| Date: 2003. Place: Bournemouth, UK. Organisation: Seventies |
|
| The Street course got its three-monthly revamp with a new curved wall positioned on the hipped driveway which attracted plenty of attention over the weekend. The middle section of the big wall ride stayed in Hastings and was replaced with a 5 foot mesh fence. At the opposite end of the course the sub wall had a quarter/wall on one side and a bank/wedge on the other. Everyone seemed to like the changes. | |
| AMATEURS | |
| Klaus Dyba, www.wethepeople.de, april 2003: The saturday was for the amateurs. I think over 100 starters entered. I haven't seen so many talented riders for a while. The most I can remember of where two germans, Sascha Clauben who did the highest Wallrides (it seemed actually that he aired out of it!) and Christian Zimmerman who is just totally dialled! Handplant over the spine and upside down transfers (which he just learned a week ago). All that with a smooth Markus Wilke style. AMATEUR STREET RESULTS: 1.Chris Madigan (Isle of Man) 2.Chris Zimmermann (Germany) 3.Matthew Roe (Derby) 4.Glen Wood (Andover) 5.Ben Wallace (Havant) 6.Merlin Mason (Norwich) 7.Gareth Paul Wilson (Doncaster) 8.Rick Tribble (Gosport) 9.Sascha Claußen (Germany) 10.Matthew Parker (Leicester) 11.Jason Mellers (Doncaster) 12.Liam Oakes (Doncaster) |
|
| SATURDAY NIGHT | |
| Klaus Dyba, www.wethepeople.de, april 2003: At the night there was a video-release party of the fitbikes barcelona video and the metro jam props video. The club was so crowded it was almost impossible to see something and even more bad it was almost impossible to order a drink. So this night ended more relaxed. | |
| PROS | |
| Klaus Dyba, www.wethepeople.de, april 2003: Around noon we went back to the bic just in time to check out the Pro qualifications. I think over 80 riders started! Well, some really weren't suppossed to be in this class and so it was sometimes a bit boring to watch when some young guns tried one trick the whole run which they never pulled before (I think). The comp was held in a jam format. All riders were split in groups of 4 riders. Here are some highlights: Brian Foster was riding really cool, I never saw him rider before. So fast and high! Dave Osato was smiling the whole time riding. I would smile too if I could do tricks like he can. 360 tailwhip over the spine, over toothpick at the wallride, 540°'s, tailwhips and so on. The people waited for a tailwhip to fufanu, but Dave was there for something new: a fufanu to tailwhip in. Unfortunatly he couldn't get it, but just the feeling that he tried too was kind of cool! All five came into the finals. Dave and Dustin had some problems while qualifying because they didn't have a chance to practice on saturdays. But it seemed that the time riding in qualifying helped them to get used to the course in the end. Especially for Dustin who rode a lot better in the finals. The tailwhips and wallrides looked pretty dialed. Also everything with a smile. One of my favourite tricks from him was an almost x-up nosepick on the high subbox. Will Jackson rode also really good. He qualified in fifth because he had an almost perfect run including x-up 50/50, backwards-50/50, X-up fencestall and so on. He also rode good in the finals but had some problems with a really cool 180 to backwards-50/50 to 180 out. He needed some attempts but made it finally. The crowd went nuts. Ashley Charles was smooth as always and just flowed over the course and used every obstacle. So good to watch! Unfortunatly he felt from the top of the subbox directly on his back which hold him a bit back to show his full potential in the finals. Brian Terada had some of the coolest tricks but also had some hard slams which didn't seem to hold him back (a miracle to me). A Barspin to icepick to barspin on top of the wallride was massive, as well as the barspin to icepickgrind on the handrail. That looked so dialed! In practice he also grinded up the rail and landed in a manual on the picknick-table, which was on top of the pyramid. One trick he didn't pull but which was like a sneak-preview into the future was a 360° tailtap over the spine where he tried to tailwhip into the 2nd transition. Can't wait to see that pulled! It's been a while since I was at a contest with so much good riders. Too bad that some of the top riders like Ruben Alcantara, Joe Rich (who hurt himself in greece a few days before), Jay Miron or Sebastian Keep couldn't ride because of injuries. All other pros rode really good but especially the new breed of riders were the ones who stoked me and showed everyone that BMX is well and alive. PRO STREET RESULTS: 1. Dave Osato (Canada) 2. Brian Terada (USA) 3. Kye Forte 4. Brian Foster (USA) 5. Shawn Arata (USA) 6. Mark Webb 7. Ben Manuel 7. Ben Hennon 9. Will Jackson 10. Marcus Wilke (Germany) 11. Ashley Charles 12. Dustin Guenther (Canada) 13. Chris Ariaga (USA) 14. Robin Fenlon 15. Jon Taylor 16. James Brooks |
SOUL BMX VIDEO Issue 22 |