEFFF DO YOU WHIP IN CLIP-LESS LIKE THAT
- 1 0
shuwukong
(Mar 25, 2015 at 10:53)
what pedals are Connor Fearon using? the yellow ones
- 1 0
iqbal-achieve
(Mar 25, 2015 at 12:29)
Their wheels look so small.
- 1 0
Carloso
(Mar 25, 2015 at 19:55)
Hey hey look the new smart knee pads they hide when you're in danger
- 1 0
Rhythm4213
(Mar 25, 2015 at 22:41)
didn't realise Kyle Strait is Elliot Jackson...
- 2 3
KonaChina
(Mar 25, 2015 at 6:41)
Wow, so many great photos to "Add to Favorites".
- 1 2
scandal667
(Mar 25, 2015 at 10:07)
47 too many
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