Noé Font finds his flow to 1st place at the Kite Mansion Park Open

What was the setup of the Kite Mansion park and how does it compare to others on the KPL?

The set up at the Kite Mansion is different from all of the other spots on the KPL, it’s actually pretty unique. All of the features are made out of steel and rusty from being in the water so long —  they were also all handrails, narrower that a foot — so way harder do your tricks on.

You have to consider the consequences of crashing on them so the technicality of the tricks might be less, but anything you do looks and feels way better than the plastic boxes that we have in other parks. So yes, it’s a pretty cool setup and also the spot rides with tide and current; it was challenging but great.

What was the Judging criteria for this event?

It was the same as all of the other stops on the tour, except this time we had to connect lines with the rails. The overall score you was 25 points; 10 for each trick and 5 for flow. Flow is what you keep in between each feature and is made up of speed, control, unhooking, hooking-in, change of stance etc; it was new to this event.

How did your performance at this event stand out to take the win?

Everyone rides really well these days, we all want to do the best on each feature. You can never play it safe because there’s always someone who will go-for-broke and win.

As this event included flow, that’s where I came through. A lot of people were getting good hits on the first rail then crashing out on the second. I kept my rhythm on my last line and had a good hit on a flat bar incline, left-foot-foward. The wind was good and I was pretty over powered on my 11m Vegas. It was my lines that made a difference.

Where’s park riding headed?

Park riding is growing a lot. We’ve grown the KPL over the years and now, as of a few years, is part of the legendary Triple S. More people are hopping over to this side of the sport but the direction it’s headed, I would assume, we’ll see bigger features, more technical tricks, inspired by urban sports and taken to natural spots with emphasis off the kicker. Double flips, flow, style; that’s where we are going.