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Joe Parsons emptied his bag of tricks to beat close friend and training partner Heath Frisby in the Freestyle semis and then Justin Hoyer in the gold medal final tonight for his second gold of WX '09.

Frisby and Daniel Bodin, who lost to Hoyer in the other semifinal, met in the small final for bronze for a third straight year since Freestyle debuted at WX. And for the third straight year Frisby got the bronze and Bodin finished fourth.

JOE PARSONS:
Mission Man "It's definitely mission accomplished. Me and Friz and Isaac [Sherbine] worked super hard this year and it all came together. This is what happens when you work hard and it's all you want."
Taking on Frisby "I went second in the semis so I got to see what Heath did first. And he killed it. My first run [in qualifying] wouldn't have made it. I was sitting there like, 'Man how to beat something like that?' Friz is just amazing when he's on his sled and on his game. But something had to happen so I tried to throw down everything. So I can-flipped the big one, and that was kind of the separator, plus I was getting the extra two hits, so that was pretty much it."
Disneyland? "Nope, me and Friz have this thing called 'Leisure Week' after X Games, and it's where you don't ride, you don't do anything, you just hang out and have fun. And that's what we're doing for a week up in Cascade, Idaho, at the Frisbys' cabin."

HEATH FRISBY:
Semifinals "I felt good about it. When Joe got back here, I was like, 'Oh, man, I wouldn't want to judge that run.' But it is what it is. I trained all year and I got beat by my buddy and I'm going back home, But I'm coming back here next year and I'm going to want it even more than I did the last three damn years. So same mission."
"When I went out there, I told myself, 'You know what, I love what I do. Let me be consistent and let me get through this run.' And I did my thing and I was stoked on it."

JUSTIN HOYER:
Finals "Obviously I wanted to win. But I'm ecstatic just to be here and to do as well as I did. Yeah, I'm pumped. And it gives me tons of fuel for the fire for next year—Joe was racing the course a bit. That's really not my style, but I tried to race it like he did in the final and get a few more hits. But that didn't work out. I should've played it cool like I was doing. But no big deal, you know, I'm stoked I got silver."

The Parsby Tribe "Yeah, that's a serious deal over there with Joe and Heath. They've got the full support going on and that's something I've gotta work on, getting more technical support for my sleds. But everyone's been great who's helped me out—Colorado Sledstyle and Tod Welch and everybody else, I've got to thank those guys."
On Deck "A show next week in Colorado, and then after that I'm going to Ireland, Austria and Czech Republic, so I won't be in Ellsworth for a while."
X Memories "Before this week I didn't like coming here. Either I'd get hurt here or I wouldn't do well, so it was just a head game. But this time I actually enjoyed myself and I'm back at a point where I just ride and I enjoy it. It's like a dream. And like I've said, I was put here for one reason: To shred. So I'm just doing what I love to do and I thank God I do this for a living. This is amazing."

DANIEL BODIN:
Friends vs. Friends "Hoyer is such a good friend of mine and we've practiced together a lot. So I'm not that disappointed losing to him, I'm more disappointed that I got fourth place three years in a row now. But Hoyer definitely deserved it. He put on one of the best runs I've ever seen in my life and I messed up a little bit. He was better."
Joe and Heath "I was against Hoyer and Parsons was against Heath—they're best friends just like me and Hoyer are pretty much best friends. So it's a funny situation. And I didn't know what to expect when I got here, or about how much the rest of the guys had been practicing. But me and Hoyer were practicing together before X Games, so we pretty much knew where we were at, but I had no idea what to expect from Heath and Parsons and Levi. And Levi put that seat grab flip out there. That was pretty cool, I mean, oh my God, he's tough."
Next "Go back home, build a foam pit and start practicing backflip variations. Because oh my God the level is just growing and growing. Now we're flipping like 30 meters, like 110 footers, it's unbelievable. There's no stop, definitely no stop. And the machines are getting better and better—the Polaris that I rode is such a good sled—and I don't know where it's gonna end. Levi tried a double flip and maybe in two years everyone's doing double flips. You never know. It's crazy, and I'm so stoked to be a part of it."

RESULTS
1) Joe Parsons
2) Justin Hoyer
3) Heath Frisby
4) Daniel Bodin
5) Levi LaVallee
6) Isaac Sherbine
7) Jeff Mullin
8) Sam Rogers
9) Jimmy Fejes
10) Chris Burandt

Mark Kohlman

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