August 27, 1999

ESPN's B3, Bikes, Boards and Blades, arrived in Beaverton, Oregon this weekend as more than 7,400 spectators gathered for the first day of professional competition Friday at the Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District. After more than 1,500 people attended opening day on Thursday, great weather brought the city of Beaverton out to the park. A strong international field stepped up to the awards stand in aggressive in-line skating, while preliminaries in both skateboarding and bicycle stunt competition qualified athletes for the finals tomorrow.

	Fabiola da Silva.

Women's In-Line Skating
The in-line skating final slotted six women against each other. Fabiola da Silva of Sao Paulo, Brazil, skated to gold in an impressive manner, while Jenny Curry of San Luis Obispo, Calif. stole the bronze. Second place honors went to Katie Brown of Jacksonville, Fla., who put on a solid performance landing technical tricks and solid big airs. Women's in-line vert competition continues Saturday.

Men's In-Line Skating
In an exciting vert final, Cesar Mora of Sydney, Australia swept the competition and wowed the crowd. Capturing the gold, Mora, who won the silver medal at the 1999 X Games, reinforced the claim that he is the leader of aggressive in-line skating. Second and third-place honors went to Shane Yost of Lauceston, Australia and Mike Budnik of Irvine, Calif., respectively.

Bicycle Stunt
In the vert preliminaries, Dave Mirra of Greenville, N.C. cruised into first as the top qualifier, once again proving his mastery on the vert ramp. Mirra, who claimed the gold in both the street and vert disciplines at the 1999 X Games in San Francisco, was closely followed by the legendary "Condor", Matt Hoffman of Oklahoma City, Okla. and Dennis McCoy of Kansas City, Mo. The vert finals are scheduled for Saturday.

Skateboarding
In the street preliminaries, a number of professional skaters stepped up to qualify for the finals. Andy MacDonald of San Diego, Calif.once again proved his prowess on the street course, followed by Diego Bucchieri of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Bam Margera of Westchester, Pa. The street finals continue tomorrow.

This weekend, all of the competitions will be held at the Tualatin Parks and Recreation District in Beaverton. B3 includes three sports categories with a total of nine disciplines, including bicycle stunt street, halfpipe and flatland; men's and women's aggressive in-line skating street and halfpipe; and skateboarding street and halfpipe. Competition continues through Sunday.

For B3, ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to televise approximately 29.5 hours of programming, including re-airs, encore presentations and 14 hours of original programming. Athletes at this year's B3 will be aiming to qualify for the 2000 X Games which will be held in San Francisco.