| Date: August 27-29, 1999. Place: Southsea, Hampshire, UK. Organisation: Catlow family. King of Concrete: . Prince of Concrete: |
KING OF CONCRETE 1999 (clicked 01) |
| Mark Noble, www.ridebmx.com, april 2000: With the buzz from the Urban Games, everyone knew the boat had to be pushed out for this year's King of Concrete, or the title for Europe's top contest would be stolen. The King of Concrete was set to be a three day contest, and points from all the events were added up for an "overall" title. More riders than ever before squeezed through the gates, the stands were full, and this was to be the best KOC contest ever. | |
| BOWLS | |
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Mark Noble, www.ridebmx.com, april 2000: No KOC would be the same without a bowl contest, and Southsea has them all—snake runs, jump bowls, peanut bowls, a cereal bowl, and Satan's Toilet, complete with a vert extension and rails. Pretty much, only one rider can actually tame the Toilet, and that's Dennis Wingham. He carves out of the vert extension and gets way higher than anyone else. A no-hander gone wrong sent Dennis to the drainage hole at the bottom, and that's a long way, but he still won. |
A group bowls: 1.Dennis Wingham |
| FUNBOX | |
| Mark Noble, www.ridebmx.com, april 2000: KOC ended with the traditional jump box contest. Here, as last year, it was all Scott Malyon. The contest finished off with a thirty-man train over the jump box, a bunch of kids stealing banners, and prize giving. Each year, King of Concrete combines a lot of tradition and heritage with all that's new and great with riding these days. It's evolved through the years and has improved in the same way that riding has. It's not a contest built for TV or made to promote the new Ford Taurus. It's a contest for RIDERS. What could be better? See you at KOC 2000. |
Expert fun box: 1. |
| FLATLAND | |
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Mark Noble, www.ridebmx.com, april 2000: Flat was organized in part by Haro's Effraim Catlow, so you know ground riders were well taken care of. This event is known as being the best ground contest in Europe, and with all the shenanigans going on at American TV contests, maybe even the World. Jeez, even Chase Gouin was there. As is the case with modern flatland contests, you had to be dialed and on top of your game. For example, with second at the X Games and this year's World Champion title under his belt, Phil Dolan took fifth place. James White rolled into fourth, Effraim Catlow put his clipboard down long enough to take third, and the top two was an epic battle between the Nordic flatland machine, Martti Kuoppa, and the French Master, Alex Jumelin. Every ground rider knows Martti is pushing the flatland envelope. However, Alex rode a perfect, flawless run that was crammed with the good stuff, and had everyone talking about it the next day. |
C group flatland: 1. B group flatland: 1. A group flatland: 1.Alexandre Jumelin 2.Martti Kuoppa 3.Effraim Catlow 4.James White 5.Phil Dolan |
| STREET | |
| Mark Noble, www.ridebmx.com, april 2000: About 30 Pros entered street, and all the contents were there for the best contest of the year. Dennis Wingham dusted the concrete off his chin long enough to do a customary backflip over the box, a front flip, a wall-ride, a big 540 on the quarter, and then it was on to the guard-rails. This item of street furniture must have had a target painted on it, because everyone was using it, and you had to do something never seen before to stand out. Dennis saw the obstacle a couple days before the contest and knew what he was going to do—the sweetest Canadian nosepick on the five-foot rail out of the seven-foot quarter. Nathan Wessel and Rooftop represented Etnies at the contest, and unsurprisingly, Rooftop looked at the course slightly differently than the other riders, flipping over the big gap from the spine to the box, more gaps, and a perfectly pulled fufanu to icepick on the guard-rail. Wessel was all over the course as well—big gaps, and fastplants to wall-rides. Jonas Malmberg was still in the hunt for the overall title, and nothing was stopping him. Big flairs on the quarterpipe, wall-rides, gaps, no-handed flips over the box, step-through icepicks on the guard-rail, and he barspun an enormous gap from one of the launch ramps onto the café roof. And once more, it was time for Jerry Galley. The rail was all about Jerry—he not only did an abubaca on it, but he also did a backside boneless on it, climbed up and did a bomb drop to fakie on it, and then pulled a hurricane (tiretap to fakie) on the rail. He was on fire. | Novice street: 1. A-group street: 1. |
| HALFPIPE | |
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Mark Noble, www.ridebmx.com, april 2000: Eight riders entered Pro vert, but bear in mind that the KOC vert contest isn't always the biggest around. Years of holding the comp on one of the worst vert ramps in the country has not given the it the most glowing reputation. But with a brand new ramp, this could all change. Jerry Galley was in the house and was, as ever, ruling the joint with 360s, massive 540s, upside-down inverts—he was on. Jonas Malmberg was also pulling out the big tricks—two high, perfect flairs, tailwhips, and more for second. Jonas was now well on his way to accumulating enough points for the KOC overall title. |
C group halfpipe: 1. B group halfpipe: 1. A group halfpipe: 1.Jerry Galley 2.Jonas Malmberg |
| MINI RAMP | |
| Mark Noble, www.ridebmx.com, april 2000: There was a big range of ramps that slotted together and moved around the park, and the spine ramp was in the center. A big deck was on one side, and a head-high guard-rail on the other. Enter the ever-technical Schauff team from Germany. One Schauff guy named Benno had crazy-low bars that probably came off a cruiser, and was pulling nutcase links over the spine, as well as tailwhips to peg stalls. Marcus Wilke has more style than most, and combined this with tech stuff over the spine that just looked impossible for second. But in first was Jerry again. God only knows where he gets his pump from. He'd just drop in and BOOM. Massive 360's over the spine, abubacas on the guard-rail, the works. First place. | C group miniramp: 1. B group miniramp: 1. A group miniramp: 1.Jerry Galley 2.Marcus Wilke |