Agreed, this is weak. He is probably pinning it but this shot is less than impressive.

It is not only whats happening in the shot, but the quality of the shot. It's an awesome pic.

Mehh blurry, weak. Should NOT be the winner is all.

I don't think you could.

Guaranteed I could get close to that shooting automatic on a SLR.

There's a big nasty shadow on the berm because of the flash and the colors are off...There is no definition in the dirt at all , it looks dull.

Also there's a dude standing in the back wich REALLY bugs me.

There's NO WAY they had pro photographer help on this.This is just a very ordinary shot that looks sorta cool because he used an external,off camera flash, a wide aperture to get a blurry background and get the rider "pop" out better.

By moving to the left, maybe he could have got rid of the standing dude, perhaps even framed the rider in between the 2 trees and hide the nasty flash shadow at the same time...Bad composition for me.

The tapes are not doing it for me.I dont see how leading lines emphasize motion in this case?

I think if couldnt have been better with a different exposure/WB to get more of that roost behind him.

Im sorry but the more I look at this , the more I think this is a weak shot and doesnt look like a contest winner to me.

Theres nothing wrong with flash shadow at all, it makes it more dynamic. The sun can produce shadows harsher than that.

The dude, and the uplift thing, and the rest in the background shows context. The composition is generally ok. Remember, this guy is not a professional.

Look at pro photos and you'll se everything you've mentioned. I'm not saying its freaking awesome, but its pretty aight for an amatuer.

HOWEVER. I will agree with you that this is not a contest winner, and not enough of the photo is sharp.
Having said that, online jepgs always look completely shite, and blurred a little bit. I would be interested to see a higher res version. It's always easy to critique others harshly.

Actualy, you know what I wouldve liked to see. Same angle and everything, but zoomed much closer in on just the rider and the bike.

i agree i like some of the other pics better, but they had professional photgraphers and other people help pick out the winners. so those people know what works best i guess...