Photo Epic: Getting Past 90 at the Crankworx Rotorua Whip Off

Mar 23, 2018
by Cameron Mackenzie  


"Hey bro, what are you up to this Friday night?" "I could stay at home and have a few quiet ones, but instead I'm going to go get sideways under lights." After last years success of hosting the Whip Off under floodlights, this year's Official Oceania Whip Off Championships presented by Spank followed suit. The infamous Rotorua whip off jump got a slight makeover and the whole crew turned out ready to get the back end past 90.

After a perfect day on the hill with nothing but warm weather and prime dirt conditions, the wind rolled in just as the riders needed to start flying. With all the usual suspects lining up to huck their meat, the massive crowds, arguably one of the biggest we will see for the whole festival, knew exactly what to expect. The biggest talking point of the night was the apparently biased scoring that many believed went on. Bernard Kerr was on MC duties whilst out with an ankle injury, and was hyping up the crowds. But no matter what people think of the final scores, the show the riders put on was stunning!

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David McMillan in party mode. Hawian shirt and fully twisted.

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After a big day of DH practice, George was out getting loose but looked a little withheld compared to usual.

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Alex Fayolle floating above the media circus.

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Sam Blenkinsop is a seasoned whipper and man who isn't afraid to get sideways. He struggled to top the likes of R-Dog though who were getting well past 90.

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The Fasthouse Boys, R-Dog and T-Mac leading by example.

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Casey Brown was getting sideways all night, including a Lacondeguy-style lazy one footer.

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A Friday night under lights, watching some sideways two-wheeled action. It's easy to see why so many turn out to watch this spectacle.

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Two features, the start drop and the main jump were all the riders had to play on, meaning many, many laps could be run.

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Leonard Sonntag doing it for his hometown

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Sam Reynolds wasn't the only Englishman hanging it out. Kaos Seagrave was doing battle and arguably should have been on the top of the podium.

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Fayolle keeping things flat.

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One of the standout kiwi juniors, Billy Meaclem, busting moves.

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Sam Robbie is a well-seasoned whipper, but couldn't get past the 90 mark like the rest of his Queenstown brothers.

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Tyler McCaul tabling things out.

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Jackson Davies sent it way too hard tonight. Whipping got borning so he turned his attention to flipping, not that that ended too well for him.

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Carson Raynor got his break to send it tonight and he didn't disappoint!

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R-Dog going well past 90.

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Casey Brown

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It was really just another epic night for both riders and spectators.

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R-Dog and Casey take away the championship belt, not to many peoples surprise.

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Results



1st - Ryan Howard
2nd - Kaos Seagrave
3rd - Tyler McCaul
1st - Casey Brown
2nd - Vinny Armstrong
3rd - Alexandra Wohlgensinger


Full Results


Mentions: @cameronmackenzie @officialcrankworx @Spank-Ind


Author Info:
cameronmackenzie avatar

Member since Mar 6, 2011
71 articles

21 Comments
  • 75 1
 Where are the photos of the women doing whips?
  • 16 0
 Exactly what I was thinking...
  • 15 0
 No Casey pics?
  • 6 1
 Beat me to this comment. What the frig pinkbike, only celebrating Women one day a year?
  • 2 0
 @endlessblockades: There's pics of Casey whipping it out :-)
  • 1 0
 @Treetop33: these got added after the original post.
  • 20 0
 No photos of Kaos?
  • 9 1
 @cameronmackenzie churning out the coverage from Crankworx, someone buy him a beer!
  • 9 0
 Once its done mate. Still more work to do, and need to do better work than these to earn that!
  • 8 0
 When a problem comes along, you must whip it!
  • 1 0
 Whip it good
  • 9 3
 Worst whip offs pics I've seen from Crankworx.. Shame no fame for the ladies as well.
  • 2 1
 A real shame
  • 2 0
 All this talk of Kaos getting robbed, yet there was only one short clip of him in the highlight video and no pictures. Personally Martin Soderstrom and Reed Boggs were my favorites.
  • 2 0
 ...Getting the Back End Past 90 Degrees... *click*
  • 1 0
 Tough conditions to shoot I'm sure, good job! You must be burning the candle at both ends covering all this, fair play.
  • 1 0
 People got rob!! #rotorua
  • 1 0
 Wasn’t able to break 90........still way better than I ever could!
  • 1 0
 Shooting this event must be a nightmare
  • 1 1
 No one got robbed, those were the top three for sure.
  • 2 2
 **so many people were robbed**







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