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Mellow Mushroom employee takes grand prize in annual Winter Acrobatic Trials

Bradley Johnson of Mellow Mushroom Pizza of Chattanooga took the grand prize at The US Pizza Team's annual Winter Acrobatic Trials at the NAPICS show in Columbus, Ohio, February 15-16.

February 25, 2015

Bradley Johnson of Mellow Mushroom Pizza of Chattanooga took the grand prize at The US Pizza Team's annual Winter Acrobatic Trials at the NAPICS show in Columbus, Ohio, February 15-16, the team announced. Johnson won a trip to Italy for his freestyle performance.

The US Pizza Team consists of pizza makers and "dough-spinning" acrobats from pizza restaurants around the U.S. who compete in the Acrobatic Trials for their spot on the team and a grand prize trip to Parma, Italy, where they will compete in the World Pizza Championships in May.

Scott Volpe of Fiamme Pizza in Tuscon, Arizona, placed second in the competition and Cincinnati-based Ramundo Pizza's Jacob Bens came in third.

Competitors were tested on dough skills such as largest dough stretch, fastest pie maker and freestyle acrobatics as well as fastest box folder.

Winners include:

• Mad Mushroom's Rick Wheeler of Lafayette, Indiana, placed first for fastest pizza maker with a score of 1.2167 minutes; and Dave Sommer's for second in the dough stretch competition with a score of 31 inches and third in box folding at 25.87 seconds;
• Mellow Mushroom's Bradley Johnson came in second with a score of 1.2189 minutes in the fastest pizza maker competition and first for largest dough stretch with a score of 32 inches;
• B.C. Pizza's David Whisker of Boyne City, Michigan, finished as third fastest pizza maker with a score of 1.28 minutes, third in the dough stretch at 27.5 inches and second in the fastest box folder competition at 24.77 seconds;
• Samosky’s Homestyle Pizzeria Kyle Hambley of Valley City, Ohio, took first in fastest box folding at 20.91 seconds.