Brandon Semenuk beat Nicholi Rogatkin and Brett Rheeder to the first Crankworx crown of the season, taking top spot in Rotorua, New Zealand on a crazy day of action dedicated to late-professional mountain biker Kelly “McGazza” McGarry.
Semenuk threw down a near-perfect run on the Rotorua track he was forced to walk away from injured last year, facing his demons and claiming the newly named ‘Kelly McGarry Memorial Trophy’ with a 94.33 score as a result.
“Last year was motivation to get down the run,” the champ told Mpora. “My first run went nicely as planned and in the end I had a victory lap. I did want some redemption.
“I actually didn’t plan on coming here until a couple of days before the event so this is a huge bonus! It’s always nice to take a contest win and I haven’t won here before.”
He was run close by the Nicholi Rogatkin though, whose score of 93 would’ve taken the victory on most other days. The American actually probably threw down two of the most memorable runs of the day – albeit for rather different reasons.
