../events/1991 2-Hip Bike Safari

Sources: Go december 1991, Life on the Edge, fatboy972, ...
If you want to add any info, please contact buissonrouge@23mag.com.
Date: august 24-25, 1991.
Place: Bronx, New York.
Organisation: Ron Wilkerson

After months of rumors, cancellations, fires, and party line calls, Ron Wilkerson's 2-Hip festival/showdown/riot was on for August 24 and 25 in the Bronx.
2Hip Life on the Edge.
Meet The Street
THE GOOD CLASS.
The judging was so tight that some of the big ams didn't even make the cut. Dave Parrick and Greg Melaney, the guy with the yellow bike, proved the landing ramp was too short for the righteous ...or at least the big jumpers. But big air didn't get them past eliminations. Rik Maltese came down from the Great White North with tailwhip footplants over the channel and 50/50 grinds on the rink walls. Taj Mihelich and Ron Kilmer came out from Albe's and took fourth and third, respectively. The day had started with Dave and Leigh Ramsdell trying 540 wall rides for the first time. By the time his run came around, Leigh had them down plus fakies so high his front wheel was hanging on the top of the wall. Three locals tried dropping in from the half to the wall launch and all three crashed most of the time. Ed Rios crashed the least, so he took first and a Bully frame and fork.

THE GREAT CLASS rolled around near sunset with eight Pros riding. Haro sent Chris Potts out. There's a semi-unwritten rule that at 2-Hip contests, Chris gets last place. Last place is no way to describe Chris' riding. He ripped. Chris has the best attitude about it-he was there to ride ...his placing didn't matter. Seventh went to Greg Guillotte (riding for Homeless) and sixth went to James Shepherd (running Homeless). James tried 540 footplant wall rides and fell every time, but every time the crowd got louder. So that's all he did his whole run. Sean Leslie, one of the weekend's many Fuse riders, traded one-handed 360's and fat wall rides for fifth. Bill Nitschke (Haro) was sporting a new look with long hair and no front teeth. Fourth. The crowd was tame all day toward Jeff Harris, but that all changed after he unveiled his new trick-the turn around. The trick involves Jeff launching, completely releasing his bike, spinning his body 360 degrees, and getting back on his bike. Kind of like Fred Blood's old "Chocolate Swirl", if you're an old-timer. In the end, everything always works out for Ruben Castillo. Ruben's quote to James before his run: "I'm gonna 360 over the channel from the spine to the wedge. I'm gonna crash, but I'm gonna do it." And that he did. Ruben pulled off so much new stuff they had to give him second. Mike Kranich is a man. Two hundred and sixty pounds of street rider with a chip on his shoulder. All the Pros moved the landing ramp back about 14 feet from the launch, just to make things interesting. "Bubba" did a rolaid launch for his first trick. Bubba's about twice as big as Ruben, so he has to be twice as good, right? Try tailwhip airs over the channel and wall rides at the very top of the wall. First place cash.
Jeff Harris of Texas bodyvarial.

GOOD results: 1.Eddie Rios 2.Leigh Ramsdell 3.Ron Kimler 4.Taj Mihelich 5.Rick Maltese 6.Pedro Dos Santos 7.Mark Monaghan 8.Steve Ranger

GREAT results: 1.Mike Kranich 2.Ruben Castillo 3.Jeff Harris 4.Bill Nitschke 5.Sean Leslie 6.James Shepherd 7.Greg Guillotte 8.Chris Potts
FLATland
Sunday's a day for flat and vert, even in New York. The ams had one big standout -Keith McElhinny did everything at top speed with no shirt on and long pants. What a punk. He would do backpackers in such tight circles that it would throw him backwards. The Pros had the flatland crowd hyped. Adam Murphy, another Fuse rider, had a passle of new little combos. Bill Nitschke's such a punk that he can only do tricks that go with his new punk rock image, and that means one thing: bunnyhop tailwhips. Steve Roy's one of the best flatlanders from Canada. Third place in Pro is not bad for a first time. Craig LePage did his usual landspeeders, rope-a-ronis to bar hops, and he has the most technically perfect bike known to man. Chase Gouin was picked up by Homeless just before the contest, but I'm sure that had nothing to do with how he rode. I could try and write every trick that Chase did but it would make War and Peace look like the Cliff Notes to Green Eggs and Ham. By the end of his run the crowd was chanting "Four', but after five solid minutes of riding his best was a triple decade and first place by a large margin. AMATEURS results: 1.Keith McElhinny 2.Jose Planco 3.Steve Blanco 4.Mike Catalano 5.Mike Hill 6.Shawn 7.Mark Flipowitz 8.Pedro Rivera

PROS results: 1.Chase Gouin 2.Craig LePage 3.Steve Roy 4.Bill Nitschke 5.Adam Miller
King Of Vert
There's a law of nature that is proven at every 2-Hip King of Vert: riders that are not well-versed in the art of the 540 look like babies (when kids are small their heads flop from side to side, out of control). That rule was exhibited in at least seven 540 attempts from the am class. Pat Dehne, one of the Lip Lords, did plenty of grinds and lip tricks. Keith McElhinney did nose wheelies and manuals across the whole platform. Rick Maltese was doing one-footed bar spinners, 540's, and manuals. When he grabs his bars after the bar spinner he grabs them above the brakes. It wasn't long before he careened out of control into the crowd that had been warned to stand back. Saber Alexander, a Team Zoo local, rode like he'd ridden the ramp before, which he had. He also took first and the award for hardest fall this side of Ron Wilkerson. AMATEURS results: 1.Saber Alexander 2.Rick Maltese 3.Keith McElhinny 4.Leigh Ramsdell 5.Rick Newman 6.Pat Dehne 7.Pedro Rivera 8.Eric Casney