../events/1996 King Of Concrete

Apart from pro funbox and lots of B group contests the other main event was Saturday night - but of course.

Saturday night featured a special night in Chaos club Gnu sea Tow Chaos put on DJs, cheap entry fees and

Ride BMX UK december 1996: King Of Concrete always makes for one of the best flatland contests on the calendar, with a silky smooth surface, a nice big area, and good field of riders, the KOC flatland title is pretty highly rated. Hence twelve top blokes entered - well, David Frame and John Taylor aren't flatland specialists, but they still pulled some nice stuff on their roads to the overall title. But pro flat was a strong field and those who stayed to watch were entertained with technically superb riding from all involved. The top five went down like this: Effraim Catlow rolled through his controlled, albeit slow, routine, with a couple dabs. The local is clean, but some would say he needs to speed up his riding. Whatever, Effraim did good here, 4th was the OG. OG Marton - OG had unique tricks, traditional tricks, and a quick style, 3rd was Massabova. He'd come a long way to ride here at KOC and made his journey well worth whith a clean run scored himself third place. In second was one of the main favourites - certainly a ton of smart money was riding on him for the win. As soon as the jungle kicked in we knew that Phil Dolan was up for another mindblowing run - and he definitely delivered, Double hitchikers, opposite pinkies, no footed pinky squeaks, and much, much more. 1st place however went to someone who flowed me a ton of Dragonfly goods about half an hour earlier, He's the main man in Germany, a country which is full of quality flatlanders - Michael Steingraber even has a set of signature pegs out on DF, and currently he owns ground riding on the continent. Michael has style which makes his tricks look easy, and he pulls his stuff solid and clean.

Stéphane Piton, BMXicos janvier 1997: En pro flatland, 3ème place pour Al "one" Massabova avec des enchainements à base de spinning sur la roue arrière à en avoir la tête qui tourne (dont spinning switch feet dumptruck sur la pédale). Seconde place pour un des pilotes les plus fidèle à ce contest de Southsea, Phil Dolan, qui exécutait des whips sur la roue avant dans tous les sens, en back, en front, pied droit et gauche... Peu importe, la maîtrise était là pour le champion du monde 96. Première place pour l'allemand Michael Steingraber avec des body varials en roulant sur l'arrière (dont son célèbre gliding gerator into bike varial into gliding switch Feet dumptruck) ainsi que beaucoup de barwhips sur l'avant rendus plus faciles grâce au "German System' où le guidon, la potence et l'expandeur ne font qu'un. Marton et Effraim ne termineront que 4 et 5ème tandis que nos 2 Old School, riders Woody Bonnot et Alexis Desolneux arrivent derrière avec néanmoins d'excellents tricks comme bakpcker caboose into bodyvarial into upside down wheelie pour Alex et spinning Forward deathtruck one hand pour Woody.

Ride BMX UK december 1996: Next year the ramp map be replaced in the biggest shake up of the skatepark since it opened, but for now the vert ramp had been tinkered with for the comp making it a bit easier to ride. But all was not ideal - the win had really picked up and it was a few notches down from feeling like a gale. Braving the vert ramp were just five riders in pro. David Frame, Mike Canning, John Taylor, Marcus Grempel and Mike Mullen. And curiously enough they finished in that order. David Frame got 5th, with another repetition of 540s pumping them out like a sausage machine, and a few variations. The overall title was in his sights. Mike Canning hasn't competed in vert for bloody years even though back in 'the day' when he rode for Skyway he was easily one of the most aggressive and rad riders in the country, tearing up those BFA quarterpipes. But he still has the style and favour today - 540, one foot x-ups, killer lookbacks, and more. John Taylor was also on his way to the overall title, and he was looking pretty damn strong in vert too - front wheel manuals, lip tricks both ways, big airs, and more. Marcus Grempel had red accessories on his bike and some over-rotated airs. They were ever-rotated because ol' Marcus was riding on the ragged edge - limbs everywhere, all coming off, twists, the works. Was Hugo Gonzales in the house? In first though was the smoothest and clearest rider of the day, Mike Mullen. Somehow the wind did nothing to affect Mike' runs, and he appeared to have no worries at nine foot plus. Clicked variations, a large 540, and lip tricks all amounted to Mike taking home the deserved win. We still don't know how Mike managed to ride with that wind going on.

Stéphane Piton, BMXicos janvier 1997: Coté rampe, Street et dirt, les cascades n'étaient pas au rendezvous comme on a pu les voir lors des années- passées, Jamie Bestwick n'ayant pas roulé, le niveau en rampe n'était malheureusement pas très élevé.